• Leagues Cup Phase One: Cruz Azul vs New York City FC
• Date and Kickoff Time: Sunday, August 9, 7:40 pm ET
• Venue: Sports Illustrated Stadium, Harrison, NJ
• Forecast: A clear, hot summer night, 87F/31C
• Watch: Apple TV, FS1, Univision
• Apple Broadcast Team: Jessica Charman and Ian Joy (English); Diego Pessolano, Daniel Chapela, and Michele Giannone (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Jesus Rafael Lopez Valle (referee), Christian Kiabek Espinosa Zavala and Karen Janett Díaz Medina (assistant referees), Reon Antonio Joshua Radix (fourth official), Anthony De Los Ángeles Bravo (VAR), Yasith Monge (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear navy and white, the All Nations Kit sans the orange socks; Cruz Azul will be in their off-white away kits
It's Sunday night soccer, Leagues Cup style, as Cruz Azul meets New York City FC at Sports Illustrated Stadium in a crucial match for each side's hopes of advancing beyond Phase One of this tournament.
Both teams came away with wins in their first Leagues Cup matches. Cruz Azul earned a tightly-contested, slightly controversial 1-0 win over Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park, with the Union fruitlessly claiming they should have been given a penalty kick and a chance to equalize. New York City saw its fullbacks become goalscorers and had Matt Freese stand on his head in goal en route to a 2-0 blanking of Santos Laguna at the same stadium in which they'll now face Cruz Azul.
There's pressure on each of these teams as they look to make it back-to-back wins to give themselves the best chance possible to advance as one of the top four teams from each of MLS and LigaMX.
Four other MLS sides — Charlotte FC, Columbus Crew, FC Cincinnati, and FC Dallas — picked up the maximum six points from their opening two matches, so New York City's race toward the top of the MLS portion of the table is a tough one, with no margin for error.
Cruz Azul is one of the highest-seeded sides competing in Leagues Cup, ranked fourth, though the Mexico City-based club placed just outside the top-three seeds that actually got to host a match in their native Mexico this year.
Club América, Tigres, and Toluca all got to play on home soil, though not Cruz Azul. Instead, they'll function as the "home" team while playing New York City FC in New Jersey, in what will be the first-ever meeting between these two teams, and in front of what should be a lively crowd in Harrison.
Attendance was announced as over 12,000 fans for the midweek meeting with Santos Laguna, but that felt much more reflective of "tickets sold" rather than how many people actually turned out for that match. As of this writing, the get-in price to see NYCFC vs Cruz Azul was right around $66 per ticket, with seat availability much more limited than for the two other Leagues Cup matches scheduled for Sports Illustrated Stadium.
New York Soccer Journal
New York City FC Record vs Liga MX, All Competitions
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 13 | -3 |
