Your Tuesday Kickoff: Can Cucho be the hero Columbus need vs. Tigres?

What you need to know

Crew head to El Volcán

The Columbus Crew will play for their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup future in Tuesday's quarterfinal second leg at Liga MX powerhouse Tigres UANL. The series is tied at 1-1. Kickoff is set for 8:15 pm ET on FS1 and ViX.

Revs travel to Estadio Azteca

The New England Revolution are chasing a Concacaf Champions Cup upset for the ages against Liga MX powerhouse Club América, heading to historic Estadio Azteca on Tuesday evening for Leg 2 of their quarterfinal series. América hold a 4-0 lead. Kickoff is set for 10:30 pm ET on FS1 and TUDN.

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How to succeed in upsets without really trying

All MLS teams have to do tonight is go to two of the continent’s most famous venues against two of the continent’s most successful teams who also happen to be two of the continent's biggest spenders and one must win/beat Club América by four goals. Easy. Done. I don’t even know why they’re playing the games. Here’s how it’s going to go down for both teams.

Columbus’ upset win at El Volcán

[SPOILER ALERT]

Cucho may be suspended for his next MLS game, but he’s not suspended for this game… as far as we know. That’s enough to feel decent about the Crew’s chances here. We don’t know for sure, but there were moments in Leg 1 where Cucho may have made the difference. The Crew are good enough to find those moments again tonight, and Cucho is in the middle of a character arc. The script demands he make a major impact on this game one way or the other.

Just to recap the latest episodes: Cucho came off early against Charlotte FC a few weeks ago and didn’t handle it with grace. He received an internal two-game suspension that saw him miss the Crew’s 2-2 draw at Nashville SC and, most importantly, the 1-1 draw against Tigres last week. He returned on Saturday against D.C. United, only to receive a second-half red card for inexplicably kicking out at a D.C. player.

Something is happening here and it’s as weird as it is objectively entertaining. The laws of soccer dictate he either scores or has a total disaster of a game. There’s no in-between. But, because we know the Crew have this and no one should be worried about it, you can mark down a goal for Cucho.

As for everyone else on the team, they’re going to be just fine. Darlington Nagbe is going to be as press-resistant as ever and do enough in midfield to make up for Aidan Morris’ absence (red card), the Crew’s assortment of talented center backs will play outstanding line-breaking passes, new forward Marino Hinestroza will be a dynamic attacking presence and Diego Rossi will also be there to bask in the glory of his Leg 1 goal.

This ends up looking like your typical Crew win. They score two of the prettiest goals you’ve seen this year – one of which comes via a ball in behind to a wingback via a center back; the other, of course, comes via Cucho – and Tigres get a decent amount of chances but only convert one. It’s a standard 2-1 win for Columbus and we all move on with our day.

New England’s comeback at Estadio Azteca

The Revs are only down 4-0 heading into this game.

Now, what might happen here is they come out with a heavily-rotated lineup and act like they’re conceding that scoring four goals on the road against a team that’s only allowed eight goals in 14 matches during this Clausura is impossible and they need to turn their focus to MLS where they’re already fighting an uphill battle just to get back into the playoff race. Don’t be fooled. This is just an opportunity to let young players like Esmir Bajraktarevic and Noel Buck cook.

And, you know, I can think of another group that faced an overconfident power against impossible odds: The U.S. Continental Army of 1775. That worked out pretty well. The synchronicities are there.

5–1, Revolution.

Other things

Seattle’s Ruidíaz named Player of the Matchday: Seattle Sounders FC striker Raúl Ruidíaz has garnered Player of the Matchday honors for Matchday 8 of the 2024 season after his two-goal, one-assist performance helped power a 5-0 victory over CF Montréal.

Philadelphia’s Rocio, Cincinnati's Chirila highlight GA Cup awards: Philadelphia's Diego Rocio’s big-time performance in the knockout rounds led the Union to victory and secured him a Most Valuable Player nod. The U-17 Generation adidas Cup Top Scorer was FC Cincinnati’s Stefan Chirila. Check out the full rundown of the awards here.

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