LAFC, Columbus to renew rivalry in CONCACAF Champions Cup
A crick in your neck. The pebble in your shoe. In recent meetings, that’s what it’s felt like when the Los Angeles Football Club faced the Columbus Crew.
Losing three straight to the 2023 MLS Cup and 2024 Leagues Cup champions, both titles coming at LAFC’s expense, MLS’s original Black & Gold squad has stood especially tall since French head coach Wilfried Nancy assumed the position two seasons ago.
That has certainly been the case each of the three times Nancy’s teams shared the field with LAFC.
Last July, a month before collecting the Leagues Cup, 3-1, in Ohio, the Crew visited L.A. Their composed yet aggressive 5-1 thrashing buried LAFC’s club record 13-match unbeaten streak and stopped a 14-0-2 run at BMO Stadium.
“This is a consequence of the way we acted, the way we were,” Nancy said that night. “I’m not surprised, with a lot of humility.”
Just over a half year after the disappointing MLS Cup final, LAFC’s worst-ever defeat at BMO Stadium included “some things that can’t ever repeat themselves,” suggested head coach Steve Cherundolo, whose side had earned 28 of 30 points against MLS opponents before Nancy’s crew arrived that night.
When the three-time MLS champions followed up against LAFC to claim the Leagues Cup title, they also earned a bye into the Round of 16 for the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup. Thanks to the tournament draw, once LAFC advanced past the Colorado Rapids last week, another high-stakes showdown with Columbus officially went on the books. The two-leg series starts Tuesday night at BMO Stadium and concludes the following Tuesday (March 11) at Lower.com Field in Columbus.
“I think the strongest trait, and what’s underestimated most about this Columbus team is their work rate,” Cherundolo said. “I think it’s a team that works harder than any other team in this league, whether they have the ball or don’t have the ball. And that is to me a marker of success. I don’t think that gets talked about enough, and so having that said I think for us it’s really important to at least match the intensity and understand that if you’re going to compete with a team like this, and we can, you need to run. You need to work.”
One significant difference will be the absence of Colombian attacker Cucho Hernandez, who was named MLS Cup MVP in 2023 and the Leagues Cup best player in 2024.
Hernandez, 25, dominated LAFC in his three Nancy-led matches, scoring four goals, adding an assist, and generally being a pest in the offensive third.
Named to the MLS Best XI the past two seasons, Hernandez was transferred to Spanish club Real Betis in early February, leaving Nancy with former LAFC star Diego Rossi operating alongside homegrown talent Jacen Russell-Rowe, who scored Saturday in Foxborough, Mass., to lift Columbus over New England for a 2-0-0 start to the regular season.
“They’ve remained just as successful and just as dangerous,” Cherundolo said. “It’s still the same problems you would have seen last year, you’ll see again this year if you don’t defend properly and make sure Columbus is also occupied defensively. If we can’t manage to do that then it’ll be a long night.
“Our players are eager at the challenge and ready to go.”
COLUMBUS CREW AT LAFC
What: CONCACAF Champions Cup, Round of 16, first leg
When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: BMO Stadium, Los Angeles
TV/radio: FS2, TUDN, ViX (Spanish), 980 AM