FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – There will be plenty of pomp and circumstance on Sunday evening when the New England Revolution heads to the Bronx for New York City FC’s first-ever home game.
More than 30,000 tickets have already been sold for the historic event and earlier this week NYCFC announced that the 400 level at Yankee Stadium would be opened to meet demand. The atmosphere should be electric, much like it was for fellow expansion side Orlando City SC’s inaugural home game this past weekend at the Orlando Citrus Bowl.
Under the circumstances there will be plenty of opportunities for distraction, but the Revolution’s job will be to ignore the noise and focus on the task at hand.
“Obviously it’s a big day for New York City,” said Andy Dorman. “We’ve just got to focus on our job and what we need to do to go there and get a result. We’ll work on it this week in training and then we’ve got to do a better job of executing on the weekend.”
It’s been five years since MLS commissioner Don Garber initially announced the league’s intent to award a second team to the New York area – joining the New Jersey-based New York Red Bulls – and almost two years since NYCFC was officially announced as the league’s 20th team.
With that kind of buildup, there’s sure to be loads of emotion and energy when referee Mark Geiger blows the whistle to kick off Sunday’s game (5 p.m. ET on ESPN2). But the Revs will be prepared for the occasion, with last week’s visit to a packed CenturyLink Field (almost 40,000 in attendance) presenting many of the same obstacles.
“It’s kind of similar to Seattle,” said Andrew Farrell. “You’ve just got to weather the storm a little bit. They’re going to be excited to get off to a good start at home, and we’re looking forward to getting on board and getting the first points of the season.
“It’s going to be a good battle. They’re a good team and I’m looking forward to Sunday.”
