RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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CARSON, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 26: Henry Martin #9 of the Club America looks on before the Leagues Cup quarterfinal match between Club America and Columbus Crew at Dignity Health Sports Park on August 26, 2026 in Carson, California. (Photo by Luiza Moraes - Leagues Cup/MLS via Getty Images)
MLS via Getty Images
After three years of futility in the Leagues Cup , the tables turned this week, with all four Liga MX quarterfinalists sweeping MLS opposition on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
For three of them, the question is: now what?
For all the talk of this joint Liga MX-MLS event providing a second pathway into the Concacaf Champions Cup, of four 2026 semifinalists from Liga MX, only Club León needs one.
Toluca and Club América had already secured their place in Concacaf’s 2027 continental championship before Leagues Cup began. And now CF Monterrey is also guaranteed a place, either directly via a top-3 Leagues Cup finish, or from a reallocated berth based on the 2025-26 aggregate Liga MX table when Toluca and Club América snag a top-3 Leagues Cup finish.
2026 Leagues Cup Quarterfinals
Tuesday, August 25
CF Monterrey 2, Chicago Fire 1 Club León 3, Real Salt Lake 0
Wednesday, August 26
Toluca 2, Austin FC 0 Club América 2, Columbus Crew 0
After MLS’ meek performance in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup against Liga MX foes, the all-Mexican semifinal field could be more reason to pile on to the argument that clubs north of the border just don’t have what it takes to succeed in continental play.
But the results are more interesting for what they say about how much more entrenched power exists at the top of the Liga MX hierarchy than in MLS, occasionally creating scenarios like this one, where it’s not quite clear what three of the four semifinalists are playing for.
Mexican teams have won 21 of 24 Concacaf crowns in the modern era of the tournament, when knockout play switched to a home-and-home, aggregate-goals format beginning in 2002. But 14 of those titles have been won by just three clubs, and two of them – América and Monterrey – are now vying to add a Leagues Cup title to their cabinet.
When it comes to MLS performance on the Concacaf stage, there just aren’t clubs that make continental play their regular calling card .
The Seattle Sounders are the only MLS team to win the thing in the modern era, and they also captured the 2025 Leagues Cup. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Football Club is the only MLS side to reach the final twice, with six others getting there once.
And when you looked at the four MLS teams in these Leagues Cup semifinals, Columbus was the only team that won a major domestic or continental honor since 2009.
Concacaf Champions Cup Titles
Since 2002
CF Pachuca 6 CF Monterrey 5 Club América 3 Toluca 2 LD Alajuelense 1 Atlante 1 Cruz Azul 1 CD Guadalajara 1 Club Leon 1 Deportivo Saprissa 1 Seattle Sounders 1 Tigres UANL 1
It’s not that MLS doesn’t have clubs that have tried to become their league’s equivalent of Club América or CD Guadalajara, Mexico’s two most popular clubs. In different ways, Inter Miami, LAFC, Seattle and Columbus have made valiant attempts to occupy a similar space in the domestic hierarchy over the last decade.
It’s more accurate to say that the current roster rules and restrictions have succeeded in leveling the field to the extent that none has achieved superclub dominance on the field, at least so far.
That may be a critical consideration as ownership considers reshaping and simplifying those rules under incoming MLS Commissioner-elect Larry Berg .
It’s widely presumed that such a reform is coming, perhaps in time for the MLS schedule flip that will begin when the 2027-28 season launches in late July of next year. The question is whether those reforms make it easier for the league’s most ambitious clubs to consolidate some of that power, or whether they seek to simplify spending mechanisms while protecting league-wide parity.
The former likely goes a long way toward evening the playing field on the continental stage. But there are perhaps reasons not to toss aside parity so cavalierly.
For all Liga MX’s success on the continental stage, it has arguably been surpassed by MLS in developing talent. Increasingly, the Mexico national team is looking to poach players developed by MLS clubs, rather than the other way around. And that may be in part because the roster mechanisms that limit spending make it a more favorable league for developing young talent rather than simply importing it.
Additionally, the U.S. isn’t Mexico. Its population is more evenly spread out across dozens of major metropolitan markets. And systems that promote parity are a cultural expectation for major professional sports.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
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