Key events
The pregame scene outside of BMO Stadium. I can smell the tacos from here. Can you?
How to watch
A good question! In the US, you can see this one on TBS in English, and on UniMás in Spanish.
Globally, including in the UK, Canada, Mexico, the game can be seen on DAZN. They will also carry the entire rest of this summer’s Club World Cup.
LAFC’s form
LAFC has been in really good, but not outsstanding form of late. The team hasn’t lost since 9 April’s 3-1 result v Inter Miami in the Concacaf Champions Cup, but have only won three of their last eight games. The other five have all been high-scoring draws.
In total, LAFC has managed to give up 12 goals in 8 games and not lose any of those games. Maybe not the best omen for a one-off knockout match, but impressive nonetheless!
So…what’s the deal with this game anyway?
Oddly enough, it all started in Costa Rica. That’s the home country of the club Alajuelense, who filed the first petition to remove either Club León or Pachuca from the competition, despite both being fair-and-square winners the Concacaf Champions Cup. Alajuelense’s reasoning: both teams are owned by Grupo Pachuca, which violates the Club World Cup’s rules against multi-club ownership within the competition.
The matter was raised all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), who ruled that León should be removed from the competition, while also dismissing Alajuelense’s claims to replace them.
In their place, Fifa decided on a playoff between LAFC and Club América, based on regional ranking and, in LAFC’s case, being the team that León defeated in the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup final to qualify for the tournament in the first place.
It’s complicated. More details here:
Club América’s form
Club América is just coming off the disappointment of losing the Liga MX Liguilla final to Toluca, so they’ll be well-practiced for a playoff situation.
