NYCFC head coach Nick Cushing has a good but tough task ahead of his team’s weekend fixture against the New England Revolution. He has to decide who gets the start amongst three very capable striker options. The first is Monsef Bakrar, who scored the game-winner over New York Red Bulls this past weekend, the other two options are rotation picks Alonso Martinez and Jovan Mijatovic.
Cushing, who has three men in form, had the excuse of a congested fixture week to rotate between the options. While it was convenient, it also gave him a chance to better assess who was ready among his options. What happened was something that surely surprised him: All three were ready for action.
“It’s incredibly difficult because the team is playing well,” said Cushing at training. “The hardest part of my job is picking a team. Everyone deserves to play. Julian Fernandez is training incredibly well, Andres Jasson is pushing really hard, Justin Haak is not in the squad but training like a player that should be playing every game in MLS.”
The options have started to fit into place thanks to a fantastic run of form from City who have won six of their last seven games and three in a row. The team will take to the road to play New England on Saturday, knowing that the momentum could easily stop against a team that hasn’t quite been in form but is always capable of stealing a result.
Keenly aware of this, Cushing has hedged his bets by giving himself as many options as possible. Mijatovic made his debut as a starter with the club this past weekend but has gained significant experience through the NYCFC II US Open Cup run. That ended this past week following a defeat to New Mexico. However, out of that has come the kind of learning that can quickly move an unproven player to the top of the selection chart.
“Our bench should be improving us and it has” said Cushing. “Our bench players have come off the bench and made us better. It’s incredibly difficult but it’s a great problem to have.”
City will travel to Gillette Stadium on Saturday night to take on the New England Revolution. A win could see the club push further up the table, with second place only seven points out of reach.
photo by Jordan Bank