New York City Football Club Head Coach Ronny Deila believes his team must do the dirty work on Sunday if they are to beat Real Salt Lake.
The Boys in Blue welcome Pablo Mastroeni’s side to Yankee Stadium in what will be the first of five consecutive home games. That stretch of games could provide a major boost to NYCFC’s attempt to top the Eastern Conference, and Deila believes that it is vital that his team starts to win football games again.
“We want to win football games,” he said. “It’s been some time since we’ve done it now. We need to put out some really good performances, we need to do the dirty work every time like we did yesterday and then we know we have quality to open up opponents and that's what we need to do on Sunday, but that's going be a totally different game. It's going be a tough game. Hopefully we can create the same atmosphere and the same intensity in the game like we did yesterday because the fans were unbelievable yesterday. It's always been a good atmosphere in Yankee Stadium as well. So we're looking forward to it.”
Deila also confirmed that midfielder Keaton Parks is making progress as he continues toward full fitness. The midfielder suffered an unexpected blood clot in his leg in the latter part of 2021 that ended his campaign early. Following surgery and rehabilitation, he has managed 477 minutes of competitive action this season with Deila confident he will able to complete a full 90 minutes soon.
“We play the team we think is the best all the time but of course Keaton has been through some serious things that we have to manage it the right way,” Deila said. “He has made progress all the time. Yesterday we wanted to use him less so he can go on and give 150% for the 25 minutes he was on the field. I think he did well. He came in with energy and played really well. That's good for us, but he still needs time to go constantly like he did before the operation. We need to use him in the best way.”
You can purchase tickets to Sunday's game here.
