New York City Football Club Head Coach Ronny Deila is excited to return to Yankee Stadium and reunite with the home fans.
The Boys in Blue kick off their 2022 MLS Regular Season home schedule on Saturday afternoon with a visit from CF Montréal. This will be the Club’s first game at Yankee Stadium since they lifted the 2021 MLS Cup, and Deila admitted he has missed that atmosphere.
“I’m very happy to be back in front of our fans we’ve been missing them for a long time,” he said. “We’ve played in many places so to come back to Yankee Stadium is a huge thing for us. It’s a new season so we are fighting for new ones [trophies]. It’s going to be a tough game. We are meeting a Champions League team that has been through the same as we are. We need to prepare very well and have a good performance because if not, we will get nothing.”
Deila was also keen to see his side start on the right foot at home. NYCFC’s form at Yankee Stadium was a major factor in their regular season success in 2021, and the Norwegian head coach is eager to build on that as they begin their 2022 schedule.
“At home it’s important,” he said. “In Yankee Stadium we were strong, we lost one game in the last year and a draw or two. We want to improve our home stats. If you take every home game we had last year, including Red Bull Arena, it is possible to improve that from last year, but we need to start performing at once and get the points from the start.”
