New York City FC are hoping that they can stop their decent down the Eastern Conference standings with a win over Inter Miami CF at Chase Stadium on Saturday night. City will be without defender Birk Risa due to a leg injury but will have several key players returning from international duty, including striker Mounsef Bakrar and defenders Tayvon Gray and Mitja Ilenic. On the flipside Miami will be missing Lionel Messi for another game as they hope to rebound after a poor performance last week as well.
Miami were dominated by the New York Red Bulls 4-0 at Red Bull Arena and they hope to turn the tide against City at home. For their part, Miami have juggled results between MLS play and the Concacaf Champions Cup. Messi’s inability to play is directly related to head coach Tata Martino prioritizing the continental competition over the regular season. Expectations are that Luis Suarez will play but the team’s defense will take a hit. Tomas Aviles and Benjamin Cremaschi are listed as questionable while several others our out for the match completely.
For City it is nearing a must-win scenario. The team is currently 1-4-0 to start the campaign and are just two points from the bottom of the Eastern Conference. While it isn’t a dire situation just yet, the team will feel like a win is necessary to keep from digging too deep of a whole so early in the year. Their biggest problem has been scoring goals. Despite bringing in the likes of Bakrar and attempting to unleash Julian Fernandez’s capabilities, the team has been shut out three times in five games.
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PROJECTED STARTING XI:
NYCFC: Freese; Ilenic, Martins, Hope-Gund, O’Toole, Parks, Sands, Rodriguez, Fernandez, Bakrar, Wolf