NYCFC face "must-win" game against Orlando City SC after loss to Philadelphia Union

NYCFC coach Ronny Deila is well aware of the repercussions of losing the first game in any group stage.

It puts immense pressure on the second game and that’s just where NYCFC are following a 1-0 defeat to the Philadelphia Union Thursday morning in the MLS is Back Tournament.

“If we want to have it in our hands, we need to win the next game,” Deila said. “If we draw, then it’s not in our own hands, but it’s still a possibility. We of course are going into it wanting to win and going for three points in the next game.”

Deila was encouraged by his team’s discipline and ability to create more opportunities than the Union and said there is plenty NYCFC can build upon heading into their next match against Orlando City SC July 14 (10:30 pm ET | TUDN, Twitter, TSN).

He felt the rare 9 am ET start time affected the game, but for both teams.

“It goes slower, of course, so you have to be more disciplined and you have to try to keep yourself together and compact,” Deila said. “If you get stretched and just go from side to side, it’s going to be a bad football game. Maybe fun to watch, but bad to look at as a coach. I think it was a tight game, two teams that are good teams. You can see not so many chances. When it was so hot, I think both teams were quite compact and handled the heat good.”

Deila said Alexandru Mitrita picked up a knock in the team's last training session before the match and was unavailable against the Union. But he doesn’t anticipate the injury to be severe enough to keep him out of his selection against Orlando.

And Maxi Moralez was subbed off in the 76th minute after feeling discomfort in his quad.

“Hopefully that’s not too big, but he needed to go off,” Deila said.