Preview: Los Angeles FC vs Pachuca - prediction, team news, lineups

In search of their first victory at the 2025 Leagues Cup, Los Angeles FC will host Pachuca on Friday at BMO Stadium on the second matchday for both teams.

The Black and Gold were beaten 11-10 on penalties by Mazatlan on Tuesday in a match which ended tied 1-1 after 90 minutes, while Pachuca hung on for a 3-2 win versus San Diego FC in their opener.

Match preview

For the first time in the group phase of this tournament, Los Angeles FC failed to emerge victorious in their opening match, falling to a resilient Mexican side this week.

That was the third time that this team had gone to penalties in this competition, and on each occasion, they wound up on the losing end.

Steve Cherundolo’s men are riding a three-match winless run across all competitions into this upcoming game, netting a goal or fewer in those previous two affairs.

On Friday, they will try to avoid suffering consecutive Leagues Cup defeats for the first time, failing to win at this tournament for only the second time on Tuesday when drawing first blood.

This team have never lost a Leagues Cup affair at BMO Stadium in normal time but have not won a competition game at home since July 12 (2-0 over Dallas).

LAFC have only claimed one group victory against a Mexican side in the history of this competition, blanking Club Tijuana 3-0 at home in 2024.

Just like a season ago, Pachuca had plenty of anxious moments in their Leagues Cup opener this week, but in the end, they came away with a victory once again.

Jaime Lozano’s team appeared to be cruising to a comfortable win over San Diego, up 3-0 after 67 minutes, but gave up two goals in the final two minutes plus added time.

It may not have been how the manager had drawn it up, but it was enough to see them increase their winning run to four matches across all competitions.

Pachuca have not won a competitive match in 90 minutes against a side outside of Mexico since the second round of the 2024 Club World Cup, when they blanked Botafogo 3-0.

A triumph against Los Angeles this week would mark the first time that this side will have earned consecutive victories at the Leagues Cup.

Tuzos have never beaten an MLS club from California away from home in normal time, but they did earn a shootout victory at the Los Angeles Galaxy in the 2007 North American SuperLiga final.

Los Angeles FC Leagues Cup form:

Los Angeles FC form (all competitions):

Pachuca Leagues Cup form:

Pachuca form (all competitions):

Team News

In their opener this week, LAFC were missing Aaron Long and Lorenzo Dellavalle due to leg issues, while a head injury kept Maxime Chanot on the sidelines for another fixture.

David Martinez had the opening goal of that game, though Mazatlan equalised a couple of minutes later, while Denis Bouanga missed his second penalty kick in the sudden-death shootout, leading to their defeat.

Meanwhile, Pachuca made three changes to their starting 11 versus San Diego from their previous match, with Luis Rodriguez, Victor Guzman and Luis Quinones coming in for Carlos Sanchez, Alan Bautista and Gaston Togni.

Alexei Dominguez netted a brace in their previous match, with Guzman also scoring as they did just enough to come away with maximum points.

Los Angeles FC possible starting lineup:

Ochoa; Palencia, Tafari, Segura, Smolyakov; Tillman, Delgado, Amaya; Martinez, Ebobisse, Bouanga

Pachuca possible starting lineup:

Moreno; Rodriguez, Bauermann, Barreto, Aceves; Montiel, Pedraza; Dominguez, Guzman, Togni; Cadiz

We say: Los Angeles FC 2-2 Pachuca (Los Angeles FC wins on penalties)

The Black and Gold are a resilient group and are rarely down for too long, and we believe they may catch a break in this one as their recent results are not indicative of poor play.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.