New York City FC head coach Nick Cushing insisted that his side must play with an attacking intensity if they are to return to winning ways against Orlando City on Saturday.
The Pigeons are winless in their last three games following their 1-0 defeat to Nashville last time out having lost once in their previous 11 MLS fixtures, dating back to March.
NYCFC’s subsequent slump has seen them drop to sixth in the Eastern Conference table, a point behind Columbus Crew who have two games in hand.
Cushing is keen to see his side climb back up the table and believes a return to their attacking mentality is the key to achieving success.
“We have to brush it off,” Cushing said of the recent defeats. “I think it's been a really good opportunity.
"We’re frustrated with the results and 100% not content, but it's been a good opportunity to really feel and see when we're good and when we win, and also when we're not so good and why we don't win.
“I think ultimately, the two things we've been good at has been the intensity that we play at and the amount of attacking football and chances that we've created.
“The intensity comes from our ability to attack games. That’s a really quick fix for us. We've got to work hard, we've got to apply ourselves properly, and we've got to play with ambition and a real attacking mentality."
Meanwhile, Orlando earned their first triumph in six matches as they edged a six-goal thriller against Chicago Fire at the Inter&Co Stadium, despite leading 3-0 at the break.
The result saw them go level on points with Atlanta United and head into the encounter in 10th place in the table, hoping to produce back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
Head coach Oscar Pareja is hopeful the result will instil confidence into his players in their quest to climb up the Eastern Conference table.
“Winning at home in front of our fans, despite these difficult moments, they came and supported us, and I want to express our gratitude to them and that energy they brought to us in a game that we needed an extra push from us after a difficult week.
“But we had a lot of positive things: we scored four goals, we started seeing the individuals improve their performances, the collective obviously looks much better.
“Hopefully we can continue (winning) because we need to find our way to turn things around.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
NYCFC – Maximiliano Moralez
Despite missing much of the season through injury, Moralez returned to the side earlier this month and has two assists in his last four matches.
The Argentine will be hopeful of continuing his excellent record against the Lions, having scored five of his 26 career regular-season goals against Saturday’s opponents. He hasn’t scored more than three against any other MLS opposition.
Orlando – Facundo Torres
Torres scored twice in Orlando’s win over Chicago and has notched three goals and one assist in his last two MLS games.
The Uruguyan has recorded multiple goal contributions 10 times with Orlando, equalling Kaká for the most such performances in the club’s history.
MATCH PREDICTION: NYCFC WIN
New York City FC are unbeaten in their last six home matches against Orlando (W5 D1) including winning the last three in a row. Orlando’s last win at NYCFC was a 2-1 victory back in April 2017.
But NYCFC come into the game off the back of three consecutive losses, having lost one of their previous MLS fixtures (W8 D2). The Pigeons have not lost four games in a row since the start of the 2020 season.
Orlando City will be hopeful of prolonging Cushing’s side’s troubles, having ended a winless run of their own against Chicago Fire last time out. They had been five games without a victory (D2 L3) and will be hoping to win consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time this season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
NYCFC – 44.3%
Draw – 26.8%
Orlando – 28.8%
Sergino Dest has completed a permanent move to PSV from Barcelona, signing a four-year contract with the club.
The defender joined PSV on loan at the start of last season, helping them to win their first Eredivisie title in six years.
He made 37 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals and adding seven assists.
PSV's loan deal for Dest included a future option to buy, with the Dutch side now choosing to trigger that, signing him on a free transfer that will keep him at the club until 2028.
"PSV believe in me and I feel greatly appreciated here," said Dest.
"I'm really looking forward to playing again, being important and winning titles."
Dest joined Barcelona from Ajax in 2020, making 51 league appearances in his first two seasons before loan spells at Milan in 2022-23 and PSV.
De la Fuente determined not to underestimate Georgia
Luis de la Fuente says Spain will not make the mistake of underestimating Euro 2024 surprise package Georgia in the round of 16.
Spain cruised through the so-called 'group of death', winning all three of their games against Croatia, Italy and Albania without conceding a single goal.
