• Leagues Cup Phase One, Game 3: New York City FC (#19) vs Deportivo Toluca FC (#3)
• Date and Time: Tuesday, August 5 at 7:30 pm ET
• Venue: Yankee Soccer Stadium, Bronx, NY
• Forecast: Warm, a beautiful summer night, 79F/26C
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Chris Wittyngham, Lori Lindsey (English), Ramses Sandoval, Oswaldo Sanchez (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
New York City FC is back at Yankee Stadium tonight to host Deportivo Toluca FC in the final game of Leagues Cup Phase One. NYCFC is building on Friday’s 2-0 win over Club León at Sports Illustrated Stadium, and will want another three points at home even if making it to a Top 4 spot on the table and advancing to the knockout round is a moon shot: NYCFC will need to win, and another seven teams in Major League Soccer need to lose or draw then lose the penalty shootout.
It’s different for Toluca, who sit in Fourth Place ahead of Pumas UNAM on the fair play tiebreak: If Toluca win and stay ahead of or equal to Pumas on goal differential, they advance.
On paper, Toluca is NYCFC’s toughest opponent in this tournament. Ranked #3 among Liga MX teams, they won the Clausura last season, beating out giants Club América — they then beat América again 3-1 in the Campeón de Campeones on July 20 to lift another trophy. Toluca currently sit in Second Place in the table this Apertura, with two wins in three played.
For those who stayed to watch the second act of the double-bill last Friday in New Jersey, Toluca were unstoppable against CF Montréal — at least for the first 60 minutes. The game finished as a 2-1 Toluca win, but Montréal were close to stealing a result in the dying minutes of the game.
Expect a heated match tonight. NYCFC head coach Pascal Janesn will likely once again field his A-Team and put on a show for the crowd in The Bronx, while Toluca will look to win and advance.
Andrew Leigh
New York City vs Liga MX H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 11 | -4 |
Because this is the first time New York City will face Toluca, 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 Friday’s win now stands at 3W-2D-4L.
Toluca will be NYCFC’s seventh opponent from Liga MX.
New York City Leagues Cup Record
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 12 | -1 |
NYCFC’s overall record in Leagues Cup going into this game stands at 3W-3D-4L, with 13 goals scored and 12 goals allowed. A good number of New York City’s goals came in the 5-0 thrashing of Toronto FC in 2023, when Mounsef Bakrar scored in his debut for the club. Good times.
New York City FC Scouting Report
• Player Availability: Thiago Martins (knee), Malachi Jones (leg), and Keaton Parks (leg) are all out with long-term injuries. Mounsef Bakrar is no longer with the team after officially departing on Saturday.
• Will Hannes Wolf feature in this game? He has yet to play any minutes in this tournament, although Jansen said he was a last-minute scratch from the Starting XI last Friday after unexpectedly suffering a mild injury.
• With last Friday’s win, NYCFC jumped from dead last to 11th Place in the MLS table, though now sit 13th Place heading into the final round of Phase One matches. In order to make it to the Top 4 and advance, NYCFC need to defeat Toluca and only one of the following teams can have a good result in Game 3: Inter Miami, Minnesota United, LA Galaxy, Columbus Crew, Orlando City, FC Cincinnati, New York Red Bulls, and Colorado Rapids. Or, if two or more of those teams win, NYCFC are out. If two or more of those teams draw and win the penalty shootout, NYCFC are likely out.
• Should NYCFC win tonight, they can’t be officially knocked out until tomorrow’s results are official. Columbus plays León tonight at 7:30 pm ET, and a win will guarantee they finish above New York City. But the decision will come with any combination of two MLS team wins, so Columbus plus potential wins by Minnesota vs Atletico de San Luis, or Orlando vs Necaxa, or Miami vs Pumas will keep NYCFC out of the Top 4.
Deportivo Toluca Scouting Report
• Player Availability: No injuries reported.
• Toluca striker Paulinho is responsible for three of the team’s four goals: He scored twice against Columbus to earn the draw in Game 1, and once again on Friday in what proved to be the game-winner against Montréal. The 32-year-old former Portugal International has 33 goals in 47 appearances for Toluca, and is currently riding a four-game scoring streak going back to July 20.
• The team’s leading scorer in the Apertura is Helinho, a pacey 25-year-old right winger from Brazil with three goals in three league appearances. One of those came off the bench against Necaxa, when he was subbed on in the 88th minute and scored two minutes later.
• Midfielder Alexis Vega is the engine of Toluca’s attack. He wears the No 9, but the 27-year-old has three league assists in three games this Apertura, and logged 11 assists last Clausura — on top of 13 goals. Vega has 45 caps for the Mexico men’s national team, and played the full 90 minutes in the 2-1 win over the United States in the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup Final.
Matthew Mangam
If two of those teams win, but Portland (who has 6 points) gets trounced by Club América, couldn’t we possibly pass Portland via goal differential? Unlikely, I know – but possible?