MLS Steamrolls Liga MX in Leagues Cup 2026 First Round

The numbers leave little room for interpretation: MLS steamrolled Liga MX in the first round of the Leagues Cup 2026. It only took three matchdays for the gap between the two leagues to become crystal clear, and not by a small margin.

Let's start with the simplest measure: wins. US clubs racked up 27 victories in this stage, while Mexican sides managed just 19. That gap of eight extra wins translates, unsurprisingly, into an even sharper difference on the points table: MLS clubs combined for 94 points, compared to the 68 gathered by Liga MX teams.

And how tight was the race to advance to the next round? There's an interesting story there too. In Liga MX, the last qualifying spot went to a team with 6 points, and only 7 clubs finished with that same total. That means just three eliminated teams were still fighting for a spot right down to the wire. In MLS, things were far more contested: 10 teams finished with exactly 6 points, a sign that the race was much tighter than what played out on the Mexican side.

There's another number worth noting that has to do with the bottom of the table. In MLS, every single team managed to pick up at least one point. The weakest record belonged to Vancouver Whitecaps, with just one point, but they still got on the board. On the Mexican side, not every team was so fortunate: Tijuana and Puebla finished the entire first round without a single point.

The offensive numbers tell a similar story. MLS clubs fell just one goal short of triple digits, scoring 99 goals in total, while Liga MX teams finished with 69. A 30 goal gap between the two leagues in just three matchdays says plenty about the pace each side brought to the tournament.

What would have happened under the old format?

Had qualification been decided the way it was in past editions, through an overall table rather than groups, the picture for Liga MX would have looked even tougher. Based on these numbers, MLS would have placed five teams among the top eight, leaving Mexican clubs with only three representatives: Leon, America and Toluca.

The top eight from this first round looked like this: Chicago Fire with 9 points and a plus 5 goal differential, Leon also with 9 points and plus 3, Austin FC with 8 points and plus 6, Columbus Crew with 8 points and plus 3, Real Salt Lake with 7 points and plus 7, America with 7 points and plus 3, LAFC with 7 points and plus 1, and rounding out the group, Toluca with 6 points.

With this snapshot of the first round in hand, Liga MX heads into the quarterfinals facing the task of reversing a trend that, at least across these three matchdays, left MLS as the league setting the tone for the tournament.