New York City FC is back at home to take on New England Revolution as the team looks to secure their fifth win in a row.
The Boys in Blue currently sit in second spot on the Eastern Conference table with two games in hand on Philadelphia at the top.
As they look to continue the climb, City will have to face Bruce Arena’s in-form squad without eight players.
With a mix of injuries, international duty and suspensions depriving Dome Torrent of numerous starters, Maxime Chanot has given his team a huge boost by stick around for Saturday’s matchup before jetting off to Luxembourg to represent his country.
“I’m here for the next game for New England and I’m very happy to help the team to catch up to first place because it should be a target for a club like NYCFC,” Chanot told reporters. “I will be proud to be on the pitch…”
City picked up crucial three points on the road last weekend against Vancouver securing the second place spot and clinching the club’s playoff berth.
But for Chanot, that’s not enough.
“We are focused on the next game, I mean we’re in the right position on the table. We are happy for where we are but I don’t think it’s enough,” he said. “Everybody is focused on the two games we have in hand compared to Philly. It’s going to be a tough game on Saturday so everybody is focused on this.”
Although NYCFC is missing players to the international break, the sky is the limit for this team.
“Obviously it’s going to be tough because we’re going to miss some starting players, but we also know we’ve got quality players who can fill the gap when someone is not here. We’ve seen it in previous games in the past so I’m not too worried about this,” the defender stated.
“I really believe that we have a very good team to compete with the very best in the league as I’ve said since day one.
“When I saw the squad we have, I was pretty sure we had a quality to do a good season. I think we have shown you over the season that we can go through and we have a good team to try to compete to be champions.”
With seven games left in the regular season NYCFC’s sprint to the finish line is only just beginning. September is a busy month for the team since they have six games to play with quick turnarounds in between.
“Everybody is excited to start this September month because it’s going to be really important to the rest of the league table in the regular season. It’s going to be pretty tough because games every three days isn’t easy for the body, but everybody is ready,” he said.
“I want to take it step-by-step, game-after-game and I think the next one is very important because we have to win against them. Then see the next game against Toronto.”
As City is already headed to the playoffs, they will be playing for higher seeding with the new MLS playoff format featuring single elimination matches.
“I think this season more than ever it’s really important to finish in the top two positions, I mean the first position is going to be best. But you know, especially at Yankee Stadium we are very strong so it will be a very good advantage if we can receive playoff games at home,” Chanot told NYCFC.com.
“We are really, really looking forward to finishing as high as we can in the league table in the regular season. Obviously we’re going to try to bring the playoffs home.”
The fight goes on as the race to the finish line is in full swing, and New York CIty’s Football Club is ready to fight for this city, for this club, and most of all for the fans.
“I’m very proud to be an NYCFC player and I will work as much as I can to make sure we can bring the championship to this team, we deserve it, to this club,” Chanot said
