Nick Cushing believes his side must try to limit the involvement of Emmanuel Reynoso when the two teams meet on Sunday.
The Boys in Blue will host the Loons at Citi Field on Sunday evening as the MLS Regular Season returns.
NYCFC know a victory will hand them a sizable boost in their pursuit of a place in the playoffs.
Standing in their way is a Minnesota United side with similar aspirations. Adrian Heath’s men are just one point below the line in the Western Conference, and Cushing believes they must limit the involvement of Emmanuel Reynoso on Sunday.
“We had the opportunity to watch them in the Leagues Cup because they kept going through,” Cushing said.
“I watched them in all of those games when they played against the Mexican teams when they played against Nashville.
“I think ultimately Minnesota is a great team in transition. Their coach has done a great job of building the offensive side of their game with Teemu Pukki.
“I'm familiar with Pukki because he played in England. Hlongwane has scored a lot of goals in the Leagues Cup recently so we face them with him in form.
“They have a number 10 that is possibly up there with the best in the league across both conferences.
“Reynoso is everything to their offensive game and if we allow him time and space and to get into his rhythm he becomes dangerous.
“The other offensive players become more dangerous because of his ability. We've seen that our games against New England with Carles Gil and Nashville with Hany Mukhtar.”
“We're going to have to make sure we deal with him like we did those guys and make sure that we don't allow him to dictate the game.”
Cushing also took time to hail the return of Maxi Moralez to the Club. The veteran playmaker returned to NYCFC after a spell in Argentina with Racing.
Moralez received a warm welcome upon his return and is in contention to play this weekend against the Loons. Speaking on Moralez's return, Cushing revealed he was working with the best version of the playmaker he had experienced.
“I think he's such an influential player, and an experienced player that you have the luxury of being able to plug this guy in and just let him go,” Cushing said.
“I think he hasn't been away that long which helps. The playing style without the ball has been slightly different based on the profile of players that we've gotten.
“He will definitely help that with his experience and his understanding of how we want to be when we don't have the ball.
“I think for me, once I spoke to him the one thing that really enthused me was his desire and his motivation – it is greater than I've ever experienced since I've been here, and we won the championship in 2021 with Maxi Moralez as our most important player.
“To have a guy like him, at his age, come back physically in a better condition than he went and mentally in a real motivated place is really exciting for me.
“I had a real close relationship with him anyway last year as the assistant coach and as the head coach. He will be a real asset for us.”
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