Tonight we have all four quarter-finals of the Leagues Cup. Let’s talk about it.

Columbus Crew vs New York City FC
Watch: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass | Saturday, 6:00 p.m. ET
Viewability rating: 42/50

The Crew are clearly the favorites here. I would even say they are the team with the best chance of winning. Thanks to a few surprises, they have made it to the finals, avoiding the best from MLS and LIGA MX.

However, New York City FC were also underdogs against Tigres. We saw how that played out. They are a young and dynamic attacking team that has had some much-needed reinforcements in the middle at times from Maxi Moralez, who scored a goal and provided an assist in the 2-1 win over Tigres earlier this week and will need to be at his best again to beat the Crew.

That’s a possibility, though. Columbus will always have weaknesses defensively, simply because of the sheer number of forwards. Moralez, Julián Fernández and Hannes Wolf will have opportunities to make an impact on the counterattack. It only takes a few moments to really put Columbus under pressure… and then a lot of moments to withstand attacks from the most explosive team in the league. But still, strange things happen in this sport.

Philadelphia Union vs Mazatlan
Watch: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass | Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Viewability rating: 34/50

I don’t have the exact numbers, but I’d estimate that about five people in the world had this matchup in their Leagues Cup Bracket Challenge post. And those five people probably did it by accident and didn’t realize it until later.

Union had come into this competition on a two-game winning streak but were still 10th in the Eastern Conference. It would have been fair to write them off. It’s been a nightmare season and they are making some restructuring at the top of their squad. The whole thing has been a total bust for one of the most consistent and successful clubs in the league. But Tai Baribo has burst onto the scene with what feels like 30 goals in the last five games and suddenly Union are favourites for the Leagues Cup semi-finals.

To get there, they’ll have to beat the tournament’s other big surprise: Mazatlán, a team that always finishes in the bottom third of the LIGA MX standings. They hadn’t won a single game in their four previous LIGA MX games. Last year, they finished 14th out of 18 teams in the Apertura. And yet here they are, having beaten DC United in the round of 32 and then defeated a Cruz Azul team that perhaps didn’t realize it was even in a tournament. Maybe there’s a little more magic in them.

Seattle Sounders vs LAFC
Watch: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass | Saturday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Viewability rating: 46/50

The highlight of the evening will pit a team from the Western Conference against another team from the Western Conference that beat them 3-0 a few weeks ago and in the meantime signed the most productive striker in the history of the French men’s national team.

Seattle has come a long way since then. Or at least it feels that way. All it took to restore faith in this team were big wins over the Galaxy and the Pumas in two knockout games. This game, however, has a different twist. Mainly because LAFC has had a hold on Seattle for years. The Sounders haven’t beaten LAFC since May 2021. Six of the last eight meetings have gone to LAFC. If Seattle really wants to use this tournament as a springboard to something bigger this season, they need to get rid of the bogeyman.

The problem is that the bogeyman is getting bigger and scarier. Olivier Giroud could make his first start for LAFC tonight. He should play at least some minutes. Seattle has been strong defensively in the last two games, but dealing with Denis Bouanga, Mateusz Bogusz and Giroud is as tough as it gets… at least until the next round.

Club America vs. Colorado Rapids
Watch: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass, Univision, TUDN | Saturday, 10:00 p.m. ET
Viewability rating: 39/50

The Rapids have put in an impressive performance after a rocky start. They were thrashed by Portland in the group stage but recovered to beat Juárez, Club León and Toluca. Having now overcome the increasingly fearsome Henchman, they now face the final opponent of LIGA MX teams. It will take a special performance to get past América. They have the quality to pull it off on their best day. Like their preferably Day.