Leagues Cup is supposed to be a new showcase for Major League Soccer, prioritized by the league—at the expense of the US Open Cup—for the chance it gives teams to compete against clubs from Mexico's Liga MX.
What transpired when New York City FC met Querétaro FC at Yankee Stadium in each team's Leagues Cup opener could not be described as a "showcase" for anything. It was soccer, sure, but neither team played a particularly aesthetically pleasing brand of the sport over the 90 minutes.
The atmosphere inside the stadium also lacked much, or any, of the big-game feel you'd want from a prestigious continental tournament or a first-ever meeting between teams from different leagues. It was a drastic departure from what the stadium looked and sounded like 24 hours before NYCFC vs. Querétaro, when nearly 47,000 people (including Rihanna) watched a friendly between European giants AC Milan and Manchester City.
Slightly different vibe here at Yankee Stadium for this Leagues Cup game than what it was like last night for City/Milan. Not confident Rihanna made it back for this one pic.twitter.com/44W2w7devw
— Hudson River Blue (@hudsonriverblue) July 29, 2024
The fact that there was no organized Leagues Cup protest or boycott from the NYCFC supporters' groups probably salvaged the atmosphere inside the stadium, as the drums from the left field bleachers were the loudest and most consistent form of crowd noise emerging from the announced (but not actual) crowd of 16,834.
Michael Battista
"Excitement" was almost entirely missing from this game, outside of the penalty shootout, which was won 4-3 by New York City. The crowd livened up for the spot kicks, but even the shootout lacked the stress and pressure that accompanies them in the late stages of other tournaments. Nothing made this game feel like a special occasion, not even the novelty of it being decided on penalties.
Instead, it felt easier to draw parallels between how NYCFC approached this game and how the past versions of NYCFC approached their early US Open Cup games. Those Open Cup games in the team's earliest years were defined by heavy lineup rotations followed by underwhelming, losing performances from New York City's bench squad.
Nick Cushing took a page out of the Jason Kreis or Patrick Vieira Open Cup playbook, not involving some of his most-used and most effective players in this Leagues Cup opener.
Post-match, the NYCFC coach denied that he was resting any of his top players, saying there were illness or injury concerns around each of Santiago Rodríguez, Hannes Wolf, and Keaton Parks.
Yet the approach to this game from Cushing felt like it prioritized rotation and injury prevention over maximizing the chance to earn a win in regulation, thus claiming all three available points.
It mostly worked out for Cushing because his team's defense remains better than you realize, even with potential MLS Goalkeeper of the Year contender Matt Freese on the bench as Luis Barraza assumes "Leagues Cup goalkeeper" duties.
Oliver Strand
Barraza excelled late in the second half and made a clinching save to deliver the shootout victory, but this wasn't a standout night for Julián Fernández, or Talles Magno, or the wide attackers who would replace them off the bench, Agustín Ojeda and Alonso Martínez.
Two points are better than one or zero, but this also felt like a case of leaving an extra point on the table. Querétaro is adrift at the moment, sitting rock bottom in Liga MX and still yet to take a lead over any of the five teams they've played competitive matches against in this new season, New York City now included.
Los Gallos Blancos leaned on a physical play style that matched their reputation as the team that committed the most fouls and earned the most yellow cards in Liga MX last season, and New York City didn't have the cohesion or confidence in attack to break them down.
It was a deserved 0-0 given how little Querétaro had to offer going forward and given how different this New York City looked from what might be considered the "best" version of itself.
It's hard to come away from this match more confident New York City is poised to make a serious, deep run in Leagues Cup. It's also hard to see this tournament matching the success it enjoyed in its inaugural year when Lionel Messi's arrival at Inter Miami CF turned Leagues Cup into a bigger, almost global spectacle.
If you were looking for a great advertisement for Leagues Cup, or for this game between NYCFC and Querétaro to be the one that captured your attention and sold you on this still-new tournament, you quickly should have discovered that you were looking in the exact wrong place at Yankee Soccer Stadium on this summer Sunday night.
