If Major League Soccer wants to sell to the world, it’s one of the best or growing soccer leagues in the world, it needs to do a better job of commanding their own region.
MLS sides have historically and continue to struggle to defeat Mexican teams in the Concacaf Champions Cup, and on Tuesday two of their better sides were completely manhandled by their Mexican counterparts.
After a 0-0 draw in leg one in Philadelphia, Pachuca hammered the Union 6-0, Tigres also drew 0-0 with Orlando City in Florida, and while a tighter match 4-2 in favor of Tigres in Mexico, two of MLS’ better sides are out of the CCC.
MLS record in Mexico
As reported by Jonathan Yardley, MLS sides have an abysmal record in Mexico:
MLS teams are 5-58-14 in competitive games playing in Mexico no matter what stage of the tournament. When it comes to 2- leg series against teams from Mexico the results “improve” to 13-49.
When the series is determined in a second leg in Mexico things go back to normal with a 5-31 record. MLS teams still have major difficulty winning on Mexican soil with many pundits clamoring for MLS owners to spend more on their rosters to catch up to the better teams in Mexico.
Five MLS teams are still alive in the CCC but when the round of 16 is over, only two clubs are guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals so far, the MLS champions Columbus Crew and the winner of Nashville SC – Inter Miami series.
