Mazatlan will be in the round of 16 of the Leagues Cup for the first time in its history, after defeating DC United 2-1 at Audi Field in Washington. The Mexican team took advantage of the fact that they played most of the match against 10 men.
The Cañoneros, who were without starting goalkeeper Hugo González due to injury, become the third Mexican team to advance to the next round of this edition, joining Pumas and Tigres. Their next match will be against Cruz Azul.
Things did not start well for the Mexican team, as in the first minute of action the referee cautioned Bryan Colulua for a foul in the middle of the field. Before the first 10 minutes were up, the home side also received a yellow card for Belgian Christian Benteke.
At the 27th minute, the home side was reduced to 10 men after Jared Stroud was sent off for contact to the face of Ramiro Árciga. The Cañoneros took advantage and began to press, but goalkeeper Alex Bono stopped all attempts.
Víctor Manuel Vucetich's team opened the scoring with a shot from outside the box by Yoel Bárcenas in the 33rd minute. Bono had little to do on this occasion, as the ball was deflected by one of his defenders.
"We were able to strike at the right moment and then we tried but we were unlucky. An oversight cost us a goal that we shouldn't have allowed," commented Víctor Manuel Vucetich, Mazatlán's coach.
Before halftime, Mazatlan got their second goal of the game. Alonso Escoboza sent a good cross into the box and Mexican striker Brian Rubio headed the ball into the net, despite Bono's attempt to stop the ball.
At the start of the second half, Mazatlan came closer to scoring their third goal of the match than United did to closing the gap. However, the game changed in the 74th minute when Mateusz Klich took a great shot from outside the box to beat goalkeeper Gutierrez and bring the home side closer.
Goalkeeper Ricardo Gutierrez saved the Mexican team in stoppage time and the Major League Soccer team, which was seeking its fifth straight game without defeat, was unable to score down the stretch and was eliminated for the second consecutive year in the round of 32.
“We had good moments, but not the moments we needed or expected. I’m really proud of the group for fighting back and making it interesting late, but the circumstances of the game were very much against us tonight”, said Troy Lesesne, Head Coach of DC United.
