Pachuca have won their sixth ever Concacaf Champions Cup title by winning the Columbus crew 3-0 and maintaining their undefeated record in the final. Behind goals from Salomon Rondon, Miguel Rodríguez and Pachuca were able to get past the Crew after taking the lead in the first half. Salomon Rondon kept his high scoring going by scoring Pachuca’s first goal of the match and helped his team draw level with Cruz Azul behind Club America for most Champions Cup titles.
The Crew came into the match in good form and with confidence after winning the MLS Cup the previous season, but because they played the match at high altitude they could not keep pace with Pachuca to a defeat in the biggest match in club history prevent. Cucho Hernandez return to the XI was not enough to spark an attacking run, but Pachuca winning the midfield battle lost the match for Columbus.
At half-time, Pachuca’s lead proved too big, despite Wilfried Nancy’s attempts to turn things around, which did not change the tide enough in the second half. Rondon got a second goal in the match to put things out of reach, after which the Crew made changes that didn’t have enough impact.
This books Pachuca a place in the Club World Cup, while the team still has several chances for silver this season between the Leagues Cup and the MLS Cup. They will have to recover from this loss quickly, but under Nancy that has not been a problem as they have shown a strong mentality. This night the combination of altitude and Pachuca’s preparedness was too much to handle.
