In his latest Captain's Notes, Sounders defender/midfielder Brad Evans talks about last week's 1-0 win over the Portland Timbers and how the team is feeling ahead of its first match against New York City FC.
We are coming off a great performance against our rivals, the Portland Timbers. We talked about it being a super-emotional week the week before. It's always tough to keep track of our emotions before that game but I think it was easier this time to keep them in check because having a derby that early in the season is a bit abnormal. Nevertheless, it adds a lot of pressure for us. It's a great test for us early in the season, especially at home. To keep all of those emotions in line and come out of that game with a good 1-0 win was phenomenal.
I thought the guys played awesome. Everyone left it on the line and it was a great result.
We had a good week of training after that and we started preparing for New York City FC. They are an up-and-coming team in the league. They have dealt with a bit of adversity early on this season, but they're also a team that's playing at home this weekend. No matter who steps on the field this weekend, it's a team that's going to battle for one another. I know their coach very well and they're going to be organized, skillful and they're going to be good at passing. We have to be wary of all those things, especially as we come off a game that was full of emotion against Portland.
We need to keep our emotions in check and remain a business team on the road. Historically, we have been very good on the road. We're keeping that in the back of our minds and we know we need to give our full effort this week. We are making sure everyone is focused and ready to work on Sunday.
It's a great venue here at Yankee Stadium and it's something we are all looking forward to and it should be great. Last year at this time we had the start of a good push and we went on a little bit of a run. There's no reason why we can't continue that. It'll be a good test with three in a row on the road. We always look to get the three points on the road and we're always ready to fight until the very last minute. The guys are going to be working together. We have a very, very big test on our hands but the team is looking forward to it.
Here we go, Sounders!
