Leagues Cup 2022

Lore & Background

LAFC arrived at the 2022 Leagues Cup carrying the momentum of a season that had already proven they belonged at the top of MLS. Founded in 2018 and playing at the then-new BMO Stadium, the club had built a reputation around high-pressing intensity, a red-and-gold identity that felt almost aggressively local, and a fanbase that treated every match as a civic event. The Leagues Cup, with its Liga MX opponents, offered something the domestic schedule did not: a chance to be measured against the most technically gifted league in North America and to win on that ground.

The tournament format was new. Eight MLS and eight Liga MX clubs, single elimination, no second chances. For LAFC, the path through the bracket demanded they be at their most disciplined—there was no group-stage cushion, no second leg to claw back a deficit. Each 90 minutes was a do-or-die audition, and the squad answered with a consistency that surprised even sceptics who had written them off as a one-season wonder. By the time they reached Atlanta for the final, the narrative had shifted: this was not a fluke run. This was a team with a system, a spine, and a hunger that four years of MLS had not sated.

The final against FC Cincinnati was less a dramatic shootout and more a controlled dismantling. LAFC's back line smothered Cincinnati's attempts, their midfield dictated tempo, and when they struck, they struck with the kind of efficiency that comes from repetition and trust. The 2-0 scoreline, while seemingly modest, told the story of a team that had learned to win without spectacle. For a club that had, in its first two seasons, been defined by near-misses and heartbreak, the quiet authority of that final felt like the most LAFC victory of all.

In Their Own Story

The Mercedes-Benz Stadium hummed with a low, electric tension as the Atlanta night air pressed against the open roof. Inside, the pitch gleamed under floodlights, the grass a deep, almost black green. LAFC lined up in their home red, the gold trim catching the light like embers. Across the field, Cincinnati's white kits looked pale, tentative.

The first half belonged to the silence between actions—the thud of a cleared ball, the sharp whistle, the murmur of a crowd that was mostly neutral but leaning, just slightly, toward the red. Then, when it came, the goal hit like a wave breaking on a seawall. The roar from the LAFC section, a small but ferocious pocket in the stands, rolled across the concourse and swallowed the stadium's ambient noise. Players gathered, arms locked, breathing hard, the kind of quiet celebration that means *we knew this was coming.*

By the second goal, the tension had broken into something looser, almost joyful. The final whistle was a release, a long exhale. The trophy lift came under a cascade of gold confetti that drifted down like slow snow, and for a few seconds the only sound was the crackle of it hitting the grass. Four years. Four years of building, of doubting, of a city deciding whether to love this team. And here, in a neutral stadium in Georgia, the answer was written in silver and red.

Reader's Guide

Leagues Cup 2022 — Final: LAFC 2–0 FC Cincinnati, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta. The moment that made it feel earned was the first half's suffocating midfield control. LAFC's press forced Cincinnati into long, aimless balls, and the back line stood like a wall of red, turning every through-ball into a dead end. You could feel the home side's rhythm being strangled, minute by minute, until the game simply stopped belonging to them.

The first goal arrived from a sequence that felt rehearsed—short, patient passes across the final third, a switch of play that opened a lane, and a finish that was almost casual in its certainty. The LAFC end of the stadium erupted, but the players' reaction was controlled, a single raised fist, a nod. They knew the job wasn't done.

The second goal, later in the half, sealed it. Cincinnati pushed higher, desperate, and LAFC hit them on the break with a counter that ran the length of the pitch. The finish was clinical, the celebration brief, and the final whistle was merely a formality. For a club founded in 2018, this was not just a trophy. It was proof that the project was real, that the red-and-gold identity had teeth, and that four years of building had produced something that could win a final without needing to be the loudest voice in the room.

Did You Know?

• The 2022 Leagues Cup was the first edition under the restructured format featuring eight MLS and eight Liga MX clubs in a single-elimination bracket, replacing the older Supporters' Shield-style competition.
• LAFC was only in their fifth season of professional play when they lifted the trophy, having been founded in 2018 and beginning MLS competition in 2019.
• The final was played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, a neutral venue that allowed both fanbases to travel and turned the match into a genuine continental event rather than a home-and-away affair.
• The 2-0 final scoreline reflected a tournament run in which LAFC's defensive record was among the tightest in the bracket, underscoring a team identity built on structure as much as flair.