New York City Football Club Interim Head Coach Nick Cushing has revealed he was pleased with his side’s overall performance against Inter Miami CF.
The Boys in Blue traveled to DRV PNK Stadium on Saturday night aiming to secure a big three points on the road. Goals from Talles Magno and Thiago Andrade gave them a 2-1 advantage at half-time, but a brace in the second period ultimately secured Miami a 3-2 win on a night where Cushing felt his team were unlucky not to emerge victorious.
“I thought we were good for 80 minutes,” he said. “I thought we were still pushing the game. We brought Justin Haak in to give us a bit of balance and push Maxi Moralez up closer to Héber to try and get some more momentum in the game. I felt we could have taken the game. The third goal is tough to take because when you play so well and it goes 3-2 with five or six minutes to go emotions are going to run high. The team is sitting in a really good spot in the league. Of course, we've lost two games and we're really aware that we've lost two games with mistakes but I asked the team to play this way and we'll get back on the training pitch and we'll prepare for Charlotte FC.”
Elsewhere, Cushing also explained his decision to start Talles Magno over the experienced Héber. The youngster opened the scoring midway through the first half, with his coach emphasizing the need for rotation amid a physically demanding schedule.
“We’ve got a game in three days,” Cushing said. “What we have to do is make sure that we utilize the whole squad especially when we’ve got injuries to Tavon Gray, Keaton Parks, Alex Callens; Anton Tinnerholm is just returning he wasn't ready to start the game. We made a decision to put Thiago Andrade and that has a knock-on effect on who sits and we decided on Héber. I’ve said before that we saw Talles as someone that can do a job because Héber isn’t going to play every game because he’s had 18 months out.
“I thought Talles was good today. We gave him some instructions of how we thought he would really make the game difficult for Miami and I think you saw in the first moments the chance that he gets. He can play as a number nine and it gives us the chance to get Thiago, Gabriel or Santi in the middle of the pitch, so there is versatility in the front of the pitch.”
