New York City FC have a chance to sweep their first round opponents Charlotte FC on Saturday afternoon in Yankee Stadium, knowing that their fans will be loud and anxious to move on to the next round. A 1-0 win thanks to a wonderful moment of skill in the first half by Alonso Martinez, has the club feeling confident and knowing that the atmosphere will be one they can feed off of in order to finish off the series.
“It’s going to be electric,” said head coach Pascal Jansen to the media. “What I’ve seen over the season is that when we play in the Bronx, it’s intense, but that’s how it should be and we enjoy that. Hopefully the atmosphere will be there, the fans will go crazy for the team, and we’ll get the job done.”
City have played through a rough patch heading into the playoffs, losing three out of their last four games, including tight losses against Philadelphia and Seattle. While the goalscoring hasn’t picked up, the defense did enough to keep Charlotte at bay, who also missed major pieces including Wilfred Zaha who was serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation.
That suspension will be over and Zaha is expected to play on Saturday. However, City have the momentum given their win in North Carolina on Tuesday against one of the best home clubs in the Eastern Conference.
The playoff experience itself has been something radically different for Jansen, who comes from Europe where the idea of a second stretch after the regular season is a bit foreign. While knockout competitions are something that do exist, the nature of a best-of-three is something that was only instituted a year ago, with many teams still at odds with the format.
“Experiencing that and now in the playoffs, is something I could only dream of as a coach coming into MLS,” said Jansen. “My tool box as a coach has been (greatly) filled throughout the season as well.”
NYC will not have an easy journey based on the brackets, first it will be a challenge to eliminate Charlotte only to then have to potentially face the Supporters Shield winners Philadelphia Union. Either way, the first step will be Saturday’s game against Charlotte FC as the look to close out the first round with a two-game sweep.
photo by Jordan Bank