Photo Marjorie Elzey
Because the Philadelphia Union won the MLS Supporters’ Shield in 2025, they begin play in the 2026 Leagues Cup this coming Thursday. They will host three consecutive group stage games at Subaru Park all against Liga MX sides.
- Thursday, August 6th they play Cruz Azul on the fifth day after the Atlanta match.
- Sunday, August 9th, they play Necaxa three days later
- Thursday, August 13th, they play Santos Laguna four days after that.
After the group stage is completed, the top four teams from each league advance to the single elimination knockout stage. As Wikipedia says, “In the event two or more teams end the group stage tied on points, these tiebreakers in order will be used for ranking:
- “Greater number of wins in regular time.
- “Greater goal difference.
- “Greater number of goals scored.
- “Fewer number of goals conceded.
- “Fewer points in the team’s Fair Play Table.
- “A draw organized by the Organizing Committee.”
Unlike the group stage during which both MLS and Liga MX stop play, knockout stage matches will occur during regular season play in both leagues.
2026’s details
The 2026 Leagues Cup will be the last when MLS and Liga MX are playing on different seasonal calendars. Next year in 2027 Major League Soccer will transition to a Fall-Winter-Spring season by means of the so-called 2027 “sprint season”. 2026 will be the last time MLS teams will be at the halfway points of their seasons while Liga MX ones has just begun theirs. For the last time MLS sides should have a clear conditioning advantage over their opponents.
This year the Mexican sides have all played only three league matches, whereas the American and Canadian ones have played 16, 17, or 18, most 17. Accurately seeding the group stage matchups is therefore difficult.
Liga MX is still shaking out its 2026 Apertura. The single earliest indication of betting odds favor Cruz Azul slightly over Philadelphia, place Necaxa and Philadelphia even, and slightly favor Philadelphia over Santos Laguna.
Philadelphia specifically
The differences referenced above still make the two leagues difficult to compare fairly. Special tables still had to be concocted to seed the tournament. Those tables draw on 2025 performances and reflect that a very different Philadelphia team won the MLS 2025 Supporters’ Shield.
As the 2026 Wikipedia Leagues Cup article says, “To determine matchups, all teams were placed into a combined ranking that used the 2025 Supporters’ Shield table for MLS teams and the most recent 34 matches in the 2025 Clausura and Apertura seasons for Liga MX teams. These teams were then divided into an East region and a West region based on geographical and performance criteria. Within each region, teams were assigned to tiers based on the combined ranking, with the restriction that each tier included three teams from each league.”
Philadelphia was seeded as a tier one team in the east, even though in the first half of MLS’s 2026 season they won the wooden spoon hands down. Ryan Righter’s reset of his club’s culture, attitude, and team spirit — we refer interested parties to the video of his first press conference as interim head coach for his explanation (click here)— will face a significant test against their Mexican opponents.
Not the least element of the test will be schedule congestion. Philadelphia plays eight games in the month of August. As Richter said in one of his earlier press conferences while referencing the importance of avoiding injury, they will play more or less every third day for the entire month.
First, let me say this is the ABSOLUTE DUMBEST format for a tournament. The Union can win 3 games by 10 goals each and still not advance to the knockouts if 4 other MLS teams win by more despite likely playing against a completely different set of opponents.
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That being said, the Union have a dilemma here. Their best chance to make Champions Cup next year is to finish in the top 3 here since otherwise they would probably have to win MLS Cup. But going all out here will increase the wear on their legs towards making the playoffs. My feeling is that they should play their top lineup in the 2nd game since it is exactly a week before their next MLS game but start by playing backups in the 1st game and plan to focus on making the MLS playoffs. If by some chance they manage to win their first 2 games then consider switching focus and try to finish in the top 3 in the Garber Cup.