It was a beautiful September night at Citi Field and conditions were perfect for New York City Football Club to play visiting FC Cincinnati. The club needed a win an badly but could only manage a 1-1 draw in a game they dominated from start to finish. In fact, they were their own worst enemy.
The game looked positive from the start with NYCFC having several players return from long injuries. Alexander Callens and Thiago Martins returned from lower body injuries and immediately found themselves thrust into the starting eleven. Keaton Parks was on the team sheet after returning from a battle with a blood clot in his leg. The return of the players seemed to buoy both the spirit of the fan and the players alike.
Martins was rusty though and in the 22nd minute attempted a horrible back pass to Sean Johnson and instead sent the ball into the back of his own net for an own goal. Until that point of the match, Cincinnati had barely been able to get the ball out of their own half and enjoyed almost no possession. It was just another mistake by the former champions shooting themselves in the foot. A pattern that has immerged of late over the last nine games.
NYCFC would claw back soon after though on a well worked goal near the end of the half. Tavon Gray sent a wonderful cross into the box finding a streaking Gabriel Pereira and tied the game. Pereira received a yellow card for taking his shirt off after the goal in celebration but it was a moment that demonstrated how much NYCFC needed a positive result on the night.
NYCFC have only one win in their last nine matches and two draws. Six defeats since July 30th, all by multiple goals, have taken their toll on the team. August has been the worst month in club history for the team and NYCFC are desperately trying to hold onto a home playoff spot after their precipitous fall.
Nick Cushing was terse and combative after they game. Another sign that the pressure of finding a win is mounting. “This game was as expensive as it can be for this club,” he said, speaking about the yellow and red cards issued to Maxime Chanot, Nicholas Acevedo, and Thiago Martins. All three will miss the next match because of suspension. Martins was issued a straight red card for the denial of a goal scoring opportunity in minute 75 and Chanot and Acevedo issued yellows and will have to sit out because of accumulation.
“It has not been the level that we expect, and this is for many different reasons that we have been looking at because it was a point tonight, and we should’ve gotten three points. We are in a moment where we are honest, humble and will continue to look ourselves in the mirror and make sure to look at whether it is my fault and if I got the system right…. We know these are not the results the fans deserve. We are as frustrated as anyone, ” Cushing added. Indeed the frustration is mounting in NYC. Many of the fan base are wondering how the wheels came off the bus. The departures of Head Coach, Ronny Deila and Golden Boot winner Valentin Castellanos have certainly been one factor. Cushing has had to deal with a great number of ill timed injuries to key players since he took over. The team will be without five of their regular starters when they travel to Charlotte on Saturday, but they also need to stop making costly mistakes at key moments in the game. Four of the six losses over the last month have come from errors made by NYCFC either in build up play, sloppy marking, or in a direct own goal like last night. Cushing has said after several of the games ” When you play the way I am asking them to play mistakes will happen from time to time,” but all the while insisting that if you create the chances like they did last night “you will win more games than you lose.”
Right now, the results are not supporting his case. The team outshot Cincinnati 20-4 last night and enjoyed 65% on possession. They absolutely dominated in every statistical category that mattered and even scored all the goal in the game. But they still only could manage a draw. Early in the season they looked to be the best team in MLS but mistakes in nearly every game are making them try to clutch onto a playoff spot. If it were not for their amazing results early on they would be in deep trouble.
NYCFC will try again to put things to right this weekend and get a badly needed three points on the road in North Carolina against a team they beat them at home 3-1. Sean Johnson summed it up best after the game. “We’ll take the point, obviously we’re disappointed that we couldn’t get all three. We’ll look forward to Charlotte now, and the only way to look now is to go on a run. We have a few games left to pick up points and press on towards the playoffs.”
