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ESPN staff 6y

Patrick Vieira: NYCFC can overcome big deficit against Columbus Crew

New York City FC coach Patrick Vieira has urged his players to believe they can recover from a 4-1 Eastern Conference semifinal deficit against Columbus Crew.

No Major League Soccer side has bounced back from a three-goal deficit to progress, but Vieira said his team could become the first to do so in the second leg on Sunday.

Speaking to the official MLS website, the former Arsenal midfielder said: "There's always a first time. It may be Sunday, it may be next year.

"This is a difficult task, there's no doubt about it."

Vieira said his side had been guilty of missing too many chances in the first leg even though he had expected them to concede to Columbus.

"We created enough chances to score more than one goal and we didn't do it," he added.

"You expect to concede because of the team and the players they have on the squad. But I think we gave them a good game -- we created enough chances that we didn't take."

Columbus coach Gregg Berhalter has said his side will not sit on their lead, but Vieira predicted that the visitors "are going to be sitting and waiting and go into the counterattack because they have the players to do it."

The coach said he had shown his players a video of their 4-1 win over Sunday's opponents last season, adding: "We have to build the belief that we can do it.

"The way we play the game, of course, we can concede as well. But we can score a lot of goals."

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