Nick Cushing has spoken of his team's excitement about participating in Leagues Cup on the eve of their first game.
New York City FC will begin their involvement in the 2024 edition of the tournament against Liga MX side Querétaro at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night. They travel to TQL Stadium eight days later to take on FC Cincinnati.
City reached the Round of 32 in the last Leagues Cup tournament and will be keen to improve upon that this time round. Speaking to the media ahead of tomorrow's game, Cushing confirmed his squad are excited by the proposition of facing Querétaro and potentially further Liga MX teams.
"I think the team is really excited because it's an opposition that they're not used to playing against," he said.
"So it brings a different challenge. The competition is competitive - Mexico versus America. For me as a coach, it is a great opportunity to go against a team and to scout a team that we're not so used to playing against.
"We're playing at home in front of our fans so we want to win. We want to make sure we play well. We want to make sure we entertain and that will always be the principle that we focus on when playing at home."
Adding to that, Cushing stressed his side's determination to win the game on Sunday as they attempt to start strongly in the competition.
Querétaro are enduring a challenging start to the season in Liga MX that sees them bottom of the standings after four games. Regardless, Cushing is not taking his opponent lightly, and when asked if he might also seek to rotate the squad he stressed the importance of winning the game first and foremost.
"The principle is always going to be to win the game," he said regarding the potential rotation of the starting XI.
"I will put a team out that is prepared to go and win the football game. Everybody is involved in that and you can see across the league games. Kevin O'Toole gets injured and that means Christian McFarlane makes his debut and then plays three on the run.
"We'll sit as a staff, we've got another afternoon now, and we'll sit as a staff and we'll go through the team and we'll make sure that we put a [good] team out. It is the most difficult part of my job at the moment - selecting a team.
"Talles Magno came into the team and showed that he can really impact games. Julián Fernández showed that he is a real asset for our team when we can get him on the ball. The competition is there and we just have to make sure we work through the right team to put a performance in to beat Querétaro.
Cushing was joined on media duty by midfielder James Sands, who echoed his coach's excitement about the tournament.
Sands was part of the City squad last season that took on Atlas F.C. in the group stage and is now looking forward to a different test in the form of Querétaro.
"I think we're all feeling good here," he said.
"We're really excited to get this competition underway. Any time you can play someone from outside MLS it's exciting. I think tomorrow will be an opportunity for maybe some guys who haven't had so many minutes to step up and take their chance.
"It's also a chance for the guys who have played a lot of minutes to continue to get that consistency. We're all really looking forward to it and looking forward to a good atmosphere as well."
