Know Thy Enemy: Where in New Jersey is New York Edition with Hudson River Blue

Normally a New England Revolution game at New York City FC is a slightly unpredictable affair because of the field size.

The Revs, a team that likes to play out wide, is now contstricted to the narrow postage stamp confines of right center field in Yankee Stadium and the heavy pressing NYCFC team usually plays well at home because of their familiarity with the dimensions.

Revs assistant coach Dave van den Bergh chimed in on the field as well this week:

So how will the field at Red Bull Arena affect things today? We chat with Christian Smith over at Hudson River Blue about that and more. Kickoff is right around the corner a 7:38pm,

TBM: Is playing at RBA (or any fullsize field) better for NYCFC or does the team prefer the friendly confines of the postage stamp in right center at Yankee Stadium?

CS: NYCFC will always have the advantage at Yankee Stadium over anywhere else simply due to familiarity. But RBA was pretty friendly to the club last season.

TBM: Kind of a follow up to the above, NYC gets a very favorable start to their summer, with a three game homestand in June followed by another to end July. How important is this summer stretch for the team and who might be missing for Gold Cup/International duty during this stretch.

CS; The summer stretch is of the utmost performance because we’ve seen so many clubs make or break their season in the months of July and August. A good run of form can see you propel yourself to the top of the table while a a bad four or five games can see you drop out of playoff contention entirely, forcing you to play catch-up in the fall. For NYCFC, a long homestand bodes well for them as whether it be at Yankee Stadium or RBA, the club always performs well in the NYC Metro.

For the Gold Cup, Sean Johnson and James Sands have been named to the preliminary roster. Alex Callens was also with Peru for the Copa America. So we’ll have to keep an eye out for that.

TBM: Jesus Medina and Valentin Castellanos have been stellar so far in 2021, can that pairing carry NYCFC throughout the regular season or do they need more support around them? Who is a candidate that can or should be appearing on the scoresheet more often.

CS: While Jesus and Taty have both been in great form thus far, But it’s unlikely they’ll be able to do it by themselves all season. To their credit, NYCFC was busy in the spring, bringing in several new players into the attack including Thiago Andrade, Santiago Rodriguez, and new Young DP Talles Magno. City will also get back primary striker Héber in July, so we’re talking about a really deep attacking corps that could give the league headaches. Other than that, expect Ismael Tajouri-Shradi to be a darkhorse off the bench.

Lineups/Injuries/Predictions/Etc.

Lineup:

GK: Sean Johnson

RCB: Maxime Chanot

CB: James Sands

LCB: Sebastien Ibeagha

RDM: Keaton Parks

LDM: Alfredo Morales

RM: Anton Tinnerholm

LM: Gudi Thorarinsson

CAM: Maxi Moralez

RS: Jesus Medina

LS: Taty Castellanos

Injuries: Héber

Final score prediction: 2-0 NYCFC. With all the new additions and some time off to acclimate themselves into the squad, I do think City will be a lot to handle. While New England is really good, I think City has a surge of good form on the way.