Club Santos Laguna homegrown goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo showed up as the hero against Atlanta United in the penalty shootout to send his team into the Leagues Cup Round of 32 after a scoreless goalkeeping battle through regulation.
The match was tightly contested the whole way exemplified by dead-even possession in the first half. Santos attempted to find space in transition but never tested the Atlanta defense while the home side created its best chances through corners and set pieces. Each winger, Saba Lobjanidze and Xande Silva put a threatening shot on goal but were denied by Acevedo as the game headed into halftime scoreless.
Atlanta United interim manager Rob Valentino attempted to find an attacking spark at halftime by swapping starting striker Daniel Ríos for Jamal Thiaré but instead, it was his goalkeeper Josh Cohen called upon to make a spectacular save early in the second half to prevent Ramiro Sordo from opening the scoring from range.
Acevedo responded with another impressive stop on Lobjanidze twenty minutes later to keep the goalkeeping trend rolling. As he did in the first half, Cohen padded his save statistic with a couple more easy stops to double Acevedo’s three saves at the end of regulation despite the Mexican being thoroughly tested more often.
Nonetheless, after a strong ninety minutes from both shot-stoppers to secure respective clean sheets, the match was headed to penalties where only one of them could come out as the hero to send their side into the knockout stages of Leagues Cup.
Just before the final whistle, Los Guerreros manager Ignacio “Nacho” Ambríz introduced two talented strikers in Santiago Muñoz and José Juan “JJ” Macías off the bench to boost their shootout chances — and it paid off.
Muñoz began the first of three clinical rounds of penalties for each side before Acevedo produced the necessary heroic save on Thiaré, opening the door for Macías to score the winning penalty and send Santos to the knockout rounds.
Atlanta United is knocked out of the 2024 Leagues Cup as a result while Santos will move on to face the winner of group East 1 to be decided tomorrow. Laguneros found their first Leagues Cup victory when they needed it most to improve on their disappointing group stage exit last season. Now, they prepare for the Round of 32 with their eyes set on a first Leagues Cup knockout round victory.
