Crew coach Wilfried Nancy has given very little away in regard to the situation involving Crew striker Cucho Hernandez , including if he'll be available for the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Quarterfinals against Tigres on Tuesday.
"You'll see tomorrow," Nancy said Monday.
Hernandez' status first came into question ahead of the Crew's MLS regular-season match against Nashville SC on Saturday. Excluded from the road trip, the club's leading goal-scorer was missing from action due to "team policy" according to Nancy.
When asked if the absence had anything to do with an incident that occurred against Charlotte FC on March 23, Nancy declined to answer.
More Columbus Crew news: Columbus Crew come away with 2-2 draw vs Nashville SC despite Cucho Hernandez absence
During that game, the television broadcast showed Hernandez having what looked to be a heated conflict with the Crew coaching staff following his substitution from the match during the 89th minute.
Nancy was absent from the sideline due to an illness . Hernandez was seemingly yelling at the other coaches while coming off the field.
"There was nothing there," Crew assistant coach Kwame Ampadu said following the match.
Hernandez leads the Crew with four goals.
Nancy said injured players Sean Zawadzki and Rudy Camacho will likely be unavailable for Tuesday's match.
Here's what else to know before the Crew take on Tigres in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals:
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Lower.com Field.
The match will be on FS1. Streaming is available via the Fox Sports app. The Spanish broadcast will be on ViX.
The broadcast of the match will be available on 105.7 FM. Chris Doran will be on the radio call. The Spanish radio broadcast will be available via 102.5 FM La Grande.
The game is still set to be played at its scheduled time, despite the severe weather warnings throughout central Ohio .
According to CONCACAF guidelines, the match can be postponed and canceled due to weather at the referees' discretion. The referees must wait two 30-minute periods before canceling the match, and then CONCACAF will have two hours to reschedule. The guidelines lack clarity if they can call off the match at any earlier point in the day.
Champions Cup is an annual competition run by CONCACAF, the regional governing body in soccer for North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament includes 27 teams from 10 countries.
Each round, up until the final, will include two legs (two games) and the winner will be determined by the aggregate score (the combined number of goals scored by the two teams).
The final will consist of one match, with the winner qualifying for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
The Crew have appeared in five past iterations of Champions Cup, the most recent being in 2021, when they made it to the quarterfinals.
Each time the Crew have played in this competition, they have reached the quarterfinals, but never any further.
After receiving a bye into the Round of 16 due to being MLS Cup champions, the Crew started their CONCACAF Champions Cup journey against Houston Dynamo .
With the first leg taking place on the road March 6, Columbus took a 1-0 aggerate goal advantage when forward Alex Matan scored a last-second goal towards the end of the match . Matan has been sidelined with a thigh injury since that game.
The Crew returned to Lower.com Field on March 12 for the second leg and took an early 1-0 lead over Houston in their second leg match off a Hernandez goal. Holding onto the lead for most of the match, Columbus would allow the Dynamo to score a penalty kick goal to tie the match 1-1 , but still advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 aggerate score.
Tigres started the competition in the Round of 32 against the Vancouver Whitecaps .
Tigres won the first 3-0 and the overall series 4-1.
In the Round of 16, Tigres took on Orlando SC. After tying the first leg on the road 0-0, Tigres defeated Orlando 4-2 at home to advance.
Since Tigres had the better goal differential against Orlando compared to Crew's against Houston, Tigres was awarded home-field advantage in the second leg.
Tigres is one of the teams participating in the CONCACAF Champions Cup from the Mexican-based Liga MX. In Columbus, Tigres is also known for being the team former Crew star Lucas Zelarayan played with before joining the MLS club.
With current scoring threats Juan Brunetta and Andre-Pierre Gignac, among others, Tigres is 7-3-3 and ranked fourth in Liga MX standings.
The club is based out of the Monterrey metropolitan area. Throughout its history, Tigres has won eight Liga MX championships and in 2020, won the CONCACAF Champions League.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew vs. Tigres; will Cucho Hernandez play in CONCACAF match?
