Columbus Crew forward Cucho Hernandez follows the ball in play against Atlanta United during an MLS soccer match earlier this year in Columbus, Ohio.
AP Photo | Aaron Doster
COLUMBUS — For the second time in fewer than nine months, the Columbus Crew beat LAFC at Lower.com Field with a major trophy on the line.
Cucho Hernandez had two goals and an assist to lift the Crew to a 3-1 win on Sunday night in the 2024 Leagues Cup final, which was a rematch of the 2023 MLS Cup final that the Crew also won.
Cucho’s match-winner came in the second minute of stoppage time in the second half when his long ball caught LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris flatfooted and bounced past him into the goal for a 2-1 lead. Seconds later, Cucho started a counterattack and assisted Jacen Russell-Rowe, who ripped a right-footed shot past Lloris to make it a 3-1 score and all but seal the win for the Crew.
The Crew took a 1-0 lead in the final minutes of the first half when Cucho headed a Mo Farsi cross past Lloris. But LAFC responded in the 57th minute as Olivier Giroud, in his first start with the club, scored on a corner past Crew goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen.
This is the second year of the Leagues Cup, which is a competition between MLS, Liga MX, which is the top soccer league in Mexico, and the Canadian Premier League. Inter Miami, bolstered by the arrival of Lionel Messi, won the 2023 trophy.
