PASADENA — Fourteen seconds into Friday’s Leagues Cup quarterfinal match between the Los Angeles Football Club and Liga MX giant C.F. Monterrey, Denis Bouanga charged into the opposing box and burst past a defender, forcing a foul for a penalty kick.
The 27-year-old Frenchman sent Monterrey goalkeeper Esteban Andrada the wrong direction for his sixth Leagues Cup finish.
LAFC tacked on a second goal late in the half when midfielder Mateusz Bogusz connected on a beautiful shot off a Bouanga assist.
Monterrey didn’t make its first attempt on goal until the half hour mark, and for 45 minutes LAFC appeared to be in full control. Perhaps it could have had a third before the half but a “clear as day” penalty kick, said Cherundolo, was not awarded by referee Héctor Said Martínez when Estrada plowed through Bouanga in the box.
Little did the Black & Gold realize that Monterrey had them right where they wanted.
At full time, Monterrey stood victorious, 3-2, shutting the door on LAFC’s third attempt to win a trophy this year.
“It has been a while that I felt and lived such a passionate game,” Monterrey head coach Fernando Ortiz said through an interpreter. “I think that my team today, they took the whole stadium. Incredible players. They understood this from minute zero. The 90 minutes, it was one team that wanted to win only. Sometimes soccer has this kind of thing where you have to overcome and they overcame.”
A video review of a foul in the box by LAFC midfielder Kellyn Acosta on Monterrey’s 19-year-old attacker Ali Avila near the hour mark provided the Mexicans their first chance to get into the match.
Avila entered the game less than a minute before the foul, setting up Spaniard Sergio Canales to deliver from the penalty spot.
“In that moment we didn’t really feel the danger that Monterrey could change the game,” said LAFC defender Giorgio Chiellini. “That for sure gave them more confidence and more energy to win this comeback.”
Cherundolo criticized the call and the video review, as well as the officials overall performance throughout the match.
“It is of course a tough one to swallow for us,” he said. “I do really think the officials were a disaster — misusing VAR, not using it at the right moments, and just an all-around disaster tonight — so that makes it a little more difficult to accept but we do accept it.”
Reacting to a corner kick by Monterrey, LAFC defender Sergi Palencia, who started in place of an ill Diego Palacios, leveled the score at the 80-minute mark when he knocked it into his own goal.
The Mexicans had previously engineered a major come-from-behind victory in the Leagues Cup after falling behind 2-0 in Seattle to win 4-2.
Friday’s game winner came courtesy of Mexican international Rogelio Funes Mori’s left foot. The forward slammed in a shot from a tight angle off a rebounded save made by John McCarthy against a dangerous attempt by his teammate, Jordi Cortizo.
The outcome pushed Monterrey into the competition’s final four, joining Nashville, Philadelphia and Lionel Messi’s Miami.
“They’ve won away on the road in Seattle and Portland and Salt Lake,” Cherundolo noted, giving a nod to Monterrey. “And now here in L.A. So hats off to them. They’re a good team and they showed it.”
Cherundolo cited the financial disparity between MLS and Liga MX teams as a factor in these kinds of matches.
“I think it’s also clear to see the differences in budgets and the way rosters are structured,” he said. “It’s also important to remember that. You see it all around the world. Money scores goals. It’s true.
“I think we are at a huge disadvantage to the top Mexican teams in those regards.”
The defeat means LAFC misses out on two more matches and the opportunity to earn a CONCACAF Champions Cup berth.
(The top-three finishers gain entry into the 2024 continental competition.)
LAFC has one more chance this year to get a result against a Mexican club when Tigres visits BMO Stadium for the single-match Campeones Cup on Sept. 27.
The quarterfinal contest unfolded at the Rose Bowl Stadium due to a scheduling conflict at BMO Stadium. Much of the venue was closed off to fans, as the back-and-forth affair played out in front of an announced crowd of 15,649.
LAFC dropped to 4-5 in competitive matches to Liga MX teams, losing two matches in 2023 with the loss to Leon in the CONCACAF Champions League final and the Leagues Cup quarterfinal.
“Look, we’re disappointed we’re not advancing in this tournament,” Cherundolo said. “But I think my message to the players is you have to congratulate Monterrey for putting in an effort tonight that was excellent. They pushed and pushed and pushed to try to get goals and try to advance.”