Columbus Crew vs Sporting Kansas City set for Leagues Cup round of 32
The Crew have learned who they face in their first game in the 2024 Leagues Cup tournament. Columbus has drawn Sporting Kansas City for the round of 32 after Kansas City fell to Liga MX's Toluca FC on Monday.
Kansas City will travel to Columbus to take on the Crew on Friday at Lower.com Field for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
As the reigning MLS Cup champions, the Crew were given a bye into the knockout stage of Leagues Cup and were scheduled to play the second-ranked team out of the West 4 group. Additionally, Columbus will host every Leagues Cup game that they are featured in this year.
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In a group play, Kansas City first defeated the Chicago Fire 2-1 on July 28 before falling to Toluca 2-1. Toluca went on to win the West 4 group, picking up another win over the Fire 3-1 on Aug. 1, but Toluca is on the other side of the bracket, starting the knockout stage against the Houston Dynamo.
The Crew played Kansas City at Lower.com Field on June 22 in an MLS regular-season game, and Columbus won that match 4-0 behind a hat trick from striker Cucho Hernandez. Following the game, Kansas City fired its technical director Brian Bliss.
The winner of Columbus-Kansas City will go on to face the winner of the game between Toronto FC and Inter Miami. Miami star forward Lionel Messi will likely be unavailable if his club advances, as Messi is dealing with an ankle injury that kept him out of the MLS All-Star Game in Columbus.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew vs Sporting Kansas City in Leagues Cup round of 32
