Leagues Cup roundup: Crew shake off early deficit, beat NYCFC in PKs

The Columbus Crew fell behind in the first minute but rallied to defeat visiting New York City FC in penalties on Saturday night to advance to the semifinals of the Leagues Cup.

A goal by Alonso Martinez staked NYCFC to the lead before Cucho Hernandez tied the match in the 41st minute to cap the regulation scoring.

The Crew won the penalty shootout 4-3 after New York City’s Santiago Rodriguez sailed a shot over the bar in the top of the fifth frame before DeJuan Jones converted a PK, enabling Columbus to host the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday.

Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte saved a penalty attempt by Maxi Moralez in the third round of the shootout. Matt Freese immediately responded to stop Diego Rossi.

Hernandez and NYCFC’s James Sands scored in the fourth frame to set up the dramatic finish.

Union 1, Mazatlan 1 (Union win 4-3 on PKs)

Andre Blake made two saves in a penalty shootout and despite playing down a man in the second half, Philadelphia reached the Leagues Cup semifinals for the second straight year with a win over Mazatlan in Chester, Pa.

Philadelphia’s Tai Baribo was issued his second yellow card in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, but teammate Mikael Uhre scored two minutes later to put the Union up 1-0. Alonso Escoboza leveled the match in the 59th minute.

Blake stopped David Colman in the first round of the shootout and turned away Alan Torres in the third. Samuel Adeniran hit the post for the Union in the fourth round, but Jesus Bueno buried his shot in the bottom of the fifth for the win.

Los Angeles FC 3, Sounders 0

Ryan Hollingshead and Kei Kamara scored within 11 minutes of each other in the first half, helping Los Angeles FC blank host Seattle.

Hollingshead scored in the 14th minute and Kamara found the back of the net in the 25th for Los Angeles, which will play the Colorado Rapids in the semifinals on Wednesday. Denis Bouanga also had a goal for LAFC.

Stefan Frei finished with four saves for the Sounders.

Rapids 0, Club America 0 (Rapids win 9-8 on PKs)

Colorado needed a penalty kick by goalkeeper Zack Steffen in the 10th round of a shootout to beat America, the final Mexican team in the Leagues Cup, in Carson, Calif.

Club America goalkeeper Luis Malagon missed his PK in the 10th round of the shootout to give the Rapids the win.

Steffen made four saves during regulation, while Malagon had just one. America finished with 21 shots to Colorado’s six. The Rapids reached the semifinal by also defeating LIGA MX teams Leon, Juarez and Toluca.

–Field Level Media