New York City FC are the away team back "home" at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey looking to reach their first-ever Leagues Cup Quarterfinal.
That requires beating Liga MX titans Tigres UANL, who are off to a roaring start to their season, and who are a perfect 3W-0D-0L so far in their 2024 Leagues Cup run: Here is your NYCFC-Tigres Round of 16 preview.
• Leagues Cup Round of 16: New York City FC vs Tigres
• Date and Time: Tuesday, August 13, 8 pm ET
• Venue: Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ
• Forecast: Partly cloudy and pleasant, 77 F/25 C
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, FS1, UniMás, TUDN
• Apple Broadcast Team: Chris Wittyngham and Lori Lindsey (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: Keylor Herrera (referee), William Barrios and Víctor Ramírez (assistant referees), Jose Ugalde (fourth official), Ricardo Montero (VAR)
New York City made it this far in Leagues Cup despite not registering a win inside 90 minutes in any of their three matches. It has paid to be perfect from the spot, as NYCFC moved on by going a combined 11-for-11 across the two shootout wins over Querétaro FC and New England Revolution.
Tigres have done nothing but win inside 90 minutes in their last five matches in all competitions. The Mexican side are unbeaten in their last seven games combined between the Liga MX Apertura season and Leagues Cup, and is tied for most points in the league through four Apertura matches.
Head Coach Veljko Paunović's team hasn't tasted defeat since falling to Club América in the Liga MX SuperCup on June 30 in Los Angeles. They will be looking to beat New York City to advance one round further than they did in last year's Leagues Cup, when they were eliminated by rivals Monterrey in a first-ever Clásico Regiomontano, Leagues Cup Version.
New York City vs Tigres H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -5 |
The history between teams is brief — and it's all Tigres. These sides met in the quarterfinal of the 2020 Concacaf Champions League, with New York City hosting at Red Bull Arena in the first of a two-legged tie. That March 11, 2020 match was scoreless until second-half stoppage time, when Eduardo Vargas grabbed a winner for Tigres.
The Covid-19 pandemic meant that the second leg of the NYCFC-Tigres quarterfinal wouldn't happen for nine months, and wouldn't happen in Mexico at Estadio Universitario. Tigres instead "hosted" New York City in Orlando in an empty stadium where they dismantled Ronny Deila's team 4-0 to secure a spot in the semi-finals.
Not only have NYCFC failed to beat or draw Tigres in their two meetings, they have failed to score a single goal.
Corey Clayton
New York City FC
• Player Availability: Forward Malachi Jones (leg) and midfielder Andrés Perea (leg) remain out.
• Expect a best-available Starting XI from Head Coach Nick Cushing. He played a strong hand against New England Revolution on Friday, starting Matt Freese in goal over Luis Barraza. It represented a complete departure from the heavily-rotated side he fielded against Querétaro FC back on July 28.
• Will the fans turn out on a Tuesday night in Harrison? New York City's attendance record at Red Bull Arena is poor, and the midweek match doesn't help. But it's a beautiful night for soccer, and NYCFC supporters might be hungry to watch their team play in a knockout game.
• If you are traveling to watch the game in person, our updated guide to Red Bull Arena is a must-read. It includes the PATH schedule, parking recs, where to eat before, what to eat inside, and more.
Michael Battista
Tigres UNAL
• Player Availability: Midfielder David Ayala (knee) is out.
• Tigres dispatched Club Puebla 2-1 in the first group stage game, then beat Inter Miami by the same 2-1 score. They then beat CF Pachuca 1-0 in the Round of 32, when Marcelo Flores scored. The 20-year-old was born in Canada, came up through the Arsenal youth system, and has three caps for El Tri.
• The Tigres attack continues to be led by the ageless André-Pierre Gignac, who joined the club in 2015. The 38-year-old striker has six goals in 13 appearances so far this season, and had 21 goals in 42 appearances last year. Those numbers are consistent across his career: The former French international now has 338 goals in 703 appearances for Tigres, Olympique de Marseille, Toulouse FC, and FC Lorient.
• One of Gignac's goals came against NYCFC in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal played on December 15, 2020. Gignac headed it in past Barraza to open the scoring in the 30th minute.
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