New York City FC trained at Citi Field for the first time on Friday morning as part of preparations for hosting Columbus Crew SC this weekend.
Head Coach Patrick Vieira told reporters that his side will prepare for this game in the same manner they have all year and that the venue change will not affect his team.
Vieira knows that three points on Sunday will clinch the second seeding and qualify NYCFC automatically for the Eastern Conference semifinals, avoiding the midweek Knockout Round game.
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Patrick said: “It was really important for us to come and do a training session before the game and that’s why we’re here today to look around and get a good feeling.
“I’ll know more about the field after the session but we arrived this morning and the way everyone welcomed us at the stadium was great.
“We’ve been talking about it all week and we know that we’re going to play here – the way we prepared is the same. It’s an important game for us because we want to finish as high up as we can and we have prepared well, players have been working hard in the last few days. I’m pleased with the way they’ve committed themselves this week.”
Vieira admitted that performances in the last few weeks were not up to his exacting standards.
The loss to New England was perhaps understandable given the early red card shown to Jack Harrison but Patrick wants more from his team in Queens on Sunday.
“The win is always good because the more wins you have the more you get confident and build momentum,” he reflected.
“We know that’s one of the reasons why it’s important to win the game but the focus is always to try to play well and to create chances because those chances will give you more chances to win football matches.
“We need to improve some aspects of our game which, in the last few games, we didn’t do well.”
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Vieira is also full of respect for Columbus Crew SC who will join NYCFC in the postseason after a strong run in recent weeks.
“I’m not surprised they managed to be in the playoffs – they have a good team and a good coach,” Vieira considered.
“It’s a really important game for both teams – they’re going to go for it because both teams have nothing to lose because we’re in the playoffs already.
“We want to finish in that second spot and that’s why I believe it will be a great game of football. It will be really interesting.”
