When New York City FC take the field later tonight, the conditions at TQL Stadium will be hotter than in the Yucatan.
That's not an exaggeration: Tonight in Mérida, a city of nearly 1 million residents surrounded by mangroves and wild tamarind trees, the mercury will read 82F/28C at 8 pm, and the humidity will make it feel like 84F/29C; in Cincinnati, a city of 300,000 souls on the banks of the Ohio River, the temperature will be 87F/30C, but it will feel like 90F/32C, with a rising humidity making it sticker as the night goes on.
Those brutal conditions will make it hard for NYCFC to play the fast-paced soccer we expect from this team. However, the weather presents an opportunity for Head Coach Nick Cushing, who could pick a Starting XI made up of players accustomed to oppressive heat and humidity. Forget a lineup based on pedigree, or recent form, or even on-field chemistry — Cushing should pick a Tropical XI, and field a squad that can handle 90 minutes of pass-heavy possession-based play on an unforgiving summer night in Ohio.
That means no Hannes Wolf: He might be the Major League Soccer signing of the year according to The Outfield, but the midfielder is from Graz, a city high in the Austrian Alps where the air is crisp and the nights are cool. And no Santiago Rodríguez, who grew up playing in temperate Montevideo on the Rio Plata. Arguably, that means no Mounsef Bakrar: He might have developed in the baking heat of Algeria, but the humidity of Cincinnati is a different beast.
It definitely means no Birk Risa, who is from Stavanger, a small city on the coast of Norway where the hottest days never top 65F/18C. For his safety, the New York City medical team should insist he remains in an air-conditioned suite until it's time to leave the stadium.
New York City FC's Tropical XI
Instead, Cushing could turn to a core of players who grew up playing in the tropics, the southwest, and the semi-tropical youth leagues of New York City. They are the ones who spent their childhood Julys and Augusts running drills in the sun and playing competitive games at noon. Cushing needs players who are already acclimated to air you drink, to shirts that stick to your skin before the opening whistle sounds.
Some starters pick themselves: Alonso Martínez (Puntarenas, Costa Rica), Talles Magno (Rio de Janeiro), Keaton Parks (Plano, TX), and Thiago Martins (São João Evangelista in Minas Gerais, Brazil). Luis Barraza (Las Cruces, NM) is already a lock on the Starting XI, according to Cushing. The Homegrowns on the First Team should also included in that group: James Sands, Justin Haak, Tayvon Gray, and Christian McFarlane (who might be an England youth international, but who started with the NYCFC youth academies when he was 11) are a part of the system and can handle the heat.
Others are a little more of a gamble. Could this be the First Team debut for Ronald Arévalo on the right wing? The 21-year-old from North Bergen, New Jersey has three goals and four assists in 15 appearances for NYCFC II and two goals in eight appearances for the El Salvador U-20s. He might not have the contract of a Julián Fernández (Buenos Aires) or Agustín Ojeda (Rosario), but he grew up playing in humid conditions — and he knows how to get it done on the plastic grass of Belson Stadium in Queens.
Likewise, it could be time to start Rio Hope-Gund. The 24-year-old native New Yorker is a regular in First Team training, and on a night like this he could out-perform Risa and Strahinja Tansijević (Mladenovac, Serbia).
The fact is, tonight's game is as meaningless a match as NYCFC will play this year. True, the result will determine who finishes first in East 1, which in turn will help decide who NYCFC will play in the Round of 32 later in the week. But as Andrew Leigh explained in these pages on Friday, New York City already advanced to the Leagues Cup knockout stage – and did it without scoring a single goal in the one tournament game they played so far – and could host that game irregardless if they finish first or second in East 1.
While this game might not matter much on its own, it could have a carry-over effect that shapes the rest of the season, and even the MLS Cup playoffs. This is the time to give some time off to Bakrar, Rodríguez, Wolf, and the others. Cushing will need them to be at their best when MLS league play resumes on August 24.
