MLS: Leagues Cup provides perfect opportunity for growth
The Leagues Cup is a new competition that will pit four MLS teams against four Liga MX teams. It is the perfect opportunity for growth in Major League Soccer.
A new competition sanctioned by CONCACAF opens July 23-24. Four Major League Soccer teams will host four Liga MX sides starting with quarter-finals in what will be known as The Leagues Cup.
It sounds like a tough time in the summer MLS season to take focus on another league, but MLS supporters started getting familiar with Liga MX competition during CONCACAF Champions League and it will be interesting to see some of the best MLS teams pit their wits against the best in the CONCACAF region once again.
This is the time of year MLS teams are fighting to get in position to fight for post-season spots in the standings. Tough Liga MX teams can give players to workouts they need in this relatively quick Leagues Cup competition.
The competitors are:
MLS:
- Chicago Fire
- Houston Dynamo
- LA Galaxy
- Real Salt Lake
Liga MX:
- Club America
- Cruz Azul
- Tigres UANL
- Club Tijuana
MLS and Liga MX will evaluate how this first knockout tournament plays out, then they will consider ways to expand the competition and number of competitors in the future. For this inaugural tournament, Liga MX teams got in by results in recent competitions. The four MLS clubs got invited from among those clubs who have won domestic titles.
CONCACAF president Vincent Montagliani said the Leagues Cup resulted from the organization’s commitment to developing new competitions. CONCACAF encourages stakeholders to cooperatively brainstorm new opportunities and so MLS and Liga MX got the idea for the Leagues Cup, which CONCACAF backed.
MLS commission Don Garber said this tournament takes the partnership between his league and Liga MX to the next level. It also develops specific rivalries between teams in the two leagues. Supporters of the participating MLS teams can get to know players and styles of Liga MX clubs, as in the CONCACAF Champions League.
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Liga MX executive vice president Enrique Bonilla added that the Leagues Cup demonstrates the growth of both leagues’ sporting level. Bringing Liga MX teams front and center around North American fortifies an important soccer infrastructure and media impact while competition quality grows, he said. If anyone missed the Liga MX entries in the recent CONCACAF Champions League tournament, they now have another opportunity to see what CONCACAF’s elite league has to offer.
Club America owns a record 13 league titles and six Copa MX titles. Cruz Azul has a Supercopa MX final set July 14 vs. Necaxa. Their squad includes some familiar MLS faces most notably former New England Revolution forward Milton Caraglio and former Orlando City midfielder Yoshi Yotun.
Meanwhile, Tigres knocked Houston Dynamo out of the Champions League. They just won the 2018-19 Clausura and defeated Toronto FC in last year in the Campeones Cup. And more familiar faces will be found with Tijuana. The side is coached by former FC Dallas chief Oscar Pareja. Striker Erick Torres, briefly a rising star with the Houston Dynamo, leads the line with fellow forward Fabian Castillo, previously with Dallas. These are some of the very best teams in the CONCACAF region.
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The Leagues Cup is a chance for Major League Soccer to further test itself against Liga MX competition. And, for the growth of the league, is always a good thing.