New York City FC suffered a 2-1 defeat at Philadelphia on Saturday.
Unlike after their previous defeat to Sporting KC, the Club has a swift opportunity to avenge the loss.
New York City FC hosts the Union at 7 p.m. EDT Thursday evening at Yankee Stadium. The match will be broadcast on YES Network, WFAN and WADO.
“We don’t have to sit around and dwell on this result, we have a good chance to get back after it,” said defender Jason Hernandez, referencing the two-week wait following the 1-0 loss to Sporting KC on March 28. “And obviously we’ll be seeing Philly again so we’ll look to correct our mistakes and definitely try and come out with three points back at home.”
New York City FC left PPL Park this past weekend heartbroken.
After another sluggish first half that saw the Club trailing 1-0 at the interval, the team played with added impetus in the second half. The increased aggressiveness paid dividends as captain David Villa scored the equalizer in the 55th minute after a fantastic flowing move.
Unfortunately, the Club left Pennsylvania without any points as Vincent Nogueira scored the match-winner in the 92nd minute to give the Union their first victory of the season.
“Part of the reason we've struggled is we've come out with too much of a conservative mindset,” defender Chris Wingert said of the Club’s first-half struggle. “We certainly haven’t talked about having a conservative mindset, in fact we’ve talked the opposite — come out the aggressor, dominate possession and take it to the other team.
"We’ve been able to fix that halftime. We need to do that to play a full 90 minutes instead of just a second 45.”
NYCFC vs. UNION FACTS & FIGURES
New York City FC enters the rematch against the Union at 1-2-2 (5 points), having lost their last two matches following an undefeated three-match stretch to open their inaugural campaign.
The Club will be without midfielder Mix Diskerud, who was called up to the United States National Team for a friendly against Mexico tonight in San Antonio, Texas.
Philadelphia (1-3-2; 5 points) is coming off its first victory of the season.
Forward Fernando Aristeguieta, the Union’s leading goal scorer who missed the teams’ first clash with a left quad injury, will be another game-time decision according to head coach Jim Curtin. The coach also confirmed forward Sebastien Le Toux, who provided the assist to the match’s first goal, is fit after colliding with the advertising boards and suffering a cut to his arm on Saturday.
“He’s got a cut on his arm, he’ll be fine,” Curtin said. “He’s able to play through it. He got five stitches. It’s his arm, it’s a gash on there. His legs are fine and that’s his best asset.”
With matches coming in rapid succession, Wingert said he and his teammates are fielding the assignments one at a time. First, it’s all about Philadelphia on Thursday, he said. On Friday the Club will turn their attention to the Timbers.
“It’s a long season,” he said. “We just started, but we certainly don’t want to find ourselves behind the 8-ball the next couple of months. We want to make sure we’re in a good position heading into the summer.”
New York City FC can start that process with a positive result on Thursday night.
