• Leagues Cup: New York City FC (#19) vs Club León (27)
• Date and Time: Friday, August 1, 6:00 pm ET
• Venue: Sports Illustrated Stadium, Harrison, NJ
• Forecast: Dry after yesterday's rain, breezy and beautiful, 76F/24C
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Josh Eastern and Jamie Watson (English), Oscar Salazar and Jaime Macias (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Reon Radix (referee), Ojay Duhaney and Caleb Wales (assistant referees), Oshane Nation (fourth official), Daneon Parchment (VAR), Benjamin Whitty (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear the light blue Excelsior Kit; León will wear their away kits, white with green trim
Leagues Cup marches on as New York City FC host Club León at Sports Illustrated Stadium – aka the Sissy – in Game Two of Phase One. This match comes on the heels of Tuesday's 3-0 spanking at the hands of Club Puebla: What was thought to be NYCFC's easiest matchup of the tournament turned into one of the team's biggest losses of the year.
Tonight's early kickoff is courtesy of a double-header that has Deportivo Toluca facing CF Montréal immediately after the conclusion of the NYCFC vs León game. A Friday-night double bill should mean a healthy crowd in the stands, although it's likely to be divided mostly among fans wearing the green of León, the red of Toluca, and the yellow of the Colombia national team in homage to León heartthrob James Rodríguez, with some scattered groups wearing the sky-blue of NYCFC.
There might even be some Montréal supporters here and there. If you're at the Sissy tonight and see a Canadian wearing blue, be kind and reward them with an arepa for traveling so far.
New York City is on the ropes after Tuesday's loss and currently sits #18 out of 18 teams in the Major League Soccer table. If the club hopes to advance, they need to win by a lot, and hope that Inter Miami, Minnesota United, Portland Timbers, and the other MLS clubs that won in Game One lose by many, many goals in Game Two.
As Gen X puts it, "Yeah, no."
Hudson River Blue Staff
Still, the club's ambitions for this game will be made clear by the Starting XI. Will head coach Pascal Jansen once again field youthful players like 17-year-old NYCFC II striker Seymour Reid to give them valuable First Team minutes, never mind the results? Or did the teaching moment end in the last game, and we'll see New York City's blue-chip attackers like Alonso Martínez and Hannes Wolf in the starting lineup?
The smart money is on the latter – do we hope we'll see more of Sebastiano Musu? – but this club has a way of surprising us.
Hudson River Blue Staff
New York City vs Liga MX H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 | -6 |
As this is the first time New York City and León have faced off, there is no head-to-head record between the two. Instead, let's look at NYCFC's overall head-to-head against all Liga MX teams: New York City's record after Tuesday's loss now stands at 2W-2D-4L.
León will be NYCFC's sixth opponent from Liga MX.
New York City vs Non-League H2H
| Team | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Club Puebla | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 |
| Comunicaciones | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| NY Cosmos | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 |
| North Carolina | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| Pumas | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Querétaro FC | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rochester | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| San Carlos | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Santos de Guapiles | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Tigres | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 |
| Total | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 32 | 24 | 8 |
Tonight's game will be NYCFC's 20th against non-MLS opposition. That includes clubs faced in Campeones Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup, and US Open Cup. New York City has a record of 9W-3D-7L in the 19 games played to date, with 32 goals scored and 24 allowed.
