PREVIEW | FC Cincinnati host Tigres UANL in first leg of Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16

FC Cincinnati need to flip the web page rapidly and rebound into the Concacaf Champions Cup this week as The Orange and Blue host a Liga MX big at TQL Stadium on Thursday evening.

In a rematch from 2025, Tigres UANL come to Cincinnati for the Round of 16 in the Concacaf Champions Cup with Leg One of the two-game collection at house for FCC on Thursday, March 12. A spot in the quarterfinals is on the road, and FCC need to punch their ticket to that spherical for the first time in membership historical past.

After a irritating house loss in MLS play earlier in the week, The Orange and Blue are hoping to make use of this match as a chance to flip the script and transfer on from that defeat. While the protection has been strong to this point, conceding simply two targets in 5 matches, the offense has struggled in league motion, and the membership enters this match with out a objective in its final 180 minutes.

Head Coach Pat Noonan is searching for gamers to regain their confidence in this match and use this marquee matchup as a chance to rise to the second.

“We’re expecting another very difficult round,” Noonan stated of their opponent, Tigres UANL. “They’re a very well-balanced team. I think you can see they’re well coached. A lot of the fluidity of their play and in and out of possession, I think it makes them very difficult to play against. You know, their league record hasn’t been, I’m sure, as strong as they would like, but when you look at the current games and performances and play, it’s a very strong team.”

The rematch in the Round of 16 between The Orange and Blue and Tigres marks the third time in as a few years that FCC have performed a membership from Monterrey, Mexico in the Concacaf Champions Cup and the first repeat opponent in the membership’s event historical past. Last season, when the 2 sides met, Pavel Bucha and Evander scored, however Tigres superior due to a late emergence in the second leg.

“I think there’s a little bit of a chip on our shoulders after they knocked us off last year, but it’s kind of just about recognizing how important every moment is,” Miles Robinson stated of how the group is making ready for this rematch. “Playing at home in the first game is definitely important, so we have to use that home field advantage to the best of our ability.”

With the collection being a two-leg affair, regardless of the rating in this recreation, the collection will proceed one week later at Estadio Universitario, aka (*16*) one week later. On Wednesday, Pat Noonan reiterated a lesson he has taken from earlier Round of 16 defeats: taking benefit of the house leg in the collection is paramount to advancing when needing to go on the street to a spot like El Volcán.

“I think in the last two years, we walked away feeling really good about the performances, but the scoreline wasn’t in our favor going into the second leg. So we need to have a more favorable scoreline, whatever the performance looks like,” Noonan stated Wednesday forward of the match. “Of course we wish it to be as robust as earlier years, however it is a new 12 months, a brand new group, and we have to have enhancements from our final couple performances and have a greater scoreline.”

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For the third consecutive season, FC Cincinnati superior previous Round One of the Concacaf Champions Cup and enter the Round of 16. For the second straight 12 months, it’s Mexican membership Tigres UANL that The Orange and Blue will face in this stage of the competitors. In 2025, Tigres secured a 1-1 draw in Leg One at TQL Stadium and gained 3-1 at house to win on combination, 4-2.

In the essential first leg, FC Cincinnati have but to win in this spherical in the prior two seasons, falling 1-0 at house to CF Monterrey in 2024 and drawing 1-1 final season.

Thursday marks FC Cincinnati’s twelfth all-time match towards a Liga MX opponent in all competitions. The Orange and Blue are 4-4-3 in the earlier 11 matches. Against Non-MLS opponents general, since 2019, FC Cincinnati are 21-12-11 in 44 matches.

At TQL Stadium, FC Cincinnati is 4-2-3 towards Liga MX opponents in all competitions.

Tigres UANL enter the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup seeking to win their second continental title after taking the crown in 2020 and ending as runners-up in three of the final 10 tournaments.

Already 10 video games into their season, Tigres have had a blended bag of outcomes to start out the 12 months. While they gained their most up-to-date match towards cross-town rivals CF Monterrey, AKA ‘Rayados’, they’ve misplaced three of their final 5 matches.

In Round One of the Concacaf Champions Cup, Tigres traveled to Canada to play Forge FC of the Canadian Premier League. Forge saved issues even at nil-nil in leg one, however couldn’t maintain the road in the return match in Mexico, falling 4-1 and securing Tigres’ path ahead.

Head Coach Guido Pizarro leads the facet. The former Tigres midfielder notably took over the job at some point previous to enjoying FC Cincinnati final season and simply three days after beginning at midfield for the facet in a Liga MX match. The now supervisor appeared for Tigres over 350 occasions over 12 years earlier than shifting into his new function on the bench.

In his first 12 months with the membership, Argentine midfielder Ángel Correa has been the standout offensive star for Tigres, incomes 18 objective contributions throughout the Apertura and Clausura seasons. Joining from Spanish big Atletico Madrid of La Liga, the 31-year-old leads all outfield gamers in minutes performed throughout these two seasons as effectively.

His chief operating mate is one other Argentine worldwide, now in his third 12 months with Tigres after enjoying in Italy and England, Juan Brunetta. The attacking midfielder has tallied 16 objective contributions in 27 matches, 5 of which have come in the 2026 Clausura season.

On the defensive facet of the ball, Tigres have an assortment of defenders they depend on, however mostly flip to Brazilian middle again Romulo and Mexican middle again Jesús Angelo. The duo has appeared collectively in every of the final 4 Liga MX matches for Tigres. Fellow Brazilian defender Joaquim is one other of the trusted group, however had been out on purple card suspension. In Tigres’ match over the week towards Rayados, the three performed collectively in a again three.

Most usually, Tigres deploy a 4-2-3-1 formation, doing so in all of their matches in 2026 apart from this most up-to-date match the place they shifted to a 5-4-1 formation. The form usually has the 2 Argentine midfielders alongside the midfield, with the third attacking midfielder rotating between a couple of choices. The three are mostly beneath Rodrigo Aguirre, a Uruguayan ahead who joined the membership firstly of 2026 however has performed in Liga MX for six years with Rayados, Club America and Necaxa.

In internet for Tigres is a veteran and membership legend. Argentine keeper Nahuel Guzman, recognized equally for his antics as for his high quality, joined Tigres in 2014 and is nearing 400 appearances for the facet. Guzman appeared in each matches towards FC Cincinnati in 2025, making 4 saves in Leg One to maintain the sport stage heading into Leg Two.