Nick Cushing believes his side is embracing the challenge of picking up points on the road.
New York City FC travel to the Sunshine State this weekend for a meeting with Tata Martino’s side on Saturday night.
The hosts currently sit second in the Eastern Conference and while Cushing did acknowledge the challenge of facing Miami, he was keen to focus on City’s continued development and embrace the opportunity to pick up vital points on the road this weekend.
“I think the challenge for us is becoming a team that can execute results and also get results on the road,” he said.
“The challenge of going anywhere on the road and trying to get a result is one that we embrace. The next place we are going is Miami.
“We know it's difficult and we know that they have a real plethora of talent. We've been there twice now and experienced that weather, be it the latter stage of last season, or the Noche d’Or game.
“We have an experience of the real theatre and the occasion down there in Miami, but for us, it’s about focusing on how we improve as a team.
“Whether the game is ours or whether we're under pressure we want to control how that game looks, but sometimes you just can't control it.
“You have to react to the situation and show the ability to control the moments. I think we did that in large parts in the Cincinnati game.
“I think we showed that we can be competitive and cope - even when the game doesn't look the way we want it to look. On the other side, we can have good possession and we can create good opportunities. I thought our pressing was brilliant but we have to control those moments where it's about mentality and the team.”
Cushing also provided an injury update ahead of this weekend, with a number of players returning to the fold.
City were without nine First Team players for the trip to Cincinnati last weekend, with six of that group away representing their respective countries.
The situation was compounded by injuries to Kevin O’Toole and Birk Risa during the match. Speaking about the roster’s health ahead of this weekend, Cushing confirmed that several situations are being managed on a day-to-day basis.
“We don't have all of our players back from international duty, but we don't have any reports that they’ve picked up something while they were away,” he said.
“We’re still waiting on full reports and we’re still waiting on some to return. Kevin O’Toole is still in concussion protocol so he’s working through that - he hasn't failed one of the steps yet - but there are still many steps to go. We'll also work with the doctors to see whether it is the right decision to put him in the game.
“Birk Risa hasn’t trained this week because you saw he came off in the game against Cincinnati. He's got pain in his lower leg – it is a foot injury. We don't feel like it's a major injury but it is pain dependent. It doesn’t require surgery or anything so it’s not severe.
“We're going through that process of whether he is managed through a pain tolerance program, or whether he needs to be offloaded to get him fully fit.
“Talles Magno has been on the grass which is hugely positive news, but he wasn’t with the team. I think that's going to be ongoing. He’s out there, he’s on the ball, he’s running, but he's not fit to go in the squad yet."
