The goal of the group stage was to win the group; Head Coach Pat Noonan stated this clearly and in unassailable terms. Win both games and give FC Cincinnati the top spot in their group. This would put them into a far preferable bracket than finishing second and surely better than not qualifying on the group stage.
There were smaller, more specific goals of the tournament matches as well, but the guiding light was to win the group.
FC Cincinnati did just that, earning a match in the knockout stages as winners of Group East 1 and a matchup with Santos Laguna of Liga MX as a result. The goal has changed—win the next game—but the message remains the same as the team moves into the knockout stages.
"You're always wanting more. We won two games, and so we finished top of the group. That was a goal, and that was achieved. How we got there is where the improvement comes into play," Noonan said at his pre-match press conference Thursday. "I thought Querétaro was a strong performance but we weren't good enough in front of goal to make the end of that game look a little bit different. Then, with NYC, it was a good start that we don't capitalize on a few moments, and then we have a drop in our play, and we have to come from behind.
"So coming from behind is not ideal, and that's something you take away from that game, but certainly how we concluded it is a positive. It's no different whether it's group play, whether it's league play, you're just trying to improve and I think with where we're at in the moment, now that we get more bodies back and we have better competition, our play will improve."
The match against Santos Laguna, which will pit the third-seed tournament team against the 30th seed, comes on short notice. FCC only confirmed their opponent on Monday night, with the win meaning they had just four days to fully scout and educate their players for what to expect on Friday night against a Liga MX team they have never played against before.
"It's a quick turnaround. The preparation starts then you're quickly looking at their group play matchups with D.C. and Atlanta and some league play stuff. So you try to turn around as quick as possible and gain as much information on them as you can," Noonan added. "I think the staff has done a really good job of turning it around to help our guys prepare
"I wouldn't say it was any easier but one thing we message all the time is this is an unfamiliar opponent with unfamiliar players. These guys get individual clips of potential matchups. It's important that they do their homework and know what they're going to face. So, hopefully, the work has been done."
With a win in the Round of 32, FC Cincinnati would surpass their best performance in the tournament in club history after falling to Nashville SC in a penalty shootout last season. Should they win, FCC would host the winner of Philadelphia Union and CF Montreal in the Round of 16. On the line in this tournament is not only the Leagues Cup trophy but passage to the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2025. The top three teams in the tournament (the finalists and third-place game-winner) gain entry, with the champion earning a bye in the first round of that continental tournament, which starts in February.
FC Cincinnati vs Club Santos Laguna – Friday August 9, 2024 – 7:30 p.m. ET – TQL Stadium
Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
TV Talent (English, Apple): Callum Williams (PxP), Calen Carr (Analyst)
TV Talent (Spanish, Apple): Diego Pessolano (PXP), Daniel Chapela (Analysis)
Radio: ESPN 1530
Radio: La Mega 97.7 FM
Radio Talent (English): Tom Gelehrter (PXP), Kevin McClosky (Analyst)
Radio Talent (Spanish): Gustavo Luques (PXP), José Romero (Analyst)
About Santos Laguna
Club Santos Laguna S.A de C.V., as they are officially known, is one of the newer clubs in Liga MX but is not short on history despite kicking off as a club just 40 years ago. Compared to clubs like America and Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico, they are downright youngsters. Still, with four Clausura Championship titles, two kinds of Apatura titles and a Campeón De Campeones title in 15 ‘The Lakers’ have not been short of success. Most recently winning the Clausura championship in 2017/2018. Santos also reached the finals of the Concacaf Champions League twice but fell in the finals both times.
Starting their club history in 1983, then known as Santos IMSS, Santos earned passage to the top flight of Mexican soccer in 1988 and purchased Puebla Angela to augment their roster to avoid relegation. Since then, the club has never left the top flight and has only finished lower than 14th in the league five times in 63 Liga MX seasons.
Santos Laguna is historically the third club to play in the Comarca Laguerna region of Mexico (which is located in the central part of the nation north of Mexico City but west of Monterrey. “The Region of Lagoons,” is known for its inland lakes, as water does not flow to either ocean, often causing flooding. C.F. Laguna and C.F. Torreón both played in the top division but folded in the 1970s to make way for Santos to take over in the 80’s.
