Paulinho scored twice late in regulation, then Luis Manuel Garcia pulled off some penalty-saving heroics as visiting CF Toluca triumphed on penalties after rallying to a 2-2 draw against Columbus Crew on Tuesday night in both teams’ Leagues Cup opener.
Paulinho’s goals came in the 71st and 80th minutes to pull the reigning Liga MX Clausura champions level.
From there, Garcia saved three penalties — first denying Diego Rossi his second goal from the spot in the 88th minute, then thwarting Rossi again as well as Amar Sejdic during the shootout.
That was enough to help the Diablos Rojos earn the extra point in the standings, completing their shootout win when Helinho converted to make it 4-2 on the Mexican side’s fifth kick.
Rossi’s 11th-minute penalty opened the scoring for the Crew, the defending Leagues Cup champions. Max Arfsten doubled Columbus’ lead just after halftime on a composed finish after receiving Jacen Russell-Rowe’s feed.
Puebla 3, New York City FC 0
Emiliano Gomez had a goal and an assist as visiting Puebla eased to a deceptively lopsided victory over New York City FC in Harrison, N.J.
Juan Fedorco opened the scoring in the second minute as NYCFC failed to clear the danger from a corner kick.
Gomez doubled the lead when he reached Alejandro Organista’s low cross in the 38th minute, and Owen Gonzalez finished off an excellent team goal in the 88th minute after Gomez’s final pass.
Jesus Rodriguez made five saves to keep the tournament’s first clean sheet, on a night NYCFC narrowly led Puebla 17-13 in total shots. Matthew Freese made two saves for NYCFC.
CF Montreal 1 (7), Club Leon 1 (6)
Prince Owusu scored his 10th goal in 10 matches across all competitions, and Montreal prevailed on penalties against visiting Club Leon following their draw.
Owusu leveled the match in the 62nd minute following a wonderful setup from Dante Sealy, canceling out Rogelio Funes Mori’s 11th-minute header from James Rodriguez’s long, early diagonal ball.
From there, 13 consecutive penalty takers converted in the shootout before Leon’s Sebastian Santos struck the crossbar with his effort, handing Montreal the extra point in the standings.
Oscar Jimenez made six saves to keep Club Leon in it on a night they were outshot 17-4 overall and 7-2 in efforts on target.
–Field Level Media
