February 20, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – New York City FC News Release
The countdown is on…
The new MLS season is a matter of days away, and the excitement is building.
New York City Football Club’s 2023 campaign kicks off on Saturday with a trip to Nashville SC, and Nick Cushing’s side are ready to ignite the new year with a bang.
In the build-up for the highly-anticipated season opener, we examine ten things to look out for in the season ahead…
The Openers
City face a tough start with a pair of road fixtures, traveling to Nashville SC in the season opener on 25 February (4:30pm ET) and Chicago Fire on 4 March (8:30pm). After a season in the Western Conference, Nashville are back in the Eastern division, with St Louis City SC entering MLS as the league’s 29th Club.
NYCFC then return to home soil, welcoming Inter Miami CF to Yankee Stadium on 11 March (7:30pm), as the Boys in Blue step out onto home turf for the first time since the two teams met in Round One of the 2022 playoffs back in October: a memorable 3-0 win for the hosts.
Speaking during City’s preseason training, Cushing acknowledged the challenging start his side face in their first three fixtures, but says the squad are looking to start the season brightly.
“Of course, you’re looking to get results in those early games,” he said. “As a performance team, we’ll have a lot of conversations around how we feel we can get off to a better start, how we feel that we can make sure that we put points on the board that gives us a better chance going into the middle part of the season, and the end.
“But also, we’re really aware it’s a really competitive league. We start with two really difficult away fixtures, and then we go into a really difficult home opener. We know each game is going to be hard. We’re making sure that we have a team that is cohesive and together, so that we can start well, but if we don’t, we can fall back on that togetherness to make sure that we can get into a rhythm, and into a stride with our performance quickly.”
Tickets for our home opener against Inter Miami CF are now on sale!
At The Helm
The new season will mark Cushing’s first full term in charge of the Club.
Joining the NYCFC set-up as Assistant Coach back in 2020, the 38-year-old was appointed Interim Head Coach in June following Ronny Deila’s departure. Guiding City to Campeones Cup glory and the Eastern Conference Final, he was then officially named Head Coach in November.
After an initial transition period, the…
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