Tigres defense holds firm, while LAFC keep rolling | OneFootball

MIAMI, Florida – The four semifinalists of the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League returned to domestic action over the weekend, including a big rivalry win in Major League Soccer (MLS) for Los Angeles FC.

Just four days after eliminating the Vancouver Whitecaps in the SCCL quarterfinals, LAFC were back and took on city rivals Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday afternoon. It was a back-and-forth affair, but in the end, LAFC pocketed a 3-2 victory.

Fresh off his two-goal performance against the Whitecaps, Carlos Vela struck for another two goals beginning with a sweet, left-footed strike in the 22’ for a 1-0 LAFC lead.

Tyler Boyd pulled the Galaxy level 1-1 in the 41’ on a long-range strike, but LAFC would have an answer in the second half through Vela, who coolly converted a penalty in the 68’ to make it 2-1 to LAFC.

Just two minutes later in the 70’ the scoreline sat at 3-1 when Vela swung in a corner kick and Ryan Hollingshead met it with a stinging header.

The Galaxy put up a late fight and cut the deficit to 3-2 in the 84’ through Marco Delgado, but in the end the spoils belonged to LAFC, who improved to 5W-2D-0L on the season and second place in the Western Conference standings.

The other SCCL semifinalist hailing from MLS, the Philadelphia Union, also took part in a thrilling encounter, playing to a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire.

Chicago jumped out to a 2-0 lead through goals from Maren Haile- Selassie in the 19’ and a Nathan Harriel own goal in the 47’, but the final half-hour belonged to the Union.

The two-goal comeback started when Mikael Uhre was fouled in the Chicago penalty area right after the hour mark and Daniel Gazdag converted the penalty in the 62’ to cut the gap to 2-1.

After scoring two crucial goals in midweek to help the Union eliminate Liga MX side Atlas in the SCCL quarterfinals, Julian Carranza tallied another goal, this time in the 64’ by turning in a shot off a Gazdag header to give Philadelphia the 2-2 draw.

The Union now sit in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 2W-2D-4L record.

In Liga MX action over the weekend, Tigres registered their third clean sheet in four matches in all competitions with a 0-0 draw at Queretaro.

Just three days after a solid 5-0 quarterfinal second leg win over Honduran club Motagua, the Tigres defense stood tall against the Gallos Blancos.

GK Nahuel Guzman made several key interventions to keep Queretaro at bay throughout, helping Tigres snap a four-match losing skid in Liga MX and giving the seventh place Felinos an overall record of 6W-4D-5L.

The other SCCL semifinalist from Liga MX, Club Leon, endured a frustrating outing in a 2-0 home defeat with Chivas.

A pair of second half goals from the Guadalajara-based club through Pavel Perez (59’) and Fernando Gonzalez (73’) led to the final scoreline. Club Leon are now fifth in the table with a 7W-5D-3L record.