• Leagues Cup Phase One: New York City FC vs Club Necaxa
• Date and Kickoff Time: Thursday, August 13, 7:40 pm ET
• Venue: Sports Illustrated Stadium, Harrison, NJ
• Forecast: Warm but less hot and humid than it's been, 83F/28C
• Watch: Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Jessica Charman and Ian Joy (English); Diego Pessolano and Daniel Chapela (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matt Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Sean Cabrera (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Fernando Morón (referee), Andrés Vargas and Jeriel Valverde (assistant referees), Oliver Vergara (fourth official), Francia González (VAR), Anthony Bravo (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will be in the sky-blue Excelsior Kit; Necaxa will wear its all-red away kit
It's the final match of Phase One of Leagues Cup, with New York City FC in Harrison, New Jersey for a third time in eight days, facing an already-eliminated Club Necaxa.
New York City FC still has a shot at advancing to the quarterfinals, but they'll need a big win and lots of help elsewhere in the competition.
Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake already nabbed two of the four spots in the next round for MLS teams, while LAFC is on seven points and sitting in third place, not qualified but in a decent position, with an edge over the teams that can only max out at six points in Phase One.
Austin FC and Chicago Fire FC control their own destinies: If they get wins or draws in 90 minutes, they'll grab the final two spots in the quarterfinals and kill the hopes of the other still-alive MLS teams, LAFC, Charlotte FC, plus the Portland Timbers, Philadelphia Union, and NYCFC.
The quarterfinal picture is starting to take shape 😎@ColumbusCrew, @realsaltlake, @clubleonfc and @TolucaFC ya están entre los mejores de #LeaguesCup2026 with one final day of Phase One still to come 🔥
— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) August 13, 2026
¿Qué pasará mañana? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/VlojGXLGx4
There's the possibility of chaos, though. Austin and Chicago have to play two of the best teams from Liga MX, Club América and Cruz Azul, respectively. A win or a draw is no sure thing, especially because América and Cruz Azul still haven't qualified for the quarterfinals themselves, despite being in third and fourth place in the Liga MX table heading into this final round.
If it hopes to advance, New York City FC needs something like a 3-0 win over Necaxa, or a similarly lopsided, high-scoring result in their favor that pushes their goal differential up towards the +4 range and pushes their goals scored number above five.
Austin and Chicago would both need to lose in regulation, and NYCFC would need to ensure its result was better than any wins earned by Portland (vs Club Tijuana) or Philadelphia (vs Santos Laguna), since NYCFC, Portland, and Philly each enter this final round with three points and +1 goal differentials, though with Portland already scoring six goals, double the three scored by each of the Union and NYCFC.
All those details matter because of the order of tiebreakers used in Leagues Cup Phase One, which are as follows:
- Goal differential
- Number of wins in regulation
- Goals for
- Fewest goals conceded
- Fewest points in the Fair Play Table
- Draw held by the tournament's organizers
Got all that? New York City is a serious longshot while sitting in 15th place in the MLS standings before kickoff, and this Necaxa game might end up meaning nothing, given how much external help NYCFC needs. But as the final Phase One matchday dawns, there's at least still something to play for, which wasn't the case for a few of the matches played on Wednesday night.
Andrew Leigh
New York City FC Record vs Liga MX, All Competitions
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 15 | -4 |
