Ronny Deila confident for NYCFC ahead of CCL quarter-final

New York City FC is set to face Comunicaciones on Tuesday in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions League quarter-final series against the Guatemalan side. 

Despite a difficult start to their 2022 Major League Soccer campaign, NYCFC is thriving in the Concacaf Champions League. The Eastern Conference side dominated their CCL Round of 16 series against Costa Rican side Santos de Guapiles, celebrating a 6-0 overall victory. 

While the team remains without a win or goal scored in the American league,  head coach Ronny Deila is confident the team is in a 'good place' to put up a fight. 

"I think we're in a very good place," he said on his Monday video call.

"It's impossible to say that you don't have challenges with traveling like we have done, there's no other countries in the world that have that kind of traveling. But I think we've adapted very well to it, we have a really good time together all the time, we have good performances all the time.

“We have lost one game in 16 games or something if you take the preseason matches as well, so we have good confidence in the team. The belief and the spirit of the team, we see the fight every game,”

"I think we deserved more than one point after these two games, but I have to look behind the results and try to improve the small things that need to be done to get three points," he added.

"Tomorrow is a huge game again – I think we just love the moment right now. You go game to game and every game is important. To be in that position because we did something great last year, we really, really enjoy it."

But defeating Comunicaciones will not be an easy task. The Guatemalans comes off a determined victory that saw them eliminate Colorado Rapids from the tournament. 

"It is impressive. Colorado is a tough place to go. So, again, this is the quarterfinals of Champions League, you don't get anything for free here. It's going to be a tough, tough game, two tough games. We have to play at our best to get the result we want and get to the semifinals,” added Deila.

“I think everybody's excited and really looking forward to the game. We know what we're playing for, so we use every moment now to relax, enjoy and prepare and then we take out everything on Tuesday night."