New York City FC: What we learned from the 2022 schedule release
On December 15, New York City FC announced the team’s schedule for the 2022 season. Despite only winning the MLS Cup on December 11, the new season will be starting at the end of February. Hence, it was not surprising that Major League Soccer decided to release the schedules right away.
Fortunately, the biggest thing NYCFC fans learned from the schedule release is the majority of the home matches will be played at Yankee Stadium. In fact, ten of the games will take place in the Bronx, and then six will occur at Citi Field. Unfortunately, there is one regular season home game that will be at Red Bull Arena, but just one is a positive step in the right direction.
Still, the front office listened to the fans, and instead worked out a schedule where the majority of the home matches will be in New York City. CEO Brad Simms said the following about making Citi Field the secondary venue:
"“We are very pleased that our secondary venue for the 2022 season will be Citi Field and know that it is the best and preferred alternative for our fans and players. Citi Field is a world-class facility and we’ve experienced an incredible in stadium atmosphere from our fans when we have played there in the past.”"
New York City FC fans learned a lot from the 2022 MLS schedule release
Of course, there are questions regarding fixtures for the US Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions League. Nonetheless, fans can celebrate that, for now, the team only has to travel to New Jersey once.
In addition, fans also received the welcoming news of MLS bringing back more Western Conference matchups. Such contests were reduced in 2021 due to COVID-19. This season, NYCFC will face off against teams from the West eight times. Some notable games include the season opener against the LA Galaxy in Los Angeles, and then the home fixture against the 2021 Western Conference regular season leaders, the Colorado Rapids.
Meanwhile, the Pigeons will face every team in the Eastern Conference twice. Every team will play one another home and away, and this means the Hudson River Derby will happen just twice in 2022. Actually, NYCFC must wait until July before they can head to New Jersey and solidify that New York is blue. They then play the New York Red Bulls at home in September, thankfully at Yankee Stadium. Like in 2021, there will be added pressure with those fixtures, especially the second one, since it will be in the latter half of the season, and both will be fighting for playoff spots.
Also, it is notable that NYCFC will start and end the season away from home. As mentioned, they will start the season in California on February 27, but then the team will end the season playing against Atlanta United FC. As it was in 2021 against the Philadelphia Union, playing Atlanta in the final week of the season will be a challenging task. The importance of that game will not be known until September or October, but hopefully the Pigeons will know their playoff fate before Match Day 34.
2022 will be a busy year
More notably, excluding the matches that will occur outside of the MLS regular season, the busiest months for New York City FC are May and July. The team will play their fellow MLS teams six times in those two months. But the most interesting month is August, for the Pigeons play four of the five fixtures away from home. That will be a true test for the players, especially since the 2021 regular season away record was poor. Of course, that changed toward the end of this past season and in the playoffs, so it will be intriguing to see whether the away woes can be turned around.
Speaking about the end of the season, NYCFC and the rest of MLS will end the regular season earlier than usual due to the World Cup at the end of the year. This is also why they are starting a little earlier in 2022, leading the regular season to end on October 9.
So, while next year will be jammed packed for the Pigeons, they do get the three week break in June for the two week international window, which is good since the team is expected to lose some players to their national teams. However, who knows whether there will be a non-MLS game scheduled during that time.
2022 is around the corner, and since the season is starting early, it is likely preseason will begin sooner rather than later. The main reason is that the Pigeons play their first match in the CONCACAF Champions League on February 15. Favorably, since the team went to the MLS Cup final, there will only be a little bit of time in the offseason, so everyone who is coming back should be in better shape compared to previous years.
Nevertheless, New York City FC have an exciting schedule to look forward to. The road to defending their MLS Cup is only a few short months away. And who knows? Maybe the team can continue their unbeaten run, and have a strong start to the season.
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