Becoming the latest in a long line to haunt New York Red Bulls in penalty shootouts, Club Pachuca sent the home side into elimination, with the Mexican club securing advancement to the Leagues Cup knockout rounds with a 1-1(5-4 on PKs) win in their opening match of the tournament.
Red Bulls controlled the game in the first half, creating a chance for themselves about every 10 minutes, but were unable to find the final touch to beat Carlos Moreno’s quick reactions. Not to worry, the New York defense more than made up for its attackers’ finishing product by limiting Pachuca to a single shot in the first half — an attempted chip from within their own half by Nelson Deossa which flew well over the crossbar.
The continued high press from both teams couldn’t create a goal in the first half but that quickly changed once the second half kicked off.
When Daniel Edelman picked off Los Tuzos’ attempt to play out of the back, he immediately dispatched a pass to Lewis Morgan, who moved the ball along for Elias Manoel to smash off the underside of the crossbar to open the scoring.
“We are very far from what we want [but] the ceiling is [high],” shared Pachuca manager Guillermo Almada. “We are going to continue to evolve to get closer to what we want to be — to the intensity, the rhythm, and the game that we like — but in the second half we got closer to that ideal.”
Seemingly motivated by the goal, Pachuca took control of the game and finally started to create shots for themselves in a flurry. The increased urgency quickly led to the equalizing goal for star striker Salomon Rondón when Owen González found him with a cutback to the top of the box. Shutting down the 34-year-old Venezuelan international for 45 minutes was an impressive feat for Red Bulls, but doing so for 90 minutes is nearly impossible.
Los Tuzos seized more and more possession as the second half progressed, which was fine with New York, which prefers to play on the counter anyway. Despite stoppage-time opportunities for both, neither team could break the deadlock before the final whistle and the match headed to penalties with Red Bulls’ Leagues Cup life on the line.
After four rounds of fantastic penalties from both teams — including one from Los Tuzos debutant Ángel Mena — the door opened for Pachuca when Morgan put his fifth-round penalty wide for Red Bulls.
Stepping up with a chance to win the match, Nelson Deossa skied his penalty into the stands to give New York a rare second chance. Unfortunately for the home team, Dylan Nealis’ subsequent penalty was saved by Moreno, before Sergio de los Ríos sent Los Tuzos into the Round of 32.
“It is going to be difficult [and] very competitive,” Almada said of the knockout rounds. “There are very good teams in MLS and LIGA MX. But there is no doubt we’re going to go for it. First is to go on to the next phase and then to try to do [our] best. Pachuca is always dedicated to winning and to winning trophies for our club.”
Shootouts have been the Achilles heel for Red Bulls over the past calendar year: they were eliminated from the 2023 Leagues Cup, the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs, and now the 2024 Leagues Cup all on penalty shootouts. After being forced to suffer double the pain with two shootout losses in this campaign, RBNY is officially the first team eliminated from the Leagues Cup this year.
As for Pachuca, before they head to the knockout stages they will make a trip to Canada to decide the group winner in a battle for supremacy against Toronto FC. It is a game Los Tuzos will be eager to win in order to secure the best possible seed in their Round of 32 match, hoping to improve on their Leagues Cup finish from last season.
