Leagues Cup dreaming! LA Galaxy deny LIGA MX leaders Pachuca | OneFootball

By Justin Ruderman

Another high-stakes test, another victory.

Led by captain Marco Reus, the LA Galaxy secured their Leagues Cup 2025 semifinal spot with a 2-1 win over CF Pachuca on Wednesday night at Dignity Health Sports Park.

By knocking the last LIGA MX contender out of the tournament, LA will host Western Conference rival Seattle Sounders FC next Wednesday (10:45 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+).

“I thought the guys were awesome. I thought the first half was a beautiful display of soccer and ball movement and personnel movement,” said head coach Greg Vanney post-match.

“I thought our work rate on the defensive side was excellent. I thought just the commitment over the whole game was great, and you need to win games like this [in] tough circumstances.”

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Adiós LIGA MX

Throughout Leagues Cup, the Galaxy have repeatedly frustrated Mexican opposition.

Their Phase One outings included a 5-2 thumping of Club Tijuana, helping end Cruz Azul's chances of reaching the knockout phase, and a 4-0 rout of Santos Laguna. Now, they've sent the LIGA MX Apertura leaders packing in the quarterfinal stage.

"Sometimes, like we did in the first couple of games, we got the better of a couple of teams because we executed really well on the day," Vanney said of his team's success against LIGA MX. "We caught them with some different things.
I think sometimes our teams are built a little bit different than the teams that they face on a week-to-week basis."

The G's victory completed an MLS sweep after Inter Miami CF ousted Tigres UANL, Orlando City outlasted Toluca on penalties and Seattle did the same against Puebla to eliminate all four LIGA MX quarterfinalists.

“I think the biggest thing in this tournament – we've been seeing this kind of happen over the last couple of years – is I just think the balance between the two leagues is getting much closer ... I think across the board, all of our teams can be competitive against their teams. Their teams are competitive against our teams," said Vanney.

"I think what you're seeing now is that there's a lot of parity amongst the groups, that a team like us that hasn't had a great season can defeat the team that's started off with a great season there."

Rolls-Reus

All night, Reus pulled the strings in midfield. After playing a cross that led to a Pachuca own-goal 27 minutes in, the German playmaker completed a slick counterattacking move created by Joseph Paintsil and Matheus Nascimento to double the hosts' lead 10 minutes later.

"That's just kind of feeling the game and feeling a moment and turning a situation into a dangerous situation, that turns into a goal," Vanney observed.

"But again, his ability to tie things together and find the right people at the right time, show up in possessions to help us to break pressure sometimes, just is, again – his game awareness and his understanding of the situation, what he needs to do, is of high level. Which is Marco Reus, you know. So that's not surprising."

Reus has already shifted focus from his influential performance against Pachuca to what he hopes will be an equally large impact against Seattle.

"Of course, the season is quite hard for us, for every player, for the fans as well. The last chance is for Leagues Cup," said Reus. "We are in the semifinals, and everything is possible. We play home and then we will see if we can reach the final again."

Sights on the semis

As reigning MLS Cup champions, LA enjoy hosting privileges throughout Leagues Cup 2025, including if they make the tournament final on Aug. 31.

But first, the Galaxy will welcome Seattle next Wednesday with a trip to the championship match up for grabs. Additionally, the tournament's top three finishers qualify for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.

"A club like the Galaxy, our expectation is that we should be competing for championships," said Vanney.

"Obviously, our season has been anything but that. But if we can find an alternative route to get ourselves back into Champions [Cup], I think that puts us back into the type of tournament, like Champions [Cup], that we want to be in. For us, it's an expectation that we need to be there."

Adding some spice to Wednesday's semifinal, the Galaxy have an opportunity to enact revenge for a recent 4-0 home defeat to the Sounders in league play.

"We played against them one or two weeks ago. We lost against them. It’s a good team, no question, a very good team," prefaced Reus. "But like I said, if we play with the high intensity, play aggressive, everybody wants the ball, then we have a good team. Let’s see."

WATCH: Sweep! LA Galaxy knock off Pachuca for all-MLS semifinals