Columbus Crew vs CF Monterrey in CONCACAF Champions Cup: Follow Live

Around six months ago, the Crew won their third MLS Cup title. Now, they are vying for a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup finals – all they have to do is finish with more goals than CF Monterrey.

The Crew have the advantage in the two-game series, which is decided by aggregate goals. The Crew won 2-1 the first leg against Monterrey on Friday at Lower.com Field, but it is Monterrey who has the home field advantage Wednesday.

Crew coach Wilfried Nancy, who said he attended Monterrey’s home leg against Inter Miami in the Champions Cup quarterfinals, knows the atmosphere at Estadio BBVA.

“I really enjoyed the passion,” Nancy said. “It was loud, the fans were pushing for their team, but this is something that we like also.”

Takeaways: Columbus Crew takes crucial 2-1 advantage over CF Monterrey in Champions Cup

Follow along for updates from the Columbus Crew-CF Monterrey second leg.

Monterrey midfielder Maximiliano Meza even helped up the aggregate score early in the second leg for Monterrey, nearly putting the ball into the back of the net himself, but it was determined that he forced Crew defender Yevhen Cheberko to record an own goal.

Running up near the center of Columbus’ goal, Meza was found by teammate Jorge Rodriguez. Despite being contested by Cheberko and goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, Meza took control of the ball and sent the ball near the back of the net. The ball hit off Cheberko, which pushed the ball past the Crew’s goal line.

The Crew captain Darlington Nagbe is given a yellow card near the top of Columbus’ box following a handball violation. This set up a free kick for Monterrey a couple feet outside the Crew’s box, but Columbus blocked the kick and regained control.

The Crew recorded their first shot attempt of the match when Cucho Hernandez took a contested shot from the top of Monterrey’s box. The shot was too far right and went out of bounce.

Here are the officials for the Crew-Monterrey match:

Referee: Juan Gabriel Calderon
1st assistant referee: Juan Carlos Mora
2nd assistant referee: William Arrieta
4th official: Walter Lopez
VAR: Benjamin Pineda

With a 2-1 aggregate lead following the first leg, the Crew will advance to the final if they finish the second leg with a win or draw. The Crew will also advance if they lose to Monterrey by one-goal, as long as they score at least two goals.

If the match finishes and Monterrey has a two or more-goal victory or is ahead 1-0, it will be Monterrey that advances.

The only way the match goes into extra time with the possibility of penalty kicks is if at the regulation, Monterrey is up 2-1.

Here is the starting 11 for Monterrey vs Columbus in the second leg:

GK: Esteban Andrada
DF: Gerardo Arteaga
DF: Victor Guzman
DF: Stefan Medina
DF: Sebastian Vegas
MF: Jesus Gallardo
MF: Maximiliano Meza
MF: Jorge Rodriguez
MF: Luis Romo
FW: German Berterame
FW: Sergio Canales

Here is the starting 11 for the Crew vs Monterrey in the second leg:

GK: Patrick Schulte
DF: Rudy Camacho
DF: Yevhen Cheberko
DF: Steven Moreira
MF: Aidan Morris
MF: Darlington Nagbe
MF: Yaw Yeboah
MF: Sean Zawadzki
FW: Cucho Hernandez
FW: Marino Hinestroza
FW: Diego Rossi

The Crew picked up a 2-1 victory over CF Monterrey in the first leg, scoring a goal off the foot of Cucho Hernandez and another off a header from Jacen Russell-Rowe. With Columbus recording 12 shot attempts, eight on goal and four in the final 15 minutes of the match, coach Wilfried Nancy would have liked to walk away with at least one more goal, knowing the challenge ahead.

“We know that it’s going to be tough,” Nancy said. “We’re going to try to do a good game over there and recognize when it’s good for us to attack and it’s good for us to defend. … I cannot tell my team to sit and to wait, this is not the way we do things.”

According to Nancy, the second leg matchup between Columbus and Monterrey is going to be a “battle of power,” and it’s unlikely the Crew advance without putting another goal on the board in Monterrey.

Read more about what to expect from tonight’s Crew-Monterrey second leg match here.

The Crew’s injury report is currently “to be determined.” Here’s who is projected to be unavailable or questionable:

Mo Farsi (groin)
Evan Bush (poor)

More: What channel is Columbus Crew’s second leg match on? Here’s how to watch Crew-CF Monterrey

During the Crew’s MLS regular-season match against CF Montreal on Saturday, Columbus midfielder Mo Farsi was taken off the field on a stretcher with what coach Wilfried Nancy said after the match was a major injury.

Though Farsi was seen after the match walking on his own in the locker room, Nancy confirmed that Farsi will be unavailable for the second leg against Monterrey.

“He’s going to be out,” Nancy said. “But this is not something bad, just going to be out, he’s going to be out for one week.”

On Tuesday night, CF Pachuca secured a spot in the Champions Cup final, which is only one match instead of two, after defeating Club America in the second leg of the semifinals 2-1. In the first leg, the two Liga MX teams finished tied 1-1.

Pachuca’s 3-2 aggregate-goal victory was led by a goal from Andres Micolta in the first leg and goals from Miguel Rodriguez and Nelson Deossa in the second leg.

