New York City FC will have the privilege of hosting the first-ever playoff Hudson River Derby against the New York Red Bulls in Saturday’s Eastern Conference semifinal.
Sixth-seeded NYCFC outlasted FC Cincinnati in a best-of-three Round 1 series despite losing the opening game.
Alonso Martinez, Thiago Martins and Santiago Rodriguez scored in an impressive 3-1 home win to level the series, and then NYCFC prevailed on penalties in the deciding match following a 0-0 draw.
New York City also have the form sheet on their side, winning both regular-season meetings against the Red Bulls, which ultimately proved the difference in finishing the season three points higher in the East standings and earning the right to play Saturday’s historic fixture in Queens.
“We’re really proud that we’re going to have 24-25,000 of our people in there, but we have to play our part in getting the atmosphere (going) and delivering a performance,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “I think together, if our fans bring the passion and are right behind us from the off, and we play on the front foot, I think it will give us every chance of putting in a good performance.”
NYCFC throttled the seventh-seeded Red Bulls 5-1 in New Jersey in their final regular-season meeting in late September.
But that game proved to be a turning point for RBNY and coach Sandro Schwarz, who held one-on-one meetings with his players in the following days to try and address an extended slump in form.
“We know how they played against us,” Schwarz said. “We know how we played, especially the last game in our stadium was tough. The days after the game was tough. But now it’s new competition.”
Attacking midfielder Emil Forsberg also made his first start in nearly four months in the following match, a 4-1 romp past Toronto.
The Swedish veteran — who had a prolonged recovery from a foot injury — has spearheaded an attack that looked much improved in their Round 1 sweep of the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew. That included a goal and an assist in the 2-2 draw in Game 2 before RBNY prevailed on penalties.
–Field Level Media