Onto the Semis…

City may have been favorites for this one, but the next one is a very different test of NYCFC’s MLS Playoffs credentials.

Tata Martino’s Atlanta have taken apart plenty of teams over the last seven months and will ask more questions of NYC than Philadelphia have over the last 180 minutes.

It’s always a fascinating clash of styles when NYCFC and Atlanta meet and it’ll be interesting to see how Dome approaches this first meeting with the much-fancied red and blacks.

With both Regular Season games ending with ties, there are no clues to be taken from those clashes, though Brad Guzan was unquestionably the busier of the two goalkeepers when he came to Yankee Stadium earlier in the campaign.

It’ll take a brave pundit to put their neck on the line and call this one, but NYC should enter with the same attitude and energy they showed in the Knockout Round and see where it takes them.