New York City Football Club Interim Head Coach Nick Cushing is anticipating a tight game when his side face Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference Final on Sunday.
The two teams met at the same stage last year with NYCFC emerging 2-1 winners thanks to a late strike from Brazilian forward Talles Magno. With the Union topping the East and NYCFC finishing in the top four, Cushing said on Friday he anticipates a tight game between two evenly-matched sides.
"The margins are going to be really small," he said. "I think we can draw on the experience of last year because we went one goal down and we managed to turn it around.
"We don't know how this game is going to go, maybe we go one go down in this game. I think we can draw off the experience of the away game on the 26th of June because we weren't good enough in the first half and we addressed that half time and we came out better.
"For us, it's more about drawing on our experience of playoff football, and as a club you know I still worked for the organization through 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and we've looked at those playoff games and I think drawing on the experience of last year but being able to get through round one and then round two and then a conference final and this would be no different.
"It's going be a really good game to be involved in, a really intense game, but as coaches and players, this is what we want. This is why we want to be involved - if we didn't want to be here we'd never win. We have a huge desire to win again.
"We know it's going to be difficult. We're proud of putting our team on the pitch in an Eastern Conference Final again, but we have to be prepared because it's gonna be a difficult game."
Cushing also provided an injury update on several members of his squad ahead of Sunday's clash.
"It's unclear really we still have one more day," he said. "We still haven't had the likes of Maxi Morales, Talles Magno - Tavon Gray came out a little bit today but went back in with ankle pain again, so we haven't ruled them out but it's going to be so difficult to roll those guys out in a game like this when they haven't seen the training field all week.
"It's unfortunate for us in this game, but one more day and we have a terrific medical team here and until they tell me they're out I'm still considering them. We've had a chance to practice with all of the guys we have this week."
The 37-year-old took time to finish his press conference with praise for the Club's supporters, following confirmation they had once again sold their full allocation for a playoff game.
"It means everything to me, to the staff, and to our players," he said. "I think we were disappointed when we were going through a bad run that we weren't picking points and our league position, but also that we weren't giving our fans what they deserve.
"They've been exceptional and we experienced it last year in New England, away in Philly, away in Portland, and last week in Montreal. When we're in really difficult moments we look up into the corner and we see our fans and they've still got enthusiasm, they're cheering us on, they're making noise - it gives us strength and we feed off that.
"This game will be no different and we will do everything we can to give them an opportunity to get to an MLS Cup Final for the second year running. They mean everything to us and they've been incredible."
