Club América’s 2-0 win over Columbus Crew on Wednesday night, eliminated the 2024 champion and completed the first all-Liga MX semifinal field in Leagues Cup history. At Dignity Health Sports Park, América claimed the last available place alongside Monterrey, León and Toluca. As a result, Liga MX will produce its first champion in the expanded era that began in 2023.
For América, whose cross-border pull is inseparable from Mexico’s Clásico Nacional, the breakthrough came in Carson, California. It is the club’s first Leagues Cup semifinal. The result also belongs to a collective achievement: all four Liga MX qualifiers beat Major League Soccer opposition in the quarterfinals.
Raphael Veiga opened the scoring in the 11th minute after Brian Rodríguez carried the counterattack and found him on the right. Rodolfo Cota then saved Brais Méndez’s penalty in the 39th minute, denying Columbus a route back into the match. Rodríguez supplied the second goal himself at 45+6, sending América into halftime with the lead it would protect.
Columbus had more of the ball and produced more attempts, but those territorial advantages never altered the score. Instead, Cota’s penalty save became the hinge. América punished space twice, then defended the box well enough to turn a potentially anxious second half into a controlled finish.
How Liga MX swept the quarterfinals
Meanwhile, the wider quarterfinal picture was emphatic. Monterrey beat Chicago Fire 2-1, León beat Real Salt Lake 3-0, Toluca beat Austin FC 2-0 and América beat Columbus 2-0. Altogether, Liga MX recorded four direct wins over four Major League Soccer qualifiers, with a combined score of 9-1. Because the 2026 format guaranteed Major League Soccer-versus-Liga MX quarterfinals, bracket luck did not produce the sweep.
A sweep that resists an easy league verdict
The semifinal field is a Liga MX landmark. However, it does not prove that one league controlled the entire tournament. Major League Soccer led Phase One by 32 wins to 22 when shootout victories are included. The balance changed abruptly once the field narrowed to eight clubs. Major League Soccer had the stronger opening phase. Liga MX then won every match that directly decided a semifinal place.
That reversal is sharper because 2025 produced the exact opposite result. Major League Soccer clubs won all four cross-league quarterfinals last year and occupied every semifinal berth. One year later, Liga MX answered with its own 4-0 sweep. Therefore, the semifinal field captures a specific knockout week. It does not deliver a final verdict on the two leagues.
Even so, it is a genuine first. The smaller 2019 and 2021 editions each sent three Liga MX clubs and one Major League Soccer club to the semifinals. By contrast, the expanded tournament had one Liga MX semifinalist in 2023, then none in either 2024 or 2025. No previous edition reached its last four with four Mexican clubs, whether one counts from the original knockout events or from the 2023 expansion.
A landmark still shaped by geography
The United States staged all four quarterfinals. América and Toluca served as designated hosts at neutral venues. Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake held hosting privileges in the other two ties. However, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado staged Real Salt Lake’s match against León as a neutral site. Earlier in the competition, Mexico hosted selected Phase One matches for the first time. The format is becoming less geographically one-sided. Still, its decisive quarterfinal week unfolded north of the border.
Beyond the bracket, Hispanic supporters are reshaping American soccer culture across the United States. That context gives a Mexican club’s presence in Carson meaning beyond its venue assignment. Southern California is not culturally neutral ground for a club with América’s reach. However, officials have not published a verified crowd split. The result should not become a claim about who outnumbered whom in the stands.
América will face Monterrey, while Toluca will meet León in semifinals scheduled for Sept. 1 and 2. The competition has not announced which matchup will play on which date, or the venues and kickoff times. The rivalry between Major League Soccer and Liga MX remains unsettled. However, the 2026 Leagues Cup field is clear: for the first time, its final four belongs entirely to Liga MX.
