New York City FC vs. D.C. United
Saturday, April 20, 7:30 PM ET
Citi Field
Apple TV (MLS Season Pass)
Saturday, April 20, 7:30 PM ET
Citi Field
Apple TV (MLS Season Pass)
MLS - April 20 - D.C. (Home - CF)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
Game is tomorrow and absolutely no posts yet? Wow.
An FYI, we're wearing the black kits.
An FYI, we're wearing the black kits.
what is there to say? haha. i hope we win. but my confidence in our ability to continue progressing toward our potential is very lacking. i need a few more games of good performances to get my hopes up.
i'll be watching the replay for this one too.
Well, I for one have been looking forward all week to visiting Chiddy's Cheesesteaks behind section 132. Does that count?
And now I know what to wear as well. Thanks!
- Maxi Morales - Out - Right Knee
- Talles Magno - Out - Left Knee
- Rio Hope-Gund - Out - Right Leg
*Caveat* Not a doctor. My impression from watching the behind the scenes video of him training is there is an issue with some fast twitch muscles. They were fine letting him run at a sprint and kick the ball. But they had him moving very slowly through those upright poles used for agility. Which makes me think it’s the little movements that he uses to feint out opponents one v one are the issues.
Yeah, concerning he's been out so long, hopefully it's just a slow healing injury and not something more chronic or structural with his knee. He's still young and despite his recent struggles clearly very talented.
I think we need to get into the playoff mix, so the questions become where do we finish and who can we climb over instead of will we barely scrape in.
Or the other way, a few losses and we will get the is this Nick's last game chatter before each match.
The other compounding factor is the lack of meaningfully debatable lineup options. Our struggles as a team this season are so systemic and broad that it's trivial to act like a choice at one position will have an impact on the team's overall performance. Any turnaround for the season is going to take a team-wide improvement in execution, not some lineup tinkering. We are all just trapped in wait-and-see mode.
I'll be there in the supporters section, bundled up (but wearing my black Día de los Muertos tee underneath), drinking whatever local-ish IPA they are serving (Montauk?) and eating
hmm that sounds good, eating that, and cheering for a win! DC is a good team, Benteke is on fire, so we'll need to score multiple goals... plus the ex-RB coach will have them counter-pressing so I hope the players are mindful of that...
Gameday Weather and Transit Report™, brought to you by Chiddy's Cheesesteaks (behind section 132, where I can be found before the match starts)
Weather: Not too bad
60° at kickoff but with feels-likes in the low 50s and a bit gusty. Should be clear skies, with sunset at 7:41pm.
Transit: Slightly slower than normal service due to structural improvements (i.e., track work) being done on the 7 line, with trains running every 8 minutes and skipping several outbound stops between 74th and Mets-Willets Point. Work is scheduled to be finished for the day at 9pm so should return to normal service for after the match (although the outbound stations are still going to be skipped for the whole weekend).
Weather: Not too bad
60° at kickoff but with feels-likes in the low 50s and a bit gusty. Should be clear skies, with sunset at 7:41pm.
Transit: Slightly slower than normal service due to structural improvements (i.e., track work) being done on the 7 line, with trains running every 8 minutes and skipping several outbound stops between 74th and Mets-Willets Point. Work is scheduled to be finished for the day at 9pm so should return to normal service for after the match (although the outbound stations are still going to be skipped for the whole weekend).
DC have tied every Away game so far, with scores of 0-0, 1-1, and 2-2 (twice). So they can draw you with defense and they can tie you with modest offense. They have come back from 2-0, and twice given up leads, and once arranged it so nobody ever had a lead. If Benteke scores in an Away game, they tie. If Benteke does not score, they tie. They can exactly match your score 5 ways til Tuesday, as long as they are on the road.
Meanwhile NYC has so far won half of its home games. No more, no less, though you cannot win half of 5 games so that streak will end I guess, perhaps to be resumed next week.
That's a whole lot of middling going after it.
Meanwhile NYC has so far won half of its home games. No more, no less, though you cannot win half of 5 games so that streak will end I guess, perhaps to be resumed next week.
That's a whole lot of middling going after it.
I have this one as a draw in my book myself and next weekend as the breakout game. Although we may be ahead of it and the lads may just prove me wrong. This could be the game.
The keys to the match are obvious:
- Contain Benteke. He's still extremely dangerous. Let him loose and he'll clobber you.
- Beat the press. We know they're coming. If we can get through or behind them, we can blow them out.
- SHOOT. We need scorer's confidence, especially Mounsef Bakrar. If he can nail one early, look out.
Like I said, obvious. (Hey, what can I say. Sports aren't rocket science.
) The big question is whether our gaffer thinks the squad is ready to ditch the training wheels for good. If he is, and he's willing to take a shot and push all the buttons, we may see something here. Maybe.
It's incredible that DC signed Benteke at 18 and developed him into that type of asset....wait....This wasn't some long needless development plan? MLS teams can just sign a guy like that? Does David Lee know about this? You can sign proven scorers and they produce results, someone needs to tell NYCFC about this top-secret tactic.
I have this one as a draw in my book myself and next weekend as the breakout game. Although we may be ahead of it and the lads may just prove me wrong. This could be the game.
The keys to the match are obvious:
- Contain Benteke. He's still extremely dangerous. Let him loose and he'll clobber you.
- Beat the press. We know they're coming. If we can get through or behind them, we can blow them out.
- SHOOT. We need scorer's confidence, especially Mounsef Bakrar. If he can nail one early, look out.
Like I said, obvious. (Hey, what can I say. Sports aren't rocket science.
Maybe.
This game will be a big test.
- DC will press red bull style. If we can't handle it, we're done. And we haven't been able to handle it for years...
- Benteke is a beast. He's physical and strong in the air. Set pieces will be very dangerous. Again, things that we are very poor at since our CBs aren't particularly strong and we are just not good at set piece defending.
if we can manage the press and defend against benteke's physicality, it will show a lot of progress. but i'm not confident we are anywhere near that level yet.
Those are the questions. And yes, this is the test. It's not the final, though. Let's call it a midterm.
101° fever. Free single ticket in the ticket enquiry thread
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