Meanwhile, Georgia progressed as one of the best third-place teams after stunning Euro 2016 champions Portugal with a 2-0 victory in their final group game.
La Roja also met Georgia in Euro 2024 qualifying, earning a memorable 7-1 victory in the away fixture.
However, De la Fuente was quick to praise the improvement in their opponents since that meeting, noting that Spain had to expect a bigger challenge this time around.
"It was a very important game for us, we arrived [in Georgia] under a lot of pressure, and we came back from that game as a family, a lot stronger than before," said De la Fuente.
"The most important game is always the next one and now a different European Championship starts. We are bracing for a very difficult game, and we will go with the best weapons we have to get out with a win.
"We all have seen surprising things happen in football and I don't think that will stop happening.
"Georgia beat Portugal, we have to respect them as opponents, work hard and take the game with the importance that it has so it doesn't happen to us.
"They are fast in the counter-attack and very good in the set-pieces. We need to be vigilant and aware, so we don't end up exposed to counter-attacks in speed."
Euro 2024 data dive: Holders make early exit, hosts keep charging forward
The knockout rounds of Euro 2024 got underway on Saturday, with the first two teams booking their places in the quarter-finals.
Switzerland stunned the defending champions, sending Italy home after a 2-0 victory in Berlin.
Later, Germany also prevailed by the same scoreline to take a step closer to potential success on home soil, beating Denmark.
Here, we round up the best Opta statistics from the first set of Euro 2024 round-of-16 ties.
Switzerland 2-0 Italy: Vargas ends Azzurri defence
The teams on Switzerland's side of the draw will be looking over their shoulders after they dumped Italy out, largely thanks to Ruben Vargas' standout performance.
He set up Remo Freuler's opener before curling in a stunning effort himself, becoming the first Swiss player to score and assist in a knockout match of a major tournament on record (since 1966 - World Cup and Euros).
The winger's strike came just 27 seconds after kick-off in the second period, the second-fastest goal in the second half of a Euros match after Marcel Coras netted against West Germany within 21 seconds in Euro 1984.
Switzerland will face either England or Slovakia in the quarter-finals, reaching the last eight in consecutive editions after failing to make it out of their group in three of their previous four participations in the competition (reached the last 16 in 2016).
Despite being reigning champions, Italy were not touted as one of the favourites going into the tournament, and they struggled to mount a real title defence.
Their early exit means the reigning champions have been eliminated in the round of 16 at each of the last three European Championships, with Portugal losing to Belgium at Euro 2020 and Spain going out to Italy at Euro 2016.
In fact, Italy conceded more goals at Euro 2024 (five) than they did in seven matches at the last edition of the tournament, when they conceded just four goals on their way to lifting the trophy.
The Azzurri have ended a run of six games without defeat in the knockout stages (90 minutes only, three wins, three draws), with their last such defeat coming in the 2012 final against Spain, by a 4-0 scoreline.
This is also the first time they have lost more than one match at a single edition of the Euros.
Germany 2-0 Denmark: Musiala draws level in scoring charts
With plenty of VAR drama, and a break midway through the first half due to adverse weather, it was certainly an entertaining tie in Dortmund.
Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala were the heroes for the hosts with their second-half goals, with the latter netting for the third time in the tournament to put him level with Georges Mikautadze in the Golden Boot race.
In fact, only Wayne Rooney (four) has scored more goals aged 21 or younger at the Euros than Musiala (three), while the midfielder has also scored more goals in four games at this tournament than he managed in his first 29 appearances for the national side (two).
Germany are into their first quarter-final at a major tournament since Euro 2016 - reaching the semi-finals on that occasion - and their four-game unbeaten run at Euro 2024 is their longest streak in such matches since then.
Manuel Neuer continues to break appearance records every time he steps on the pitch - he now has the most caps at the European Championships for Die Nationalelf (19, overtaking Bastian Schweinsteiger), while it was his 39th appearance at major tournaments overall, levelling the midfielder's tally.
After another toothless performance in front of goal, Denmark will not be able to recreate their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2020. Indeed, they have failed to win any of their last eight games at major tournaments (four draws, four defeats).
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