Leagues Cup Matchday: New York City vs Club Puebla in New Jersey

New York City FC is done with its longest road trip of the MLS season and now it's straight into Leagues Cup and a meeting with Club Puebla of Liga MX, a match to be played across the Hudson River over at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey.

Leagues Cup is back with a tricky new format that only matches MLS teams up against sides from Mexico's Liga MX, and a format that only sees eight of the 36 participating clubs advance from this Phase One of the tournament to the knockout rounds.

There's very little margin for error if a team hopes to advance in this new-look Leagues Cup, so New York City will need to start their tournament with a win against a struggling Puebla side that's been stuck near the bottom of the table in Liga MX for a few years running.

New York City should be brimming with confidence after earning two wins and a draw across their three most recent MLS matches prior to Leagues Cup, all played away from home. Sports Illustrated Stadium isn't home for NYCFC or its fans but it's a shorter trip to make to see the team in action than Frisco, Texas.

HRB Roundtable: 2025 Leagues Cup preview

Leagues Cup is back with a new format that’s both streamlined and confusing. No worries: The HRB crew covers that and more in this 2025 Leagues Cup preview.

Hudson River BlueHudson River Blue Staff

New York City vs Liga MX H2H

Becuse this is the first time New York City and Puebla have faced off, there is no head-to-head. Instead, we're featuring NYCFC's overall head-to-head against all Liga MX teams: New York City's record over the years is 2W-2D-3L.

That includes last year's Leagues Cup matches against Querétaro FC and Tigres UANL, when NYCFC went undefeated. First, New York City won the Group Stage match against Querétaro after drawing 0-0 in regulation time but then triumphing in penalties, 4-3. Then, New York City defeated Tigres 2-1 at what was then called Red Bull Arena – and in front of a heavily pro-Tigres crowd – in the Round of 16. That knockout win was NYCFC's first win over Tigres in three meetings.

New York City FC defeat Tigres, advance in Leagues Cup

NYCFC defied expectations to keep their Leagues Cup run alive with a convincing win over Tigres UANL.

Hudson River BlueMark Radigan

New York City

• Player Availability: Thiago Martins (knee), Malachi Jones (leg), and Keaton Parks (foot) are all out with long-term injuries. Mounsef Bakrar, reportedly on the verge of a transfer away from New York City FC, is missing from the club's Leagues Cup roster and thus won't be involved vs Puebla.
• Nico Fernández played the final half-hour against FC Dallas and was highly impressive in his debut with New York City. Is the club's new Designated Player now ready to start vs Puebla, and how will Pascal Jansen line him up after he played over on the right during his first appearance?
• There have only been three days for rest and recovery since NYCFC played on Friday, July 26, in Texas so it's another short turnaround for Pascal Jansen and his players — and it might be the ideal time to give in to fixture congestion and rest someone like Maxi Moralez, giving him, and possibly other overworked veterans, a full week's rest from Dallas through to Friday against Club León.
• Tayvon Gray got the first chance to fill in for Thiago Martins at right-center-back in Dallas, but he looked uncomfortable and made some costly mistakes during his initial return to the position. Strahinja Tanasijević is still chipping in at right-back, but might he get asked to make the next attempt at filling Thiago's shoes?
• Cup competitions like this tend to lead head coaches to rotate their goalkeepers, but Matt Freese possesses a unique set of skills – namely, an uncanny ability to stop penalty kicks during PK shootouts – that might make him hard to drop for a tournament with no draws and in which PKs decide who earns extra points when matches are tied after regulation. Tomás Romero looked good while Freese was away on Gold Cup duty, but it's not easy to see Jansen pulling the "cup goalkeeper" maneuver with this group of players.

Club Puebla

• Player Availability: Former MLS striker Lucas Cavallini is out as he recovers from a torn ACL.
• Puebla really struggled during the 2024-2025 season: Their 23 losses in Liga MX was the second-highest number in the league, while they scored the third-fewest goals and had the second-lowest expected goals (xG) number in the competition.
• Based on the numbers from a season ago, expect the Mexican club to bring the physicality. Puebla players were whistled for the most fouls in Liga MX last season, 462 committed in 34 games, or 13.6 fouls per match. It could get chippy in New Jersey.
• Stylistically, Puebla in 2024-2025 had the lowest amount of ball possession of any team in Mexico, only in possession 39.2% of the time, while they also completed the lowest percentage of their passes, just 74.2% of 9,361 attempted passes reaching their targets accurately.
• For more insights on Club Puebla, read our latest installment of Oppo Research, in which Matthew Mangam talks to Francisco Villalobos of Televisa.

Oppo Research: 5 Things about Club Puebla

We learn more about a Club Puebla that has just one win three games into the Liga MX Apertura season.

Hudson River BlueMatthew Mangam