There is not a team in Major League Soccer who want to face New York City Football Club at home. Their record in the Bronx is truly impressive including several multiple-goal wins. On Saturday night, the New England Revolution, a team leading MLS right now by a mile in point totals, became just another victim.
The 2-0 win was impressive for NYCFC for many reasons, but perhaps most impressive was the way they made New England look pedestrian and snapped a nine-game unbeaten streak for The Revs. NYCFC took their game to New England from the start playing some really pretty soccer with one touch passes and creating overloads across the pitch.
In the 31st minute Maxi Moralez floated a beautiful ball over the back line to Valentin Castellanos who headed the ball deftly past Matt Turner in goal. It was a well worked goal and one that seemed destined to happen by the run of play. New England did not get a single shot on target the whole first half.
Aug 28, 2021; New York, New York, USA; New York City midfielder Valentin Castellanos (11) scores a goal over New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner (30) during the first half at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports
The second half started much the same way and in the 55th minute the two Argentines connected again with Moralez launching a beautiful cross into the box from the right wing, finding a wide open Castellanos who pounded the ball into the back of the net while never breaking stride. Even though the score line would stop there it felt like more goals would come. at times in the second half NYCFC pinned New England in their half of the pitch and it seemed the field was swarming with NYC players. It was a statement win by NYCFC and one made with style.
Yes, New England was missing some big names with Carlos Gil still returning from injury and Tajon Buchanan not allowed to play but so was NYCFC. Missing from their team sheet was red hot goal scorers Thiago Andrade and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi. NYCFC established their game from the start and imposed it on the best team in MLS with a swagger.
After the game, Ronny Deila was happy with his team’s performance, but suggested they could still improve. “I think the team played really good. We were by far the best team for 90 minutes. I know we can beat everybody if we are at our best, especially at home at Yankee Stadium. We know we are really strong, so I was very confident we would get a good result, and the performance was good so I’m really proud of the boys and this will give us more confidence in the future. Defensively we were solid. Sean didn’t have to have a save all game, maybe one shot from the left side that was far away. So we just have to keep on working. We haven’t been effective enough this year, we should have more points than we have, but this was an important win and it’s a long way to go still.”
Defender Gudmundur Thorarinsson echoed the sentiments:
“Yeah, again I feel we’ve dominated the games this year. It is about this killer instinct. Score from out chances, it is small details sometimes but honestly it is like we can beat anyone so as long as we stick to the game plan, as long as we work together as we’ve been doing I think we are going to be really dangerous this season and maybe we proved a point tonight but for us is like a journey we’ve been on is paying off and we have to keep the pedal to the floor and keep on working on the same and I think we could be contenders for everything this year and that’s where we want to go. We are not shy to talk about it and that’s where we are aiming and hopefully that will work out.”
NYCFC will be tested again in the coming weeks against a very good Nashville squad away and then again against New England at Foxborough. The schedule is made even tougher by World Cup Qualifying as they will be without several key players along the backline. James Sands, Maxime Chanot, Alexander Callens, and Thorarinsson have all been called up by their respective countries and will leave NYCFC very short handed on defense. If NYCFC can have some success without those players in the coming weeks, the team will be making a statement indeed.
