NEW YORK – The race for the Supporters' Shield is on, according to New York City FC fullback RJ Allen.
“Absolutely. We’re what, six points out now even on games,” Allen said Wednesday night after NYCFC defeated Sporting Kansas City, 1-0, at Yankee Stadium. “Hopefully we can squeeze one here this weekend and they can drop a game.”
NYCFC coach Patrick Vieira has conceded the race already, but his players still believe – even though they know it means Toronto FC, who haven’t lost since July 1, cooling off a bit.
“I think they’re a deep squad, they’re very talented, but I’ll sit here and say that I hope,” Allen said. “This win tonight keeps pace for that. Hopefully they’ll drop a game or two and we’ll make it interesting toward the end here.”
After extending their home unbeaten streak to 10 games – they are 10-1-3 at Yankee Stadium this season – NYCFC have 50 points from 27 matches and are the only team, it appears, even in contention to catch red-hot TFC, who host San Jose on Saturday (5 pm ET | MLS LIVE; TSN in Canada).
Since a demoralizing 4-0 loss at Toronto on July 30, NYCFC have four wins in their last five and have picked up 13 out of a possible 15 points during that stretch.
“We still have two trophies in front of us,” forward Sean Okoli said. “That’s what we work every day for, but we also know we have to take it one game at a time, one training session at a time. As long as we take care of what’s in front of us, I think we’ll be ok.”
That’s the main focus for NYCFC. While they will take a glimpse at Toronto FC’s matches, the focus in inward and that begins with facing Portland on short rest Saturday back in the Bronx (5:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE).
“We’re not really honestly too focused about the Supporters' Shield race,” goalkeeper Sean Johnson said. “I think we’re taking every game as it comes. If we take care of business and do what we have to do for the next seven games, we’ll put ourselves in a really good position come the end of the year.”
Added Jack Harrison: “I think anything is possible. We just want to get as many points as we can going into the end of the season and we’ll go from there.”
