April 27 – It is all to play for next week in the Concacaf Nations League semi-finals with Tigres taking a slender one goal lead to take into the second leg of their tie at Club León, while Philadelphia Union and LAFC are all square going into the Los Angeles return match.
Philadelphia Union will rue a series of missed chances in a tight and sometimes fractious encounter at home that saved the best to last.
It wasn’t until the 84th minute that Philadelphia Union found the back of the net, from the penalty spot. It was reward for their persistence, though it took a VAR review of a Kellyn Acosta (pictured) handball to get there.
Daniel Gazdag, who had earlier had a goal disallowed for offside, stepped up to coolly send LAFC keeper John McCarthy the wrong way.
The lead proved short lived and a minute into added time a Timothy Tillman across the box found an incoming Acosta who was able to redeem his earlier handball by getting enough of the ball to bounce it into net for the equalizer and a critical away goal for LAFC.
Tigres have edge
In the first of the Champions League semi-finals played Tuesday, Tigres were made to battle for their win in a fast-paced game at the Estadio Universitario in San Nicolas de los Garza, Mexico.
Liga MX rivals Club León started fast and opened the scoring on six minutes after a failed defensive clearance gave Victor Davila time and space to curl in a left-footed shot.
It was a first half chances for both teams until Luis Quinones stepped up to continue his outstanding form in the Champions League on the stroke of half time.
First he delivered a cross that Sebastian Cordova was able to steer into net, and then three minutes into added time he volleyed home a headed clearance.
Tigres take the one-goal advantage to Club León for the return game next Wednesday, but before then they host Tigres in a Liga MX tie on Sunday in León.
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