NYCFC vs. TORONTO: Torrent Preview

On first impressions of Citi Field…

“Oh really good. The grass is perfect, it’s really good. I never seen before, but the feeling is good. I don't want to waste time about the stadium because it is what it is, but it’s really, really good.”

On the scrimmage with Chicago…

“Good feeling because we need to compete a little bit after it has been 18 days. It was a good feeling because every player could play. The feeling was much better after the game and my feeling was that they are ready to play the playoff game because it was a game with rhythm. Both teams fought on every single ball, it’s good, we needed to play at least one game against an MLS team.”

On Héber’s fitness…

“Héber is ready to play. I don’t know if maybe he’ll start to play, maybe he can play 30 to 40 minutes, but he’s not injured right now. It’s good news for us. I need to find the right players to play against Toronto and that means for me the best players are the players who in the moment have rhythm and have more chances to play than other players.”

On impressions from studying Toronto…

“It’s totally different. For example, remember the last game when we play at Yankee Stadium against Toronto? We missed six players: Héber didn’t play, Maxi Moralez didn’t play… It’s different, but when you play the playoff it’s another competition it’s not the same as the regular league because if you make just one mistake you’re out. Maybe the referee makes a mistake, maybe me make a mistake and you’re out, it’s totally different. You can prove in this week. Every single game was close and that means it’s totally different playing in the league in the playoffs.”