David Villa and NYCFC must find a way to secure three points vs. the Philadelphia Union. (FrontRowSoccer.com photo)
After dropping two valuable points against the New England Revolution Wednesday night, Patrick Vieira certainly doesn’t want to see history repeat itself when New York City FC welcomes the Philadelphia Union Saturday at 1 p.m.
The City head coach knows his team has to bounce back from a perplexing home result that had the Yankee Stadium side twice lost leads in what turned into a 2-2 draw.
“I think it will take a lot of concentration. This is a completely different team to the one we faced in Philly,” Vieira told NYCFC.com about his team’s next opponent, which has won four of its last five games.
NYCFC defeated the Union in Chester, Pa., 2-0, April 14, a result that seems like lightyears ago.
“They have a lot more confidence than they used to have,” Vieira said. “They are playing well, they are in a good period, so we have to concentrate and focus because we don’t want to give them chances or opportunities to score goals. We have to be smart and concentrate from the start to the end.”
NYCFC (6-5-3), which is in fifth place, a spot above Hudson River Derby rivals Red Bulls (6-6-2) in the Eastern Conference, can’t afford to drop points to another team that has struggled on the road. Philly (4-5-4) is 1-3-2 away from home while the Revs (4-5-5) are still winless (0-3-2) on the road.
“We always want to be back and to be playing in front of our fans and it’s going to be a tough game for us, especially knowing that we didn’t get the result we wanted against New England,” Vieira said. “It will be important for us to try to win the game because when you look at the last five matches we played, it will be important for us before the break.
“It will also be important for us to be really smart in the way we approach it because it will be 90 minutes and it will be a long 90 minutes for us.”
City will be without forward Rodney Wallace, who is in Costa prepping for a pair of World Cup qualifiers.
The side will get an 11-day break before returning to action against the Red Bulls in a fourth-round Lamar Hunt/U.S. Open Cup match at Red Bull Arena June 14.
