New York City FC v San Jose Earthquakes: Cushing urges home fans to ´make a noise´

Nick Cushing is looking forward to New York City FC’s next home game against San Jose Earthquakes on Friday and asks the fans to “build an atmosphere”.

NYCFC are on a four-match winning run and beat derby rivals New York Red Bulls 2-1 in their most recent outing at Citi Field.

That run means they sit in third in the Eastern Conference and are eight points behind leaders Inter Miami.

NYCFC have the opportunity to close the gap to second place with Cincinnati not in action this weekend, and Cushing is hopeful the fans can give the team an added boost as they try to maintain their recent winning streak.

“I love playing in front of our fans,” Cushing said.

“I love playing at home. It is the last game before we get a bye week and an international break, and it’s Friday night under the lights.

“The Red Bull game was amazing because of the atmosphere, the crowd, the amount of fans we got in, and the way that we played.

“We just want to make sure that we deliver a performance every game that makes people want to come to the stadium. A performance that makes people excited and makes them want to make a noise and build an atmosphere.

“We encourage fans to be super noisy for us because it helps us. We want to keep adding wins. I’m excited, and I want to make sure that we start the game in a way that makes us really work together – ourselves and the fans – and then go and get another win.”

San Jose, meanwhile, sit second from bottom of the Western Conference, eight points off a playoff spot.

They have not won any of their last three outings, though their last win did come on the road when they beat Colorado Rapids 3-2 on May 12.

Make sure to bring the noise Friday night pic.twitter.com/aUFPeRyqKl

— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) May 29, 2024

PLAYERS TO WATCH

NYCFC – Tayvon Gray

Gray has recorded the assist on the winning goal in each of NYCFC’s last two matches.

It is the first time in his career that he has recorded an assist in consecutive MLS matches as he had recorded just one assist in his previous 33 games dating back to September 2022.

San Jose Earthquakes – Cristian Espinoza

Espinoza recorded his eighth assist of the season in San Jose’s draw with Austin on Saturday, setting up a goal for Jeremy Ebobisse.

Ebobisse is the seventh different player Espinoza has recorded an assist for this season – the only player he has set up twice is Amahl Pellegrino.

MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK CITY FC WIN

New York City have won five of their six all-time meetings with the Earthquakes (D1), including the last four in a row. NYCFC has scored multiple goals in all five wins, including scoring 10 times in their home matches against the ‘Quakes (all wins).

Indeed, NYCFC have won seven of their last eight matches (L1), including the last four in a row, and could equal the longest regular-season winning streak in club history (five straight in 2019).

Meanwhile, San Jose have won only two of their last 48 regular-season road matches against Eastern Conference opposition (D11 L35) dating back to May 2012. The Earthquakes have managed to draw each of their last three road matches against Eastern teams, including a 1-1 draw at Nashville in April.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

NYCFC – 59.5%

Draw – 21.2%

San Jose Earthquakes – 19.3%