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Who is Moca FC? What to know of Nashville SC's first opponent in CONCACAF Champions Cup
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- Who is Moca FC? What to know of Nashville SC's first opponent in CONCACAF Champions Cup
The Dominican Republic is no soccer hotbed.
The men's national team has never qualified for a World Cup or even a CONCACAF Gold Cup, and it sits 150th in the FIFA world ranking. Dominican teams have qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, North America's most prestigious club competition, just seven times in the tournament's 62-year history. They've combined for one win, three draws and 10 losses and have been outscored 42-10.
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Nashville SC is hoping to deny Moca FC, the seventh Dominican club to qualify for the Champions Cup, the opportunity to write a Cinderella tale. Nashville, which is also making its Champions Cup debut, was drawn against Moca in the first round of the competition, which begins with Thursday's first leg in the Dominican Republic (6 p.m. CT). Nashville will host the second leg Feb. 28 (8:15 p.m. CT) at Geodis Park.
The winner of the series will be decided based on aggregate goals and will advance to face Inter Miami and Lionel Messi in the round of 16. The first leg of that series would take place at either Nashville or Moca on March 7, with Miami hosting the second leg on March 13.
Moca faces mountainous odds: Of 27 teams in this year's Champions Cup, it's the lowest (109th) in the most recent CONCACAF Club Ranking, while Nashville is 12th. But that hardly means Nashville can overlook the Aurinegros.
Here's what to know about Moca:
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Moca FC has history of domestic success
Soccer in the Dominican Republic was played at a semi-professional level prior to the founding of the eight-team Liga Dominicana de Futbol in 2015. Moca has never won an LDF championship. Its best result came last season, when it finished runner-up after losing 3-0 on aggregate to Cibao FC in the final series.
However, Moca was the country's most successful club for the first four-plus decades of its existence. It won 11 first-division championships from the time of its founding in 1971 to 2014, more than any other team.
Moca's route to CONCACAF Champions Cup
Moca finished third in the LDF in 2022 to qualify for the 2023 CONCACAF Caribbean Cup, from which the top three finishers would advance to the Champions Cup. Moca won three of four group stage matches to finish second in Group A and qualify for the semifinals against Surinamese club SV Robinhood.
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Moca beat Robinhood 1-0 in the first leg at home on Oct. 25 and only needed a tie a week later to advance to the final. Those dreams ended in heartbreaking fashion when Robinhood scored in the 93rd minute, tying the series on aggregate, before winning a penalty shootout. Robinhood went on to beat Jamaica n side Cavalier FC in the final.
Moca faced Harbour View FC in the third-place series. Goals from Gustavo Ascona and Jose Francisco gave Moca a 2-1 win in Jamaica on Nov. 28, and in the second leg on Dec. 5, Sebastian Valencia's goal in the 68th minute sealed a 1-1 draw at home and the Champions Cup berth.
Moca has a new manager
Perhaps most impressive about Moca's path to the Champions Cup is that it did so with multiple managers. Sergio Guzman left Moca after the end of the LDF season and Mariano Tejada took over on an interim basis, leading the team for the two games against Harbour View.
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In January, Moca hired a permanent manager, Maximiliano Viera. Viera, 55, played professionally in his home country of Uruguay , plus Chile and the United States during an 18-year career before getting into coaching. He was an assistant for the Qatar national team from 2015 to 2017 and has managed four different teams in Uruguay. Most recently, he managed AEP Kozani in the Greek third division.
Key players for Moca
Even at 37, Ascona is Moca's talisman. The Argentine striker scored four goals during the Caribbean Cup and was the competition's third-highest scorer overall. However, Moca likely will be looking to play defensively against a much more talented Nashville lineup.
Goalkeeper Odalis Baez, 40, led one of the Dominican Republic's strongest defenses last season, as Moca gave up 17 goals in 26 league matches. In front of Baez is a backline consisting of Dominican national team members Carlos Rossell, Kelvin Duran, Richard Dabas and Ronaldo de Pena.
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Where does Moca play?
Moca's usual home stadium is the Estadio Complejo Deportivo Moca 86, which opened in 1985 and has a capacity of 4,000. However, Moca plays its bigger matches at the Estadio Cibao FC in Santiago de los Caballeros, about 20 miles away. The Estadio Cibao seats 8,000 and was the site of one of the biggest upsets in Champions Cup history in March 2023 when Haitian club Violette beat Austin FC 3-0 in the first round. Thursday's game will take place there as well.
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Moca also hosted the second leg of the third-place series of the Caribbean Cup at the Estadio Cibao.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC in CONCACAF Champions Cup: What to know about Moca FC
