Concacaf Champions Cup final: Pachuca tops Columbus to reach FIFA Club World Cup

MLS's 2022 Concacaf title might not have been a sign that the U.S. and Canada's top soccer league is close to overtaking Mexico's Liga MX as the best in North America.

Reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew became the circuit's latest to fall short against better funded Mexican opposition in Saturday's Concacaf Champions Cup final. The Crew conceded two first half goals at Pachuca and lost 2-0, ending Columbus' bid to become just the second MLS team to win the regional club championship since 2001. The win sends Pachuca to the expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States next summer.

Liga MX boasts 19 wins this millennium, but the gradual loosening of some salary restrictions for MLS teams and the Seattle Sounders triumph over Leon two years ago suggested that MLS was close to surpassing its Mexican counterpart, which lets its clubs spend on players however they see fit. But LAFC lost to Leon in last year's final, and the Crew — the only MLS side to reach the semis in 2024 — finally fell in the 8,000-foot altitude of Estadio Hidalgo on Saturday after beating both Tigres and Monterrey south of the border to advance to Saturday's decider.

Former Premier League striker Salomón Rondón scored the opener and eventual game-winner for Los Tuzos less than 12 minutes into the contest. Miguel Emilio Rodriguez Macías added a backbreaking second goal 20 minutes later:

Rondón would add a third to complete the rout midway through the second half, but the truth is that the Crew probably never stood a chance in the razor-thin air of Pachuca, where the hosts have a gaudy 27W-0L-3T record in their last 30 Concacaf matches.

Rodriguez Macías's pretty strike and Rondón's clincher got the party started early