"It's quite hard to say which is the right moment because if you say 'yeah, this is the moment,' if the result is not gonna go in your favor, people will say 'how can you say that,'" Stam said. "Is there always a good moment to say we need to play this team? It's one of the top teams again for several seasons already. They already are consistent for several seasons, and what they're doing in bringing in players and the ability in what they're trying to do, and City (Football) Group as well.
"They're also analyzing their last month and what they've done. They're also looking at, 'OK, when for us is the right moment? What game is very important for us to win?' ... The thing is for us that, after the Toronto game, the Atlanta game, again we need to show ourselves and we need work. And we need to focus on, of course, their position, but a very important one as well is we need to focus on ourselves."
FC Cincinnati's 1-1-0 in its last two matches. It christened TQL Stadium with the first win in club history there on Saturday against Toronto FC . That, however, was followed up with a disappointing defensive performance in a 4-0 loss Wednesday to Atlanta United at Mercedes Benz Stadium.
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The Game Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., Saturday at TQL Stadium
TV/Radio/stream: Star64/ESPN-AM (1530)/fccincinnati.com.
Series info: NYCFC leads the all-time series, 5-0-0.
Cincinnati.com prediction: FC Cincinnati 2, NYCFC 2
FC Cincinnati Record: 4-11-8, 20 points; 13th in Eastern Conference
Goals for: 25
Goals against: 42
Coach: Jaap Stam – second season as FC Cincinnati head coach (8-25-12)
Projected starting lineup:
Przemysław Tytoń, GK
Ronald Matarrita, left back
Gustavo Vallecilla, center back (left)
Geoff Cameron, center back (right)
Nick Hagglund, right back
Yuya Kubo, midfielder
Luciano Acosta, midfielder
Haris Medunjanin, midfielder
Isaac Atanga, midfielder/winger
Alvaro Barreal, winger
Brenner Souza da Silva, forward
New York City FC Record: 10-8-5, 35 points; fourth in Eastern Conference
Goals for: 41
Goals against 27
Head coach: Ronny Deila - first year as NYCFC head coach
Projected starters:
Sean Johnson, goalkeeper
Anton Tinnerholm, right back
James Sands, center back
Alexander Callens, center back
Gudmundur Thórarinsson, left back
Nicolás Acevedo, midfielder
Keaton Parks, midfielder
Ismael Tajouri, forward
Maxi Moralez, forward
Jesús Medina, forward
Héber, forward
Players to watch: Héber and Valentín Castellanos of NYCFC – Héber might not be at 100% fitness but, like other players Cincinnati.com has pointed out in this portion of our previews, he's still an FC Cincinnati killer with four goals against FCC in three career appearances. Castellanos is playing at an MVP-caliber level recently and has been a driving force behind NYCFC ascending to the fourth position in the East. Castellanos isn't a stranger to finding the back of the net against Cincinnati either.
Noteworthy:– FC Cincinnati was trounced at Yankee Stadium by NYCFC on April 24 in a 5-0 defeat. New York scored all five of its goals from set-piece opportunities, so expect that to be an area of emphasis for FCC in Saturday's match. The necessity to successfully defend set-pieces was also underscored by Atlanta scoring twice from similar opportunities on Wednesday.
It's also fair to point out that FC Cincinnati is a significantly different team compared to the April 24 loss. Cody Cropper, FCC's starting goalkeeper that day, was waived this week and is no longer with the club. Cropper started that match unexpectedly after the club's expected starter, Przemysław Tytoń, was injured during warm-ups. Also, the center back pairing of Gustavo Vallecilla and Geoff Cameron didn't exist in Cincinnati yet, and those additions have been important ones for FCC. Yes, NYCFC made easy work of Cincinnati in their last meeting but FC Cincinnati is going to look much different personnel-wise this weekend.
