Day two of the 2023 Leagues Cup, Round of 16 saw two more teams punch their tickets into the Round of 8. I hate to disappoint you if you were expecting high-scoring games like the Inter Miami and FC Dallas match.
There were only two matches for this portion of the 2023 Leagues Cup, Round of 16 due to forecasted thunderstorms which had to postpone the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls match. Leagues Cup said the match will be played on Tuesday, Aug. 8, at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Even with that postponement, the Round of 16 still needs to continue.
Queretaro vs. New England
This was the first time these two teams had been on the same pitch together, and they made sure to put on a show for the fans. New England kept the ball more than Queretaro, 66 percent to 34 percent. The shots were close, but New England got a couple more off, 13-10. Queretaro had more accuracy in putting three shots on goal than New England's two shots on goal. There were also a total of four yellow cards that were given out, three to Queretaro and one to New England.
In the 46th minute, Queretaro's Jaime Gómez Valencia started to run up the middle of the field when Barrera lobbed the ball up for Valencia. As the ball was coming down, Valencia was able to get a head on the ball, sending the goalkeeper offline. The ball passed and scored in the bottom center of the goal. Queretaro leads 1-0.
New England knew that they had to do something, they started to play harder, and in the 78th minute, England's Polster passed the ball forward to a waiting Esmir Bajraktarevic. The ball landed right at his feet, and he shot it toward the goal. The ball flies past the goalkeeper and scores in the bottom left corner. Match tied 1-1.
The match ends in a 1-1 draw, and a penalty shootout needs to decide the winner. New England gets to shoot first and scores the goal like Queretaro does on their turn. This occurs in the fourth round. In the fourth Round, New England's Nacho Gil lines up for the shot, takes a stutter step, and sends it to the left bottom corner, where the goalkeeper gets a hand on it and saves it. Queretaro comes up with their shot and scores. New England's Ian Harkes is their last hope. Harkes comes up to the ball and goes to the bottom left corner. Queretaro's goalkeeper sees it and dives that way, making the stop and winning the penalty shootout.
Queretaro moves on to the Round of 8 with a final score line of 1-1 (4-3 penalty kicks)
Charlotte FC vs. Houston Dynamo FC
Charlotte FC and Houston Dynamo had only met one other time on the pitch, which was back on 4/7/2022 when Charlotte won 2-1. In their second match, Charlotte showed they were still the dominant side. Charlotte led in all categories: possession; 52 percent to 48 percent, shots; 14-7; and shots on goal; 6-3. Three yellow cards were also given out, one to Charlotte and two to Houston.
Houston first started to move fast at the beginning, where in the 10th minute, G. Quinones Iturre had the ball wide and passed it to the middle of the box, where Corey Baird put a foot on it and scored in the bottom right of the goal. Houston leads 1-0.
It was not looking good for Charlotte, coming late into the match. Charlotte was getting shots and shots on goal but could not get anything to go in. That was until the 80th minute; Charlotte had the ball deep in their defense zone when J. Lindsey put up a high pass to the attacking area and fell right in front of Patrick Agyemang. Aguemang got around the goalkeeper, who came up in the box, then around a defender to place a shot into the open goal. Match tied 1-1.
Not even 45 seconds after Aguemang scored his goal, it all went downhill for Houston. After the kickoff, the ball was at the feet of Houston's Micael when he decided to pass it back to his goalkeeper but passed it too far to his left, causing it to roll right into his own goal. Charlotte leads 2-1.
This match had a lot of defense play on one end of the pitch and many shots on the other. Then the downfall of Houston with an own goal to seal the win and help Charlotte to move on to the Round of 8. The final score of this match was 2-1.