The Mazatlan Gunners once again wrote another black page for Liga MX in the 2024 edition of the Leagues Cup by falling on penalties 4-3 to the Philadelphia Union in a duel where the Mexican team was unable to crystallize its football improvement with an important victory for its short history in Mexican soccer.
In the match, Mazatlan deserved better luck due to the way the game went after being down on the scoreboard, but its main mistake was not taking advantage of its superiority on the field due to the home team being sent off, and it went to penalties, where there was no good luck.
Without a doubt, the fact of not taking advantage of the extra man cost the Mazatlan team dearly, which is why they had to risk their lives in the penalty shootout in the end they could not assume this responsibility in an evil that has historically haunted the destiny of Mexican teams.
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In the first half on the Subaru Park field, the Gunners had a better performance, Philadelphia attacked little until the final part, and Mazatlan FC had the chance to open the scoring, but it was really the local team who sent the first warning in the 4th minute when Quinn Sullivan found the ball, hit it without an angle and put it in the side of the net.
Edgar Yoel Barcenas then responded and in the 7th minute tried a shot from the side, the same fate as Jesus Escoboza in the 30th minute, in the first clear chances for the Canoneros.
However, within the Mazatlan problem, luck seemed to change for the Liga MX team when Tai Baribo was sent off in the 41st minute for a non-existent assault on Roberto Meraz. The referee, Selvin Brown, took five minutes to review the VAR and in the end, he took away the red card but gave him a double yellow card and sent him to the showers, an embarrassment for the Leagues Cup organization.
Philadelphia made it 1-0 at the feet of Mikael Uhre, who scored in the 45th minute over Daniel Gutierrez, after winning with speed after a filtered pass from Jack McGlynn and with that put the Mexicans against the wall.
Even Bryan Colula came within a hair’s breadth of tying the game when he shot a ball that he lowered with his chest and hit in the air. Uhre gave Mazatlan another scare by winning on speed, and against Gutierrez, he wasted some time, but he still shot and Luis Gustavo Sanchez blocked it in the 47th minute.
The Canoneros managed to equalize in the 58th minute when they took a short free kick, Ramiro Arciga put in the cross and found Escoboza, who did not miss and headed the ball to 1-1. The tie did not discourage the locals and in the 67th minute, Daniel Gazdag tried to deflect a ball in the area but was unsuccessful, and in the 71st minute Kai Wagner shot and Gutierrez saved it.
In the final part of the match, the Canoneros were very close to winning, when Facundo Ezequiel Almada headed the ball in the 86th minute, but Andre Blake deflected it and it ended up on the crossbar. A series of shots went wide on the rebound. The minutes went by and there were no more goals, so the pass to the Semifinals was decided in the penalty shootout.
This is how the penalties were taken
The Gunners started the shooting with Josue Colman, who missed in front of Blake Jose Andres Martinez scored to give the MLS team the lead.
They followed Mazatlan and Chabelo Arciga scored. Eduardo Torres failed against Blake, which marked a lot in favor of the locals. Escoboza and Raul Camacho made the collection valid.
For the American team, Philadelphia, Jack Elliott, and Damion Lowe scored well. However, Samuel Adeniran failed when he had the pass at his feet and put it on the post. It was then that everything was left to the Venezuelan, Jesus Bueno, who scored to give the pass to the Philadelphia Union.
