Facts and figures from the Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals – First Leg Matches

MIAMI – The 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup continues reaching new milestones with the start of the semifinals.

Club America and Pachuca tied 1-1 in Mexico City on Tuesday while Columbus Crew made its semifinal debut with a 2-1 home victory over Monterrey.

Here are some interesting facts and figures from the first leg matches in the semifinals.

1000th goal for Mexican Clubs

In the match between Club America and CF Pachuca, Ecuadorian footballer Norman Andres Micolta scored the 1000th goal for Mexican clubs since the tournament’s format change in 2008-2009.

Rising the ranks

Alejandro Zendejas scored his fifth goal in the CCC, all wearing the Club América shirt, and positioned himself in fifth place among the club’s historic Mexican scorers, tied with Martin Zuniga.

Zendejas is also the tenth Mexican player to score a goal in first-leg games of the tournament's semifinals.

Maxi Meza (ARG) of CF Monterrey scored his sixth goal in the tournament, all as a player for Rayados, and now ranks fourth among CF Monterrey's all-time top scorers in the tournament.

First Canadian

Jacen Russell-Rowe of Columbus Crew scored his first goal in the tournament, becoming the first Canadian footballer to score a goal for the American club in the history of the tournament.

First Colombian

Norman Micolta became the first Ecuadorian player to score a goal for Pachuca in a semifinal in the tournament. He is the eighth South American player to score for the Tuzos in a semifinal.

Second Colombian

Juan Camilo Hernandez of Columbus Crew scored his second goal in the tournament, becoming the second Colombian to score 2+ goals for the American club. Emilio Renteria scored three goals across the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 editions.

Best streak in the tournament

CF Pachuca has gone ten consecutive matches without losing in the competition (W5, D5), marking its best undefeated streak since participating in the tournament.

Monterrey had a streak of ten consecutive wins ended with their 1-2 defeat at Columbus.

Unbeaten in five

Columbus Crew reached five consecutive games without losing in the tournament (W2 D2). With their victory, they ended a streak of three consecutive draws.

Sixth victory for MLS

Columbus Crew achieved the sixth victory of an MLS team against a Mexican rival in the tournament semifinals.

The other five were:

• August 14, 1998 - DC United 2-0 against Leon
• March 15, 2007 - Houston Dynamo 2-0 against Pachuca
• April 9, 2008 - DC United 2-1 against. Pachuca
• March 15, 2017 - FC Dallas 2-1 against Pachuca
• December 19, 2020 - Los Angeles FC 3-1 against CF America

End of a dry spell

With the victory, Columbus Crew ended a streak of four consecutive games without being able to defeat a Liga MX team in the history of the tournament (D3, L1).

The last time Columbus Crew had defeated a Mexican foe was 21 years and 10 days ago on April 16, 2003, when they beat Monarcas Morelia 2-0 in the second leg of the 2002-2003 quarterfinals.

End of a streak

CF Monterrey ended an impressive streak of six consecutive victories in semifinal matches. Rayados hadn't lost a semifinal match since 2003-04 when they were defeated by LD Alajuelense and failed to qualify for the final.

CF Monterrey suffered only their third defeat against an MLS opponent in 19 matches, which also ended a streak of four consecutive victories in semifinals against MLS teams.