Federico Bravo dribbles the ball up the pitch in NYCFC’s 1-1 draw against New England at Yankee Stadium Saturday afternoon. Photo Credit: NYCFC
NEW YORK — The big screen across from the press box at Yankee Stadium lit up with the “GOAL” graphic that appears every time New York City FC puts it in the back of the net. The fans had been screaming and jumping after seeing Tommy McNamara rifle in a game-winner past Bobby Shuttleworth in the 93rd and final minute to give NYCFC its first home win of the 2016 season.
Or so they thought.
As the ball rolled towards the stands and away from the goal, the building grew silent. Shortly after, the final whistle blew to signify a third straight match at home without a win for the Blues as their match with the New England Revolution finished in a 1-1 deadlock.
To head coach Patrick Vieira, the final result wasn’t the worst part of the contest.
“What I’m really disappointed (with) tonight is about the way we play more than the result, because I think that if you (expect) winning games, you need to play and we didn’t today, so we couldn’t (expect) anything more than the draw,” he said. “I think when you analyze the game properly, we’re happy with the points that we take tonight because I think New England deserve more from the game because they create better chances than we did.”
With CONCACAF qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup in full swing, many Major League Soccer teams entered this weekend missing key players.
NYCFC was no exception.
Playing without Americans Mix Diskerud and Khiry Shelton and Costa Rican full-back Ronald Mattarrita, Vieira was forced to give into what the fans wanted all season — unleashing Kwadwo Poku.
The midfielder that created a spark on multiple occasions last season was able to do the same in his 2016 season debut against New England Saturday afternoon.
Poku made rampant runs through the midfield all afternoon, building up play as the Blues controlled possession and dominated play. But much like the story for the rest of his squad, he was unable to deliver the final product.
Playing with 10 men for the final 38 minutes after Gershon Koffie was sent off for a rough tackle on McNamara at midfield — a decision New England head coach Jay Heaps “wholeheartedly disagrees” with — the Revolution spent most of the second half defending at the back and playing on the counter to preserve the 1-1 draw.
“They just sat back, not trying to leave a lot of space behind them,” Poku said to explain NYCFC’s struggles in the final third. “For me, I’ll give credit to them. They did really well in their defensive territory.”
After conceding an early goal that ended up being the game-winner against Orlando City last time out, NYCFC managed to get a goal of its own in the opening minutes.
The Blues opened the scoring in the 10th minute through Tommy McNamara, who headed in a rebound into the empty net after a David Villa shot rattled off the crossbar. The move began with a flick from Andoni Iraola onto Tony Taylor, who’s deflected cross fell into Villa’s path before he took Shuttleworth off his line with his strike.
“No, because of the result,” McNamara said when asked if he was happy to score. “I don’t really care if I’m on the scoresheet or not, what’s most important is getting three points, and with that, especially playing the right way. I don’t think we accomplished either of those goals today.”
The flick was one of many throughout the match for NYCFC, as it dominated possession and played some fantastic soccer at various points throughout the match. But possession means nothing if it doesn’t result in goals, a problem the Blues have faced since opening the season with four in a 4-3 win over Chicago in the Windy City.
NYCFC’s best chance to double its lead came in a two minute period 10 minutes after opening the scoring.
First, it was Villa who had a crack from the corner of the penalty area, only to see his shot flash just wide of Shuttleworth’s left post.
New England equalized in the 38th minute through Chris Tierney. The left-back took a free-kick just outside of the NYCFC penalty area and had it deflected in off of Mendoza, who was standing square in the middle of the box.
The Blues responded quickly, but like the final sequence of the match, McNamara missed his chance to get a brace.
NYCFC will get two weeks of rest following its fourth contest of the season. It returns to action April 10th as it hosts the Fire, the only team it’s defeated thus far this season.
After earning just two points out of a possible nine in the first three games of the four-game homestand, a win against Chicago would be massively important.
“Of course, we aim to do better than that,” Vieira said of the current skid. “Three games at home, two points at home is not good enough for a club like New York City.”
Follow Brian Fonseca on Twitter (@briannnnf) for live updates of NYCFC matches.
