27th Sep, 2023, 09:17 ET
Has Mexico’s Dominance over the United States come to an end? We analyze the failure in the Leagues Cup and the outlook for the Campeones Cup and next year’s activities.
While Lionel Messi lifted the Leagues Cup trophy on August 19th, securing his first title with Inter Miami and the first in the club’s history, the discussion south of the US border was quite different.
Out of the tournament’s 47 teams, 29 from MLS and 18 from Liga MX, only one Mexican club, Monterrey, reached the semifinals. Inter Miami’s victory meant that, for the second time since 2022, an MLS club became champion in a tournament against Mexican rivals. Naturally, this led to criticism and questioning in Mexico.
Given the recent results, has the dominance of Mexican football come to an end? Can Tigres improve the outlook for Mexican teams when they face Los Angeles FC on Wednesday in the Campeones Cup?
Tigres will clash with Los Angeles FC for the Campeones Cup. Imago7
The Failure of Liga MX in the Leagues Cup
The competition began on July 21st with five matches, including the notable Cruz Azul versus Inter Miami game. The match, held at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, marked Lionel Messi’s debut for the MLS club, and he sealed the victory with a 94th-minute free-kick goal. The result led to two very different paths: Miami became the champion, while Cruz Azul, one of Mexico’s most popular teams, ended up sacking Ricardo Ferretti as their coach.
“The Messi effect certainly had a lot to do with the commercial success [of the tournament],” said Hérculez Gómez, an ESPN analyst. “And in terms of watching MLS teams against Liga MX, it was one of the most attractive aspects of the Leagues Cup,” he continued.
The magnitude of the Leagues Cup, with its 47 teams, posed logistical challenges from the start. In the initial phase, an attempt was made to minimize travel distances by organizing teams into groups with some geographic coherence.
However, the advantage of playing at home for MLS clubs was evident. While the distances between matches were short during this phase, Mexican clubs had to endure long flights to even reach the tournament. For example, to play their first group stage match against Montreal, UNAM’s Pumas embarked on a five-hour flight covering 3,710 kilometers. On the other hand, D.C. United flew 788 kilometers in a one-and-a-half-hour flight to the same Canadian city.
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“I think, economically speaking, it certainly makes sense [to play Leagues Cup] in the United States,” said Don Garber, MLS commissioner, before the final. “So I don’t think there’s a reason to move it, but let’s take a step back when it’s all over and evaluate everything,” he continued.
Without exception, all Liga MX teams had to travel to participate in the tournament, but there were MLS teams that didn’t have to travel at all. Philadelphia, the team that defeated Monterrey in the third-place match to secure their spot in the 2024 CONCACAF Champions League, played all seven of their matches at home. LAFC, who skipped the group stage due to being the reigning MLS champion, played their three matches in Los Angeles. However, they had to relocate from BMO Stadium to the Rose Bowl for the quarterfinals due to a concert by Mexican artist Marco Antonio Solís.
Meanwhile, Monterrey accumulated over 15,000 kilometers of travel to play their seven matches in the span of almost a month. They were by far the team that had to travel the most to fulfill their obligations in the Leagues Cup. Complaints about the format and logistics were raised at various points during the tournament, as well as the fact that the entire tournament was held in the United States.
“I’m talking about all Mexican teams that have suffered various setbacks due to injustice. There’s a lot to improve, and hopefully they do, because it’s not right at all,” said José Antonio Noriega, Monterrey’s president, before their match against LAFC.
Cruz Azul was eliminated by Charlotte FC in a penalty shootout. AP
As Leagues Cup is a joint effort between Liga MX and MLS, Garber’s words have a greater impact since the Mexican club owners accepted this logistical model, which involved extensive travel and limited time between matches. In other words, the Liga MX owners are at least partially responsible for the difficulties faced by their teams.
Despite that, there are no plans to play matches in both Mexico and the United States in 2024.
Within the Leagues Cup organizing committee, changes to the format are already being discussed. One proposal, according to sources, is to give certain Liga MX teams shared home games in MLS stadiums where there is a significant population of Mexican-Americans. These teams would play their matches based on their standings against potential opponents.
Rayados reached the semifinals of the Leagues Cup, where they were defeated by Nashville. AP
Leagues Cup: A “Historic Announcement” Conceived by Liga MX and MLS
The current format of the Leagues Cup was first announced in September 2021, presented by Don Garber, MLS commissioner; Victor Montagliani, CONCACAF President; and Mikel Arriola, who had been the head of Liga MX for less than a year.
“We celebrate the historic announcement of the new competition ecosystem established by CONCACAF, which includes an expansion of the Leagues Cup,” Arriola said at the time.
Check here for all the news and results from Liga MX. The “historic” aspect was that it was the first time a tournament had been designed in which all teams from two different international leagues would compete for a common trophy.
Alongside Garber and Montagliani, although Arriola was the one to announce the tournament, it was not originally his idea from the Mexican side. Former Liga MX CEO Enrique Bonilla announced in 2018 that he was seeking to merge MLS and Liga MX following the announcement that the United States, Canada, and Mexico would host the 2026 World Cup. “It’s a possibility, a North American league,” Bonilla said in London.
In March 2021, FIFA President Gianni Infantino spoke positively about the possibility. But the failure of the European Super League in April of that same year clearly changed the landscape. Five months later, the Leagues Cup was reborn as the realization of Bonilla’s dream.
Results (and numbers) worth analyzing
Despite the Leagues Cup 2023 ending with two MLS teams in the final, the results between teams from both leagues were neither overwhelmingly positive for one side nor entirely negative for the other.
In the current season, MLS away teams have won 23% of matches as visitors. During the Leagues Cup, Liga MX teams won 36.7% of matches in regular time, a figure that highlights the level of both leagues. However, MLS teams won seven out of 12 penalty shootouts against Mexican teams in the Leagues Cup. In contrast, MLS teams have only won 11% of matches played in Mexico for the CONCACAF Champions League since 2018.
Queretaro surprised by being one of the two Liga MX teams to reach the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup. AP
In other words, it is three times more likely to see a Liga MX team win at an MLS stadium than an MLS team win at a Liga MX stadium.
“I think if [Leagues Cup] were played in Mexico, you would see Liga MX teams thrashing the MLS teams,” said Omar González, New England Revolution defender, during the competition.
The reality is that, despite these reassuring numbers, seeing an MLS team compete against a Liga MX team on their home turf is still a daunting task.
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