Orlando City Opens Leagues Cup Against Liga MX Side C.F. Monterrey

The opening matchday of the Leagues Cup brought another MLS vs. Liga MX showdown as Orlando City hosted C.F. Monterrey. It turned into a physical affair, featuring multiple yellow cards, several lengthy VAR reviews, and three disallowed Monterrey goals. 

Orlando City entered the match having won two of its last three MLS matches, sitting 10th in the Eastern Conference with 20 points—three points behind the playoff qualification line. On the opposite side C.F Monterrey is just 3 matches into their 2026/27 season and have 2 wins in those games after finishing 13th in Liga MX last season. However, this is the Leagues Cup where anything can happen.

Orlando City's starting XI featured Crepeau in goal behind Dorsey, Brekalo, captain Jansson, and Rhein. Otavio and Atuesta anchored the midfield, while Ellis, Spicer, Angulo, and Griezmann led the attack.

After nearly 90 minutes of weather delay the game got started with Orlando City having the ball. However, it was CF Monterrey who would score first, or so they thought. After a quick look at VAR it was determined that Durdevic of Monterrey was offsides, negating a beautiful setup keeping the game 0-0. Monterrey continued to pressure  Crepeau and the Orlando City defense, creating several dangerous chances in the first 15 minutes, every shot missed the target or found Crepeau. 

Luca Orellano would receive the first booking of the night fouling Ellis in the midfield. Shortly after in the 27th minute, Orlando would break the tie when Spincer would feed the ball into the box where he would find a running Griezmann, who would slide the ball home. Orlando leads 1-0 after 27 minutes. 

Both teams would have chances leading into the half with Griezmann getting one of the best chances just into stoppage time when he would sneak in behind the play at the top of the box, but his shot would be stopped. Play would end at half time with Orlando City leading 1-0.

Monterrey would start the 2nd half with the ball and once again would strike quickly in the half, just to have it also negated as again Durdevic was pulled offsides. Just off the restart from the offsides, Orlando gave the ball away in a dangerous spot but Durdevic would be denied by Crepeau. 

In the 49th minute there would be absolute chaos as a ball sent into the box was corralled by Crepeau, but Reyes would continue his run and made contact with the keeper when he was down. Crepeau immediately confronted Reyes, sparking a mass confrontation that included players from both benches. After another lengthy VAR review, head referee booked both Crepeau and Reyes for their roles in the incident.

In the 57th minute there was a ball from Orlando sent into the box where Spicer went for goal just to be taken down by Monterrey’s goalie. After another lengthy VAR review, Orlando was awarded a penalty when Spicer was taken down by Monterrey goalkeeper. Although many expected Griezmann to take the kick, he handed the ball to Spicer. The winger later said postgame that he had been practicing penalties and felt confident from the spot. He rewarded that confidence by burying his effort into the upper-left corner to double Orlando's lead.

Monterrey would be on the attack a lot after that goal with multiple chances in the 60-69th minutes but couldn’t find anything. They thought they would get a penalty in the 75th minute when Jansson would push off Reyes in the box. Another VAR break and it was not awarded as a penalty. Another offsides on a goal from Monterrey in the 83rd minute, this seemed like a story of the game from Monterrey. 

In the 9th minute of stoppage time Monterrey would finally find the goal off a header from Cyupers. There wouldn’t be anything else from Monterrey as Orlando would keep playing the ball deep into Monterrey’s side until time ran out and Orlando would come away with a 2-1 win.

Overall it felt like Monterrey had the most chances but couldn’t capitalize as they kept sneaking in early. For Orlando it was all about making the best of the chances they did get. 

Orlando will look to grab another win on Saturday when they play one of Mexicos oldest teams Club Leon. Club Leon comes in with an 1-0 win against Nashville SC on Wednesday and in their last Liga MX match against Pachuca. Club Leon has given up 4 goals since they started their 2026/27 season and 3 of them came in their first game against Atlas. Outside of that they have been one of the best defensive teams in Liga MX. This will be a great test for Orlando who has scored 9 goals in their 4 games since returning from World Cup play. Orlando vs Club Leon will take place Saturday August 8th at 6:30pm.