Harrison: Taking Chances Key in Home Opener

Patrick Vieira called upon his players to take a ruthless approach in the wake of NYCFC’s unfortunate defeat to Orlando on Sunday.

That’s been the message permeating out of a positive camp in the week leading up to the Home Opener versus DC United.

Jack Harrison was on-message at the club’s media day on Thursday afternoon, stating his belief that there were more positives than negatives in that 1-0 loss in Florida.

The 20-year old told NYCFC.com: “We’ve been working on a lot in the week – I don’t think we played badly against Orlando but we just need to improve on taking our chances when we can.

“We had a lot of them against Orlando but we were just unfortunate not to score. I think if we can improve on that – the chances were there; we just need to make the most of what we had.

“There were a lot of positives to take from the game – we played how Patrick wants us to play, we had most of the possession and we created chances.

“If we can take them versus DC, hopefully we can win this weekend.”

Jack is coming into his Sophomore Season with NYCFC following a breakout year which saw him nominated for the league’s top rookie prize.

With the benefit of a full preseason, he’s hoping he can help the team to MLS Cup glory in his second year.

“I’m feeling a lot better this year, not just with the team but in myself too,” he reflected.

“I didn’t feel as comfortable last year being out injured at the start but now having the first full preseason under my belt, getting to know the guys through football, it feels so much better going into the season.

“It’s a great club which has done so much for me, from the draft to now, it’s been incredible – this is such a great organization. Again, I’m just grateful to be here and hopefully I can pay some of that back by helping us to win something this year.

“I think we can – we have a great group of talented players who all want to work hard and we’re all on the same page with that. We have a great coaching staff too, so we have all of the characteristics you need to win an MLS Cup. It’s down to us to perform.”

Jonathan Lewis is following in Jack’s footsteps after arriving in the MLS SuperDraft.

Harrison sees no reason why Jonathan can’t go on to emulate his own first year at the club, especially with the volume of potential mentors he can call upon for advice.

Jack added: “There’s a lot of guys on the team who can act as mentors on and off the field. He’s a great pickup for us – he’s very quick, he’s good on the ball and he makes good decisions. It’ll be interesting to see what he does this year.”