The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Leon sinks Galaxy for Leagues Cup win
It took León an extra day to arrive, but the club will head home in a better mood.
Thanks to Angel Mena’s 58th minute goal, León is leaving with a 1-0 win in Wednesday’s Leagues Cup group stage game against the Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in front of 20,776. With the win, León advances to the knockout phase of the tournament.
Osvaldo Rodriguez’s found Mena in behind the Galaxy backline and slipped
the ball by Galaxy goalkeeper Novak Micovic.
The win gives León five points to win the group. The Galaxy, who host Vancouver Sunday (6 p.m.), still have a chance to advance, but will need a win to do so.
In the 65th minute, a chance to equalize for the Galaxy. Raheem Edwards’ cross found Dejan Joveljic, but León goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota was able to keep the ball out.
The Galaxy last competed in Leagues Cup in the inaugural edition in 2019. That year, only four teams from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX competed. This year, for the first time, each team in both MLS and Liga MX are competing. Both leagues have paused their regular-season competition for the tournament.
The Galaxy is in Group C along with León and the Vancouver Whitecaps. León and the Whitecaps played to a 2-2 draw, but León won the penalty kick shootout (16-15).
The game went into halftime scoreless thanks in part by Micovic, who came up with a pair of point-blank saves, the second coming in the 42nd minute as Brian Rubio was able to get a shot off just outside the 6-yard box. Micovic was making his Galaxy first team debut.
León had an adventure just to get to town. The club opened group stage play last Friday on the road at Vancouver. By Monday, they were still in Canada due to travel issues, including a mechanical issue to their charter flight, forcing officials to move the game from Tuesday to Wednesday.