It's an all-MLS Western Conference clash in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup, as St. Louis CITY SC host Houston Dynamo FC on Tuesday night for Leg 1 of their Round One series.
How to watch & stream
- English: FS2
- Spanish: ViX
When
- Tuesday, February 20 | 8 pm ET/5 pm PT
Where
- CITYPARK | St. Louis, Missouri
Leg 2 awaits on Feb. 27 at Houston's Shell Energy Stadium, with the winner facing reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew in the Round of 16 come early March. The advancing team is first decided by aggregate goals, then (if necessary) by away goals.
Expanded and rebranded for 2024, the Champions Cup winner qualifies for both the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup. The tournament final is held on June 2.
A historic debut season vaulted St. Louis into continental competition, courtesy of topping the Western Conference. Head coach Bradley Carnell's team accumulated 56 points (17W-12L-5T), just shy of the MLS expansion club record LAFC set in 2018, but the bitter taste of their early Audi MLS Cup Playoffs exit to rival Sporting Kansas City still lingers.
Now, goalkeeper Roman Bürki, midfielder Eduard Löwen and striker João Klauss are among the main figures driving St. Louis' Champions Cup debut – and introduction to Concacaf writ large. Bürki is the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, Löwen finished third in 2023 MLS Newcomer of the Year voting and Klauss had a team-leading 10g/4a last season.
Houston returned to the Champions Cup after winning the 2023 US Open Cup, a high point in their turnaround under head coach Ben Olsen. Now, the Dynamo are determined to prove that's the new norm after also making last year's Western Conference Final.
However, Houston must overcome some early-season obstacles, namely that Best XI midfielder Héctor Herrera is out injured and winger Nelson Quiñones has suffered a season-ending knee injury. Perhaps newly-extended midfielder Coco Carrasquilla or striker Sebastián Ferreira, who's back from a 2023 loan to Brazilian side Vasco da Gama, can offer solutions.
