Concacaf Champions League: Orlando City at Tigres UANL (Round of 16, Second Leg) (Score tied at 0-0)
When: Tuesday, 10:30 p.m. ET
Where: Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de la Garza, Nueva Leon, Mexico
TV: FS1, TUDN USA
Radio: Real Radio 104.1, (English)
Everything you need to know for the second leg of Orlando City's Round of 16 match in the Concacaf Champions League in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestones
- Duncan McGuire’s next goal will be his 19th for Orlando City, which would tie him with Daryl Dike and Benji Michel for eighth on the club’s all-time scoring charts (MLS era). McGuire holds the club record among players with at least 200 minutes played for goals per minute, averaging a goal every 124 minutes in his Orlando City career.
- Facundo Torres’ next appearance will be his 85th for Orlando City in all competitions. Torres’ next goal will be his 30th for the Lions.
- Kyle Smith is three appearances away from becoming the second Lion to reach 150 games played for Orlando City, after captain Robin Jansson.
Stats & Storylines
- Orlando City head down to Monterrey needing to wipe out the memories from a tough loss at the weekend. The Lions fell 3-2 to Minnesota United despite a McGuire brace, as a couple of defensive lapses and a 96th-minute winner from Bongi Hlongwane doomed City to defeat. The loss snapped a run of 13 consecutive unbeaten regular season home games.
- The Lions fell despite setting a new club record for expected goals, notching 3.91 in the match. The previous record was 3.7, ironically also set in a loss, a 5-2 Decision Day defeat to Chicago in 2019. Orlando City missed six big chances on Saturday night.
- Despite the misses against Minnesota, this is an encouraging statistic for the Lions. Goals tend to regress towards expected goals over the course of a season, suggesting City will have better finishing luck going forward.
- As for Tuesday’s match, Orlando City are in pretty good shape. Thanks to last week’s 0-0 home result and the away goals tiebreaker, the Lions can advance to the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals with either a win or a score draw, meaning any tie that isn’t 0-0. In the event of a scoreless draw, the game will proceed to 30 minutes of extra time. If the game remains tied after the extra half-hour, a penalty shootout will decide the result.
- Away goals scored in extra time hold no tiebreaking value, so if e.g. both teams scored, City would still need to win the penalty shootout.
- Orlando City is 8-0 all-time in penalty kick shootouts.
Series History
All-time vs. Tigres UANL - 0-0-3, 0 GD (0-0-1, 0 GD away)
- 2023 - D 0-0 (A), D 1-1 (H)
- 2014 - D 0-0 (H)
Meet the opponent: Tigres UANL
- Through three matches, nothing has separated Orlando City and Tigres from each other. The two teams played to yet another draw last week, though Orlando had the better of the opportunities and out-shot Tigres 10-6.
- Tigres manager Robert Siboldi rotated his side heavily over the weekend, making nine changes to his lineup in a 2-0 Liga MX defeat away to Club América. Only goalkeeper Nahuel Guzmán and winger Diego Lainez kept their places from Tuesday’s match. Star striker Andre-Pierre Gignac entered the match in the 65th minute but was unable to help Tigres earn a result.
- With the loss, Tigres now sits in seventh place in the Liga MX Clausura table with six matches to play. Liga MX now features the exact same playoff format as the NBA, with teams ranked 7-10 participating in a play-in round. Tigres is even on points with Necaxa for sixth, but their goal difference of +3 is slightly worse than Necaxa’s +4 mark.
- Tigres was the seventh seed in the 2023 Clausura and went on to win the final, though the playoff format was slightly different last season (featuring 12 teams instead of 10 with four teams receiving quarterfinal byes).
- Tigres’ Estadio Universitario, commonly known as “El Volcán” (“the Volcano”), is one of the most feared venues in world soccer. Featuring a capacity of 41,615 and known for its raucous atmosphere – the club has over 39,000 season ticket holders – El Volcán has not witnessed a Tigres defeat since April 8 of last year, the game before Siboldi was appointed manager.
- Tigres is 16-0-10 in 26 home matches under Siboldi, though they have drawn seven of their last 12 home games. Remember, Orlando City does not need to win – a score draw is enough to advance.
- El Volcán opened its doors on May 30, 1967. It is called the University Stadium because it sits on the main campus of the Universidad Autónoma de Nueva Leon, the third-largest public university in Mexico with an enrollment of over 200,000 students across seven campuses. The “UANL” in Tigres UANL is an abbreviation of the university’s name.
