It was a beautiful day for soccer and perfect time for the top two teams in the East to match up against each other. NYCFC could jump into the top spot with a win over Atlanta United but questions were rampant after Wednesday’s flame out in the Open Cup. How would the team respond? Would the line up be affected by Wednesday’s defeat in a negative way? Would this be Patrick Vieira’s last match at head coach ?
Some of those questions were answered in the opening minutes as the team was all business. They came out and pounced on Atlanta with an aggressive first half that should have produced a goal. The team was unlucky in that respect but they owned the pitch for the most part and asserted themselves as rulers of their home pitch. Brad Guzan came up huge for the visitors stopping an open one on one break away from Maxi Moralez and making a nice save to keep a defected shot from lobbing into the net.
The score was tied at zero going into half but that would shortly change. Atlanta only had two shots on goal the entire day but that was enough. Josef Martinez found himself on the receiving end of a nice cross into the box and headed home the go a head goal against the run of play shortly into the second half. NYCFC responded nicely with an onslaught of attack. They out shot Atlanta twenty five to six on the day . with most of the shots coming in the second half.
Guzan, again, was huge and really showed why he should be headed to Russia this summer with the USMNT. He was inspired making save after save and saving Atlanta’s hopes again and again. Shots went barely wide off the post and Guzan seemly would not be denied. Finally it was a corner kick that did the trick for NYC. Alexander Callens headed home the equalizer off a redirected header by David Villa in the seventy seventh minute.
The crowd went wild and NYC kept attacking. Jonathan Lewis proved exciting off the bench again as the team looked for the go ahead goal they so richly deserved. But again it was Guzan who came up big in the final minutes. Two shots hit the post in the final four minutes of stoppage time and the team ended with a draw. Disappointing from such a dominant display but a result that keeps NYCFC undefeated at home in 2018.
Vieira summed it up nicely afterward. “Yeah, we were unlucky. There’s no doubt about it. I think Guzan was fantastic – I think he was the man of the match. But overall when we look at the first half and the second half, I think that was what I was expecting from the players. I think we had a solid game, we had a professional game where we respected our game plan and we concentrated on not allowing them to find the space. But when we did it, we got punished right away. We knew how good they were but if I didn’t look at the result, just looking at the performance, I couldn’t ask much more from my team.”
That last few words left open the question though of how much longer will this be “Vieira’s Team?” The coach would not take questions about a possible move to Europe after the match only feeding the speculative fires that are surrounding him. One thing is certain, If this was Vieira’s last match as head coach he can leave with his head held high knowing that his last game was a dominant performance against a very good team.