It is impossible for the Crew to host the championship match following the result of the CF Pachuca-Club America match on Tuesday. The final is one game, unlike the previous series.

Pachuca, which advanced with a 3-2 aggregate-goal victory, now has 14 points in Champions Cup play. The Crew have only nine points with the max amount that could be earned tonight being three, putting them below Pachua in the standings, which determines the host for the final.

In the first leg, the Crew picked up a 2-1 victory over Monterrey at Lower.com Field.

Cucho Hernandez scored in the first half for Columbus, but Monterrey evened the match in the 58th minute with a shot from Maximilano Meza that beat Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte.

Off a corner kick, Jacen Russell-Rowe scored in the 73rd minute, giving Columbus a 2-1 lead.

The Crew have faced Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions Cup once, back in 2021. Darlington Nagbe, Alex Matan and Evan Bush were the only active Columbus players from that series still with the team. Aidan Morris was with the team but was out with a season-ending ACL injury.

In that series, Monterrey and Columbus walked away from the first leg at the Historic Crew Stadium tied 2-2. Once the teams met in Monterrey for the second leg, the home team scored 3 goals and shut out the Crew to knock them out of the tournament.

The Crew are hosting a watch party at Chase Plaza and the Condado Tacos at Lower.com Field for free at Lower.com Field starting at 9:15 pm Though the event is free, tickets are still required, which are available here.

The broadcast of the match will be available on 105.7 FM. Chris Doran will be on the radio call. The Spanish radio broadcast will be available via 102.5 FM La Grande.

The match will be on FS1. Streaming is available via the Fox Sports app. The Spanish broadcast will be on TUDN.

Fox Sports’ broadcast team will feature John Strong (play-by-play) and Stu Holden (analyst) for the second leg of the Crew-Monterrey Champions Cup semifinal series on FS1. The duo of Strong and Holden called the first-leg matchup between Columbus and Monterrey, as well as the Club America-CF Pachuca semifinal matches.

Kickoff is set for 10:15 pm at Estadio BX in Monterrey, Mexico.

After receiving a bye into the Round of 16 due to being MLS Cup champions, the Crew started their CONCACAF Champions Cup journey against Houston Dynamo.

With the first leg taking place on the road March 6, Columbus took a 1-0 aggregate-goal advantage when forward Alex Matan scored in the 96th minute. Matan has been sidelined with a thigh injury since that game.

The Crew returned to Lower.com Field on March 12 for the second leg and took an early 1-0 lead over Houston off a Hernandez goal. Holding onto the lead for most of the match, Columbus would allow the Dynamo to score a penalty kick goal to tie things up 1-1, but the Crew still advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 win on aggregate.

In the first leg of the semifinals, the Crew faced off against Tigres at Lower.com Field on April 3. Before the match could kick off, the teams had to wait out a two-hour rain delay. Without Hernandez for the second match in a row, the Crew relied on attacker Diego Rossi to lead Columbus to a 1-1 tie with his first goal of 2024.

At Estadio Universitario in Mexico for the second leg on April 9, the Crew had to get at least one goal to avoid elimination, as road goals are tie breakers in Champions Cup play. It was Rossi once again who scored for Columbus, but with striker Andre-Pierre Gignac netting one for Tigres with his second goal of the series, the teams finished regulation tied 1-1.

The teams played two 15-minute extra-time periods. After 120 overall minutes of play and the series still tied 2-2 on aggregate, Columbus and Tigres went to a penalty shootout.

Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte saved Tigres’ first two penalty kicks, and with every player besides Hernandez hitting their attempts for Columbus, the club advanced to its first Champions Cup semifinals. The Crew also made tournament history by becoming the first MLS team to defeat a Liga MX team after failing to win its home leg.

Monterrey started Champions Cup play on a tear, defeating the Comunicaciones of Guatemala 7-1 on aggregate in the opening round.

In the round of 16, Monterrey was faced with the challenge of defeating the Crew’s Hell is Real rival, FC Cincinnati. After holding Cincinnati scoreless in a 1-0 first leg victory at TQL Stadium, former Cincinnati forward Brandon Vazquez led Monterrey to a second leg 2-1 victory. That advanced the team to the quarterfinals against Inter Miami.

Despite Miami’s star forward Lionel Messi returning to action in the second leg following a hamstring injury that had sidelined him for nearly a month, Monterrey defeated Miami in both legs, finishing with a 5-2 aggregate.

2003: Lost to Atletico Morelia 6-2 aggregate in the quarter-finals
2010: Lost to Toluca Futbol Club 5-4 aggregate in the quarterfinals
2011: Lost to Real Salt Lake 4-1 aggregate in the quarterfinals
2021: Lost to CF Monterrey 5-2 aggregate in the quarterfinals

The Champions Cup is an annual competition run by CONCACAF, the regional governing body in soccer for North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament includes 27 teams from 10 countries.

Each round, up until the final, will include two legs (two games) and the winner will be determined by the aggregate score (the combined number of goals scored by the two teams).

The final will consist of one match, with the winner qualifying for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

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