The good news has arrived.
NYCFC has been given a clean bill of health in the run up to the all-important first leg matchup with Atlanta United FC this Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
After recovering a handful of players in the run up to the Playoffs – Dome Torrent now has all the regular options at his disposal in the highly anticipated matchup over two legs with Tata Martino.
Kick-off takes place at 7pm on Sunday night - #MakeItHere
New York City FC
- OUT: D - Cedric Hountondji (hamstring injury)
Opta Stats
- This will be the fifth-ever meeting between the two clubs, and the first in the playoffs. The two sides drew both matches in 2018.
- Dating back to last season, New York City FC has lost just one of their last 21 league home games, including the postseason (14W-6D). In that games, they have kept nine clean sheets and allowed multiple goals twice.
- Atlanta United won 10 of their 17 league road games this season (5L-2D), tied for the thirdmost road wins ever in a season. However, they did lose their last two road games by a combined 6-1 scoreline.
- Atlanta scored 43 goals in the second half of games this season. Only two other teams had more than 36 second half goals in 2018. NYCFC conceded just 23 second half goals this season, the third fewest in the league.
- Atlanta was one of seven teams to have at least 50% of possession on the road this season. NYCFC led the league in possession at home in the regular season, posting an average of 60.4% per game.
- Maxi Moralez had a goal and two assists against Philadelphia in the knockout round. He was the only NYCFC player this season to have a goal and two assists in the regular season.
- In the 21 games that Hector Villalba started for Atlanta United, the Five Stripes averaged 2.2 goals per game and won 66.7% of those games. In the 13 games that Villalba did not start this season, Atlanta averaged 1.8 goals per game and won 53.8% of those games.
- Josef Martinez (32.0%) and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (31.4%) both had a shot conversion rate of over 30%+ this season while scoring 10+ goals. Since 2010, there had only been eight other players to achieve this mark in a single season.
- Maxime Chanot won 72.5% of his duels during the regular season, the best rate among players with 50+ duels.
- Brad Guzan (68.6%) and Sean Johnson (68.3%) ranked eighth and ninth, respectively, among goalkeepers in passing accuracy in a season since 2010 (min. 800 passes). Johnson attempted 1,121 passes in the regular season, the second-most by a keeper since 2010.