Home matches for “Los Guerreros” (the warriors, another nickname for the club) are played at Estadio Corona, which has earned the nicknames “El Templo del Desierto” (The Desert Temple) and “La Cas del Dolor Ajeno” (The House of Others’ Pain).
FC CINCINNATI NOTES
Staying Hot – Santos Laguna present FCC with the fourth-different Mexican opponent in club history after two matches against both Chivas (2022 Leagues Cup Showcase; 2023 Leagues Cup
Group Stage) and CF Monterrey (2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16) and the 2024 LC Opener against Club Querétaro. Verdiblancos (Green-And-Whites) marks the 36th different opponent - across all competitions - for FC Cincinnati since joining MLS in 2019.
Friday will be FC Cincinnati’s 27th non-MLS Regular Season match in official competition
since joining the league in 2019. FCC are 14-6-6 in the 26 prior matches
A little bit of history – While FC Cincinnati have never faced Santos, a few players on the roster have: DeAndre Yedlin, at 19-years-old, started and went the full 90 in both Concacaf Champions. League Semifinal matches for Seattle Sounders against Santos in April 2013. Corey Baird, for Houston Dynamo, scored last season against Santos in Leagues Cup 2023. Luciano Acosta
made 3 appearances for Atlas FC against Santos in 2020 and 2021.
Higher Stakes – By sweeping the group stage and winning East 1, FC Cincinnati advanced to the Leagues Cup Knockout Stage for the second straight season. Last year the club fell in penalties to Nashville SC in the Round of 32. Friday will be the 16th single-elimination knockout stage match for the club since 2019, the first since last season’s Eastern Conference Final. The club is 7-4-4 in the 15 prior win-or-go-home matches.
TGIF – It will be a rare Friday matchup for FC Cincinnati. The fixture will mark just FCC’s seventh match on a Friday since joining MLS - with a 1-2-3 record in the previous matchups. The most recent came in last season’s Round of 32 against Nashville SC, a 1-1 draw which NSC won in the ensuing shootout.
FCC’s lone win came on June 24, 2022, a 1-0 home win over Orlando.
Scouting Santos Laguna (0-3-1, 1 points, 16th in Liga MX Apertura, 0-1-1 in Leagues Cup 2024, 2 points)
Santos Laguna is off to a slow start in the Liga MX Apertura season, collecting just one point from four matches. Even more concerning for the club, though, is that despite advancing to the Knockout rounds of the Leagues Cup thanks to a PK win over Atlanta United FC, Los Guerreros have scored just one goal in six competitive matches since kicking off the Apertura season on July 5.
That lone goal scored on July 13 against Pumas in a 1-1 draw, was scored by Santiago Muñoz on a penalty kick that gave them the lead at the time. Muñoz was also one of the five players for Santos to convert their PK against Atlanta.
Captained by goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo, the Mexican national team goalkeeper has been one of a rare few to start in net for El Tri in the last generation of the team. Acevedo has been with the club since he was an academy player, first debuting with the U17 club and has been a mainstay ever since. In the Clausura season, he earned 5 clean sheets in 17 starts.
Center forward Hárold Preciado of Colombia led the team in goals last season across both the Apatura and Clausura seasons, scoring 16 goals in his first full season with the club and in Liga MX. After a four-year stint in China, Preciado joined Santos on a free transfer after returning to Colombian side Deportivo for less than a season.
Pedro Aquino anchors the defensive side of the game for Santos, joining the club in 2023 after a long and largely lucrative tenure with fellow Liga MX side Club America. As a defensive midfielder, the Peruvian 29-year-old usually stays centrally and assists the center-back core while other midfielders push up the field.
Managed by longtime Liga MX head coach Ignacio “Nacho” Ambriz, Santos has been off to a slow start since he took over in February of 2024. Ambriz has been head coach of nine Liga MX teams during his 22-year tenure as a coach, never staying in any one place for more than three seasons. He has also been on the coaching staff in Spain three times and has been an assistant coach for the Mexican National Team. In 2015-16, he led Club America to a Concacaf Champions League title and has won the league on two occasions.
‘Nacho’ has deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation in both Leagues Cup games thus far.
