NYCFC show steel in MLS Cup win, delivering on Ronny Deila’s promise of heavy metal football

12 December، 2021

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Ronny Deila is a man of his word.

Minutes after New York City FC had claimed its first MLS Cup, beating the Portland Timbers via penalties, there was Deila, the coach stripping down to his underwear in front of the team’s fans and doing pushups on the Providence Park turf.

This wasn’t the first time that the Deila had performed such a stunt. In 2009, he promised the supporters of the team he managed at the time, Norwegian side Stromsgodset, that he would strip off his clothes if they managed to avoid relegation. When his side avoided the drop, he kept his vow.

Upon taking over NYCFC ahead of the 2020 campaign, he told ESPN that he would engage in a repeat performance if his side won the MLS Cup. But when he was reminded this week of his pledge, he seemed a bit reticent.

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“We’ll see, we’ll see,” he said on Thursday. “As you start to get older, that isn’t so fun anymore. But at the same time, a word is a word. First, we have to win. That’s the most important thing.”

With the team’s first trophy secure, Deila kept his promise once again, although it took some encouragement from the NYCFC fans.

So which was better: stripping down when avoiding relegation or when your team wins a title?

“Of course the last one,” he said after the match, although he noted the win in 2009 was important as well. “You have to celebrate victories and that one today was a big victory. I said maybe too much when I got hired here, but I don’t regret that. It was a big moment. I will do that again if we keep winning trophies.”

Deila is a coach who has long been associated with “heavy metal football,” that of aggressive pressing and quick passing. Small wonder, then, that his NYCFC side showed plenty of steel in prevailing over the Timbers.