Alexander Ring is ready.
After an exceptional first regular season in MLS, you wouldn’t know that the midfield stalwart is heading into the playoffs as a first timer.
“Playoffs are different from the regular season games," Ring told NYCFC.com. "I think we don’t need to fire anyone up for them. We know it’s do or die. And I think we are going be prepared – we’ve been prepared the whole time. I think the biggest achievement is that we’ve always stayed calm and believed in ourselves and that is going to take us a long way.”
It’s that same mentality that carried this team through an up-and-down last few months to the season and a regular season finale at the unfamiliar Citi Field in Queens.
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“There’s no excuses. We come here for business. We get the second spot. No excuses. That’s just how it is. We can’t change it. We have to go out there and do our best. We took care of it today and I’m very happy,” Ring reflected.
The fast fan-favorite shares the love and respect for the City faithful that will play an all-important role in the postseason run.
Ring said, “The fans push you and we are very grateful that they came out to the Mets stadium today. Yea it’s of importance if you see all of our home games this season, the energy we play with, we are going to need that in the playoffs and I hope everyone shows up."
New York City was able to clinch the two seed in the Eastern Conference on Sunday, but if it had gone another way, Ring is confident the team still would have been ready for whatever.
“We take the second seed over playing on Tuesday or Wednesday, but if it would have come another way I would take my chances with this team because I know we are going places," said Ring. "We know what we want, and in order to achieve that you just have to smash your next opponent. That’s it. No excuses, nothing else. You just win and go on.”
