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In the best game so far in the Leagues Cup, Toluca debuted with a spectacular 4-3 win over Nashville SC in a match full of thrills and spills that included a brace from Marcel Ruiz and a penalty kick goal from keeper Tiago Volpi.
Less than three minutes into the match, the home team opened the scoring from a corner kick, where the Mexican club's defense lost its marker. U.S. international Walker Zimmerman rose in the air to head the ball past Volpi.
Toluca's reaction
In the 25th minute, the MLS club came close to making it 2-0 when, in a counterattack, Haiti's Fafa Picault went one-on-one against Volpi and sent the ball to the back of the net, however, the goal was disallowed because of offsides.
In the following play, Nacho Ambriz's team equalized when, with great skill, Maximiliano Araujo left Marcel Ruiz alone in the box, leaving Panicco without a chance to block the shot.
The lead didn't last long though, just one minute later, an unfortunate action gave the Boys in Gold the lead once again, when after a slip, an injured Adrian Mora left Picault alone against the goalkeeper, who once again made no mistake and scored the goal for the MLS team.
Crazy end to the first half in Nashville
Just before the break, Marcelo Ruiz got his brace. Ruiz took advantage of a rebound after Robert Morales' shot to put the ball past Panicco.
But the crazy first half ended in the strangest way possible. In stoppage time, Alex Mauyl was flagged with a handball. At first, the referee marked the action outside the box, but after the VAR review it was determined that it was inside and the penalty kick was sanctioned.
As is usual with the Diablos Rojos, goalkeeper Tiago Volpi took the penalty and scored in great fashion to give Toluca the first lead of the game.
Exchange of goals in the second half
In the 61st minute, Toluca managed to score again thanks to an extraordinary play in which Robert Morales took advantage of the leniency of the rival defense to score his first goal of the match.
However, Nashville did not give up and in the 70th minute, Canadian Jacob Shaffelburg made a wonderful cross that was finished by Luke Haakenson to give the home team hope leading up to the final minutes.
Everything Messi. Half the price
The rest of the match was dominated by the Red Devils, who moved closer to advancing to the next round after a great debut in the Leagues Cup.