Pachuca booked their place in the Concacaf Champions Cup final after two goals in two minutes from Miguel Rodriguez and Nelson Deossa helped down rivals America 2-1 on Tuesday night, sealing a 3-2 aggregate win.
The five-time winners will now face Columbus Crew or Monterrey in the June 2 final, with the former holding a 2-1 advantage heading into their semifinal second leg tie on Wednesday night.
Pachuca had earned a valuable 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture at the Estadio Azteca, and flew out of the traps against the most successful side in Concacaf Champions Cup history.
Rodriguez opened the scoring on 12 minutes, reacting quickest to Salomon Rondon’s blocked effort to fire the ball beyond Luis Malagon, before Deossa doubled the advantage after Erick Sanchez’s effort was kept out.
America replied soon after through Henry Martin, but they were unable to put sustained pressure on Pachuca’s goal despite enjoying 69% ball possession throughout the game.
Pachuca rained down 19 shots on goal, nine of which were on target, while America were only able to force Carlos Moreno into making one save. The seven-time Concacaf Champions Cup winners also saw Ismael Reyes sent off late on.
The results sees Pachuca return to the final for the first time since 2017, when they beat Tigres, and that could be a significant advantage if Columbus Crew are able to outlast Monterrey, who like Pachuca are five-time champions and are yet to taste defeat in a Concacaf Champions Cup final.
Monterrey were the team responsible for dumping out Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in the quarterfinals, while Columbus Crew edged out Tigres on penalties after their two-legged tie finished 2-2 on aggregate.
