Nick Cushing sees Saturday’s trip to FC Cincinnati as an opportunity for certain players to shine.
New York City FC travel to Ohio on Saturday knowing they will be forced to make a number of changes to the team that beat Toronto FC last time out due to international duty and suspension.
Despite those challenges, Cusihng is confident in the depth of City's roster and views the contest as an opportunity for others to shine in the absence of their teammates.
“I'm really pleased with the build of the roster,” Cushing said. “I think these moments always put that into question.
“I think that's only confirmed how pleased I am [with the roster] when I look out at training and see the players that I have to pick from.
“It's not ideal to have both right backs, both strikers, and other players that you want to select absent. I'm pleased with the players that we have and you see in the training the ability to still work the way we want to work.
“I’ve still got some selection headaches. I don't know the starting XI that I'm picking. There are two or three that are really fighting [to play]. I think you get an opportunity in these moments.
“You can see in the training that some guys have a huge desire to play because the opportunity is there and they haven't played so much. I think that is confirmation that we built a roster that can cope in these moments.”
Cincinnati currently sit third in the Eastern Conference standings behind rivals Columbus Crew and Inter Miami CF.
The Orange and Blue are currently undefeated in league play in 2024 and secured a 2-1 road win against the New England Revolution last time out.
City are themselves riding high after securing a 2-1 result against Toronto, with goals from Santiago Rodríguez and Kevin O’Toole making the difference. Cushing is eager to maintain that momentum when they face Pat Noonan's side this weekend at TQL Stadium, but he is aware of the challenge ahead.
“We know Cincinnati is a difficult place [to play], their season last year shows that,” Cushing explained.
“We’ve been disappointed with our results going there. I think at first we had positive results but maybe of late not so positive. We're going to have to be prepared.
“We know they play with five in the back, we know that maybe they're a little bit different than they were last year in the sense of personnel, but from watching them, they're just as organized and just as tough [to play against].
“We're going to have to be prepared and make sure that we go there with the mentality to make sure we get a result."
