New York City FC will aim to secure a home-field edge for the playoffs when they host the Seattle Sounders on Saturday evening on MLS Decision Day.
NYCFC (17-11-5, 56 points), who reside in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, currently are slated to host only the second match in their best-of-three, first-round series.
A fourth-place finish would give New York City an extra home date against its first postseason opponent, a finish that likely would benefit a New York club that is 11-5-0 at home this season and only 6-6-5 on the road.
A win over Seattle and a loss or draw for Charlotte FC (56 points) against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday would elevate New York City FC into fourth place.
Despite the stakes on Saturday, New York City coach Pascal Jansen’s chief concern is how his team responds after its last match, a 1-0 loss to the Union on Oct. 4.
“My focus is on Seattle and not on the playoffs,” Jansen said. “We weren’t as clinical (against Philadelphia) as before. So for us, the main thing is bouncing back from a bad result.”
With two shutout losses in their last three matches, NYCFC want to regain their scoring touch heading into the postseason. Alonso Martinez (17 goals) and Hannes Wolf (11 goals) have combined for the majority of the team’s 49 goals.
Seattle (14-9-10, 52 points) also is heading to the playoffs and is assured of finishing fifth in the Western Conference.
Though the Sounders technically don’t have anything to play for on Saturday, “The mentality is we’re not traveling all the way across the country to roll over,” coach Brian Schmetzer said.
“It’s a great way to kind of measure ourselves as we go into the playoffs, playing games against teams that are playing up a notch. It’s playoff soccer already.”
The Sounders are on a two-match winning streak, recording 1-0 shutouts against the Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake.
Danny Musovski leads the Sounders with 14 regular-season goals. Albert Rusnak paces the team in assists (nine) and goal contributions (20).
–Field Level Media
