Toluca advanced to the Round of 16 of the 2024 Leagues Cup after an unbeatable penalty shootout against Houston Dynamo.
It took 38 minutes for the Shell Energy Stadium to celebrate its first goal of the night after fortune favoured the Red Devils.
The Texans lost the ball at the start, Maxi Araújo recovered it and passed it to Jesús Angulo, who shot, but the ball bounced off the foot of defender Griffin Dorsey to sneak in near the far post and open the scoring.
Despite the advantage, Toluca was able to keep the ball and gave the initiative to their rival, who would equalize shortly before half-time thanks to the quality of Argentine striker Ezequiel Ponce.
The former AEK Athens player received a high pass in the box, where he was directed in front of goal without the ball touching the ground. After turning around and despite Tiago Volpi’s save, Ponce shot and scored his goal, giving Dynamo a moral victory at half-time.
Already in the second half, the Houston team managed to turn the game around in less than 20 minutes with a series of passes in the area on a corner kick.
Micael pushed the ball in, but the referee pointed out a non-existent offside which was confirmed by the VAR and the goal was awarded so that the ‘visitors’ could advance to the Round of 16.
In the last play of the match, Toluca dramatically found the 2-2 thanks to Edgar López’s header and then everything would be decided in a penalty shootout. From the 11 steps, the Devils made no mistakes and it was López who sentenced Dynamo to advance to the Round of 16.
