New York City Football Club Head Coach Ronny Deila praised his players’ performance in the wake of their Concacaf Champions League exit against Seattle Sounders.
The Boys in Blue entered Wednesday’s game 3-1 down on aggregate from the first leg at Lumen Field, and conceded a first half goal to Raul Ruidiaz. NYCFC rallied in the second period and after finding an equalizer on the night through Santiago Rodríguez they created a number of chances only to be denied by an in form Stefan Frei. Speaking afterward, Deila commended the fans and his players for their efforts in creating a brilliant atmosphere and strong performance.
“The message is that I’m proud of the atmosphere,” he said. “The way the fans met up and created an unbelievable atmosphere was really good. I was really proud of the players too. I think they did everything except putting the ball in the net more. We spoke before a game about showing the intensity and the energy that we know this team has and today they were on fire.
“They were all over Seattle and they are a really good football team. It was a tough match but in the end we were not good enough inside the two boxes compared to them and that's why they're in the final we're not.”
Deila went on to state his belief that the team’s second half performance represented a return to form for the defending MLS Cup champions.
“We know what we can do at our best,” he said. “We have seen it in how they played today and that's how we should be playing. It was nice to see that it's back again. This is the team I know. This is how we are when we are at our best. This is the energy we have to come into every game with. We have to start to win football games again. If we put out this performance on Sunday, then they're going to play really well.”
