Minnesota United’s schedule enters Leagues Cup stretch, if you can remember what that is

Someday, there may come a time when any coverage of the Leagues Cup, which Minnesota United begins on Wednesday night, doesn’t need to begin with an explanation of the tournament.

Given that this year’s edition is the fourth different format in six editions, though, we may not have yet reached that point.

To recap: this is a yearly tournament that includes teams from Major League Soccer and Liga MX, the top league in Mexico. This year, all 18 Mexican teams will participate, but just 18 of the 30 MLS teams will. That includes the 18 teams that reached last year’s playoffs with one exception: Vancouver, which already had two other cup competitions on its schedule, is being replaced by expansion San Diego FC.

Unlike the past two seasons, the 36 teams are not split into groups for the first stage. Instead, each team will play three games against teams from the opposite league.

Minnesota’s opponents span the gamut of Mexican teams. On the one hand, on Saturday they play Club América, arguably the biggest club in all of North America and a team that’s won the title in three of the last four half-seasons in Mexico. Club América is undefeated in three games to start the Mexican season.

Manager Eric Ramsay stressed that he wanted his team to play to its strengths in all three games, but also said that there’s no denying that Las Aguilas are the marquee opponent.

“Obviously the strength of Club América relative to the rest of Liga MX is well-known,” he said. “That in particular is a game that we’ll for sure look forward to, because I don’t think it’s every day you get a chance to play a game of that magnitude.”

In between those extremes, the Loons play Atlético de San Luis, a team whose biggest claim to fame might be that their majority owners are Spanish giants Atlético Madrid. Atlético missed the playoffs last spring, and has one win and two losses to begin the fall season south of the border.

“I think the good thing about our team right now is we know our identity, and we know who we are, and that doesn’t really change regardless of who we play,” Minnesota United goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair said.

The matches against Querétaro and Atlético are at home, with the game against América taking place Saturday in Houston. One of the criticisms of past Leagues Cup tournaments was that the Mexican teams had to play every match on the road, so this time around, the four top seeds from Liga MX — including América — were given a home base in the U.S. for their games.

After the three games, only the four teams from each league with the best record will move on to a knockout round.

“You could essentially win all three games and still not go through, which means every minute is going to matter and goal differential is going to play a huge part,” St. Clair said.

The Loons may end up having to rotate the squad for the third Leagues Cup game, against Atlético, especially if they don’t win the first two.

“I think if we win the first two games, obviously we’ll be all in on that final one,” Ramsay said. “If we happen to slip up in any way, then I think it’s very probable that you won’t then be able to progress.”

He added that the team would make “sensible decisions” and turn its attention to MLS play.

It’s all part of what’s become a multi-competition stretch run for the Loons. They have the potential for six games in the Leagues Cup, if they could reach the final; two more in U.S. Open Cup, if they can win their mid-September semifinal match; and a nine-game run in MLS, which will determine the Supporters’ Shield and their positioning for the MLS Cup playoffs.