The round of 16 of the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup is now in the books and of the three FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ sides participating in the tournament – Inter Miami CF, CF Monterrey and Seattle Sounders FC – only Inter Miami remain standing.
The south Florida outfit overcame a slow start and limited minutes from Lionel Messi to eliminate Caribbean champions Cavalier of Jamaica. But it was a different story for former Concacaf champions Monterrey and Seattle, as injuries and poor second leg performances resulted in early exits from the competition.
Here is a look back at how things transpired for the trio.
Cavalier 0-4 Inter Miami
After some early wobbles in the first half of the first leg in Fort Lauderdale when Cavalier had a goal narrowly called off, Inter Miami were in complete control of this tie, as Tadeo Allende and Luis Suarez scored in the second half for a 2-0 first-leg win. Suarez then converted a penalty kick before Messi, who only played 37 minutes over the two legs, added the icing to the cake in second-half stoppage time for a 2-0 win in front of a packed house in Kingston in the return leg.
While Suarez continued his excellent start to 2025, it was the contributions from new arrivals Allende and Telasco Segovia that made this a clinical series victory. In addition to scoring the opener in the first leg and then drawing the penalty for Suarez’s goal in the second, Allende was a workhorse in tracking back to defend. Meanwhile, Segovia was a strong presence in midfield by winning back possession, delivering accurate passes and constantly showing for the ball. The work rate of those two made for an easy stroll to the quarter-finals, where they will face fellow MLS side Los Angeles FC.
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Monterrey 3-3 Vancouver Whitecaps (Vancouver advance on away goal tiebreaker)
Monterrey’s exit at the hands of Vancouver could well go down as the surprise of the tournament. The Rayados are five-time winners of the Champions Cup while the Whitecaps had never eliminated Mexican opposition. In both legs Monterrey jumped out to early 1-0 leads but were slowed by sluggish performances in the second half of each match. Coach Martin Demichelis opted to not even field Spanish playmaker Sergio Canales in the 1-1 first leg draw, while usual starters Lucas Ocampos and German Berterame were late subs.
The Roberto de la Rosa goal in Vancouver still gave Monterrey the slim advantage heading into the second leg, in which Canales, Ocampos and Berterame all started, along with high-profile new arrival Sergio Ramos. Canales duly delivered with an early goal, but once again a lack of urgency, followed by defensive miscues, allowed the Whitecaps to score two precious away goals, putting Monterrey on the ropes.
Ramos converted a stoppage-time penalty to make it 2-2, but it was too little too late for a club that is unaccustomed to early departures in continental competition, and will now try to shore things up in the next three months of Liga MX play before they begin their Club World Cup campaign.
Cruz Azul 4-1 Seattle Sounders
Seattle’s Concacaf journey came to an end with a 4-1 defeat to Mexican giants Cruz Azul in their second leg in Mexico City. The loss exacted an even heavier toll with injuries to star attackers Paul Arriola and Jordan Morris. Arriola was carted off the field with a knee injury, while Morris had to depart with a hamstring injury with the scoreline 1-0 in favour of Cruz Azul.
The Sounders were left frustrated in the first leg in Seattle in a 0-0 draw during which Cruz Azul fielded a heavily rotated squad, but the Club World Cup participants were never able to get things rolling up front. As so often happens to MLS teams in Mexico, fatigue and playing at altitude affected the legs of Seattle and allowed Cruz Azul to bang in three goals in the final 20 minutes, heavily offsetting Danny Musovski’s lone goal for the Sounders.
Seattle now have three months of MLS action prior to their start in the Club World Cup and will be eager to hear good news on the status of Arriola, while also making sure that Morris is not rushed back into the line-up. Those are two crucial pieces to Seattle’s chances of success.
