The 10th place New York City Football Club begin their second half of the season on a Thursday night as the team takes on former head coach Ronny Delia and Atlanta United in his first trip back to Yankee Stadium. Delia, who etched his name in NYCFC lore with the team’s 2021 MLS Cup championship, since departing for Standard Liège in 2022 and returning state side to coach the Georgia team this season.
With much of NYCFC’s squad on international duty, it will be a chance for some of the subs to get their chance to shine. Tomas Romero replaces Matt Freese, Mounsef Bakrar is expected to start in place of the team’s leading goal scorer in Alonso Martinez, and with Keaton Parks still out with injury, Kevin O’Toole will be back in the lineup for the first time since his injury weeks ago.
The match I suspect will start slowly as both squads have been on an extended break so a low scoring affair is plausible. As this is also the only match for another 2 weeks (as July only has 2 games on the schedule, vs the literally 8 last month) this will be a chance for rested legs to get some much needed time and a chance to start the second half with a much needed 3 points to stay in the playoff hunt.
