United FC gameday 6:30 p.m. at New York City FC Ch. 29, AM-1500
Big stars, big city
Preview: When Minnesota United (5-9-3) faces New York City FC (9-5-3) at Yankee Stadium, it will not only be a matchup between the ninth-place Western Conference team and the third-place Eastern Conference squad but also the fourth-lowest salary budget of 22 MLS clubs against the second-highest. New York has two of the league's top-five highest-paid players in World Cup winners Andrea Pirlo and David Villa. Despite these differences, New York is also a recent expansion team, entering the league in 2015.
Quotable: "It's a strange one because a lot of people don't like going to New York City. I love going there. I think it's quite unique in the fact that it is a baseball stadium, albeit probably one of the most famous in the world. I think a lot is made of the [small] size of the field. Is it ideal? No. But I think people make excuses." — United coach Adrian Heath
Numbers: New York is unbeaten in its past four home matches (3-0-1), averaging more than two goals per match in that span. United, meanwhile, is still winless on the road (0-6-2).
Injuries: M Bernardo Anor (leg), D Thomas de Villardi (Achilles), D Joe Greenspan (concussion), D Marc Burch (groin), D Vadim Demidov (knee), D Brent Kallman (knee), F Abu Danladi (thigh) are out for United. M Maxi Moralez (calf), F Khiry Shelton (hamstring), GK Sean Johnson (national team duty) are out for New York.
Megan Ryan
