This year, New York City Football Club seems like one of those long running Broadway shows. You know it was once great and had a ton of hype. The script is good and the play won a lot of awards once. But it has been running a while and somehow has lost the magic it once had. The new cast are all talented but somehow they are not quite gelling to create the chemistry needed to inspire and make the show pop.
Such was the case on Sunday night in Queens. NYCFC was looking to come out of the two week break looking refreshed and ready to make a playoff run, but it was the same sad scenario we have seen to many times this year. The team dominated in every statistical category except the score-line and lost 2-0 to Minnesota United in a game they absolutely should have won.
The team saw several new faces enter the line up and some new faces returning. Maxi Moralez was back in the starting line up after returning from Argentina. He immediately made a difference in the team, driving the ball forward and distributing in a more creative way than anything that has happened so far this season. He was joined by some promising new signings. Birk Risa made his first start as the new left center back and Adres Perera and Julian Fernandez made positive impacts on the game as subs. The Few faces and pieces added just were not enough however, and a good performance over all still left the team with a frustrating result.
Nick Cushing spoke about the disappointment after the game, “Unfortunately, we can’t afford a performance like that but positive in every way but the result. It’s all about the result now. So how do I explain it, I have to move forward to keep believing and keep everyone’s head up, keep the guys believing all we need is one to light the spark. We wanted it to be today, and it wasn’t, and we must move on to Cincinnati and believe in a really difficult place that we can go and get a result. We get one, hopefully we can fight for two.”
Cushing went on to talk about how to keep the team motivated after such a frustrating result. “I think you must model it yourself, as soon as they feel I don’t believe, ultimately, I think it’s finished. I can guarantee that I see a team that is creating big chances but we’re not taking it. We have to take the chances. I think they had one chance tonight, one goal chance really. They scored two and I understand they won 2-0, but I think that one quality is the one chance. [Teemu] Pukki had the half chance off the corner the goal is…and they get one at the end because we pushed so many to try to get the point. So yeah, you must believe I have to show them my body language. I have to show it in my energy, and I have to show it in my language, and I will keep fighting until someone tells me it’s mathematically impossible.”
It is not impossible yet, and NYCFC go on the road to Cincinnati this week. The team does have the benefit of having seven of their last ten games at home but starting that stretch by dropping three points in a game they should have won makes the equation that much harder.
