David Martinez scored his second and third goals of the tournament to lift Los Angeles FC to a 2-1 victory over visiting Tigres UANL on Matchday 3 of Leagues Cup opening-phase play on Tuesday night.

The 19-year-old Venezuelan opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 38th minute, then scored a brilliant solo goal after outpacing two defenders down the left flank in the 64th minute.

That helped keep quarterfinal hopes flickering for 2024 tournament finalist LAFC (1-0-2, 6 points), who ended the night holding the fourth and final MLS berth, but with eight teams still capable of catching them.

Four Mexican teams and four MLS teams will earn quarterfinal berths.

Ivan Lopez scored just moments after his halftime introduction for Tigres (2-1-0, 6 points), who ended the night holding the third Liga MX berth. Five Mexican teams will have a chance to overtake Tigres during the final two days of the opening phase.

Toluca 2, New York City FC 1

Paulinho scored his fourth goal of the tournament in the 39th minute and visiting Toluca came from behind again to earn an important victory.

Jesus Angulo recorded his second of the tournament in the 37th minute for Toluca (2-0-1, 8 points), which finished Tuesday on top of the tournament’s Liga MX standings.

Alonso Martinez scored his second goal of the tournament for New York City FC (1-2-0, 3 points), which was eliminated with the defeat.

The Cityzens became the second straight Leagues Cup opponent to lose to Toluca after scoring first, and the third to drop points.

Crew 1, Club Leon 0

Max Arfsten scored early in the second half to give host Columbus a victory against already-eliminated Leon.

Patrick Schulte made four saves to keep his first tournament clean sheet to go with two so far during the MLS regular season.

That was enough to push the Crew (2-0-1, 7 points) to the top of the MLS side of the standings through Tuesday. Eight teams still have the chance to surpass Columbus in their final opening-phase matches.

Leon (0-2-1, 1 point) went their last 259 minutes of play without scoring after Rogelio Funes Mori’s early strike in a 1-1 draw against CF Montreal on Matchday 1.

CF Pachuca 2, Houston Dynamo 1

Gaston Togni’s 85th-minute winner lifted visiting Pachuca momentarily to second in the Liga MX standings.

Luis Quinones gave the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup winners the lead in the 24th minute as the Tuzos (2-0-1, 7 points) tried to prolong their bid for another continental honor.

Amine Bassi pulled Houston (0-3-0, 0 points) level from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute on a foul awarded by referee Adonis Carrasco following video review.

However, Togni’s goal came only three minutes later. It was enough to secure victory against Dynamo, who have scored one goal or fewer in 10 of their past 11 matches in all competitions.

Puebla 2, CF Montreal 1

Ricardo Marin scored in the 73rd minute as visiting Puebla eventually seized on a lengthy numerical advantage to rally past Montreal and keep their knockout-phase hopes alive.

Emiliano Gomez added his second goal of the tournament for Puebla (2-1-0, 6 points) earlier in the second half after seeing his first-half penalty kick saved. Those second-half goals moved Puebla up to fourth in the Liga MX standings at the end of Tuesday night, behind Tigres on goal-difference.

Montreal’s Joel Waterman was sent off for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity on the foul that led to the penalty. However, Prince Owusu scored his second goal of the tournament early in the second half to briefly give CF Montreal (0-2-1, 2 points) the lead on a night when their elimination became official.

Both teams finished with 10 men when Raul Castillo received his second caution in second-half stoppage time.

San Diego FC 2, Mazatlan FC 0

Onni Valakari scored a second-half brace as already-eliminated San Diego ended Mazatlan’s tournament run.

Anders Dreyer set up Valakari’s first in the 66th minute for his 28th goal involvement in all competitions this season. Eight minutes later, David Vazquez’s slick pass freed Valakari to seal the win for San Diego (1-2-0, 3 points).

Mazatlan (1-1-1, 5 points) finished with 10 men after captain Nicolas Benedetti was sent off for bumping into referee Walter Lopez while arguing a call in the 78th minute.

The Canoneros will return to Liga MX having been shut out in three of six matches since 2025 Apertura play began.

–Field Level Media