New York City FC captured the Premier Division title at the Generation adidas Cup last year and at least two MLS teams will have the chance to match that this year.
The Montreal Impact and Seattle Sounders both advanced to the semifinals in the 2018 Generation adidas Cup, defeating MLS opponents to win their groups. They will play each other on Thursday at Toyota Stadium with a chance to advance to the finals on Saturday. The Premier Division is the lower of the two divisions at GA Cup.
Montreal entered the day needing a win against the Philadelphia Union and some help from the Colorado Rapids, who were playing Club Tijuana. The Impact managed to get goals from Woobens Pacius and Calin Calaidjoglu to get by the Union and the Rapids beat Xolos 3-1 to keep the Mexican club at just three points in the group. The Impact and Union tied on six points and Montreal advanced thanks to their head-to-head win.
Seattle played Columbus Crew SC in a winner-take-all match and the two sides played to a stalemate over the 70 minutes of regulation. Seattle entered the penalty-kick shootout without the services of Sounders 2 players Ray Serrano and Azriel Gonzalez after they subbed off and their starting goalkeeper, Robert Harraka, who was forced to leave the match with an injury.
That was no problem as Conrad Lee stepped up to make three consecutive saves for the Sounders to beat Crew SC 3-2 in the shootout.
Monterrey is the third team so far to advance to the Premier Division semifinals, with the fourth to be determined on Tuesday night. The New York Red Bulls, San Jose Earthquakes and Tigres UANL all have a chance to win the group.
Dallas top LA Galaxy in battle of MLS heavyweights
Both FC Dallas and the LA Galaxy entered the day with a chance to win Group D in the Champions Division. The two MLS teams were on three points along with Pachuca and AS Monaco and the two internationals kicked off at the same time as Dallas and LA.
The Galaxy played the match without the services of first-teamer Efrain Alvarez, who played all 70 minutes in the team's 4-1 loss to Monaco on Sunday. After a stalemate in the first half, defensive midfielder Luis Hernandez was able to open the scoring for Dallas in the 45th minute after some nice combination play from the home side.
Luchi Gonzalez' team was able to hold on after Luis Cruz was shown red just three minutes later, with Julian Hinojosa even adding a second for Dallas in the 53rd minute. Unfortunately for Dallas, Pachuca beat Monaco 1-0 and the Tuzos advanced out of the group thanks their head-to-head win.
Bello, Scally put their names on the scoresheet
Atlanta United and NYCFC were unable to advance to the semifinals in the Champions Division as Atlanta were unable to beat Brazilian giants Flamengo and NYCFC did not get any help from Real Madrid after beating Sporting Kansas City, as Atletico Paranaense wrapped up the group with a 3-0 win against Madrid.
First team players George Bello (Atlanta) and Joe Scally (NYCFC) both drilled penalty kicks, with Scally's being the game-winner against Sporting KC.
Autore: Stefano Bentivogli / Twitter: @sbentivogli10
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