New York City Football Club kept their unbeaten streak alive at home a cool but nice April Saturday evening in the Bronx drawing Atlanta United 1-1. It was not pretty, but the team did what it needed to do to get at least a point out of the contest with one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta have only lost one game so far this year and that was when the international break had deprived them of seven of their best players, and they have possibly the hottest commodity in MLS right now with Thiago Almada. The home team was able to keep him in check for most of the game but, ironically, it was only after Atlanta went down to ten men, off a reckless challenge form Franco Ibarra, that Atlanta struck. In the 70th minute, the Argentine kept a clearance alive after a corner kick and sent a near perfect cross to Georgios Gialoumakis at the far post for the former Celtic striker to head home. It looked bleak for NYCFC not being able to capitalize after going up a man and even letting Atlanta go ahead.
Less than two minutes later, substitute Gabriel Pereira, was having none of it. Cleverly controlling a headed pass from Mitja Ilenic, he found an opening at the top of the box and sent a rocket of a shot past Brad Guzan to level the score. It was a good response from the home club who had largely been outplayed for most of the night. From that moment on, NYCFC realized their potential and pressed for the go ahead goal but it would never materialize.
Apr 8, 2023; New York, New York, USA; New York City FC midfielder Gabriel Pereira (11) celebrates his goal during the second half with New York City FC defender Thiago Martins (13) and New York City FC midfielder Richard Ledezma (20) at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-USA TODAY Sports
“I’m happy with how we turned it around after we got scored on but we need to do better. We can’t drop the tempo and drop the intensity as soon as the guy gets a red card and concede a goal like that, so we’ll learn from it and figure it out moving forward, ” Keaton Park said after the game.
Nick Cushing echoed his response.
“I think we have been strong this year. I think you have not seen teams open us up. I think we give away too many chances in transition, like the New England [Revolution] goal. I think we have given too much away in set plays. Again, tonight, it is so frustrating but we will continue to work at that. It is just frustrating because this is the first football team, a team that wants to play possession, a team that wants to play a similar style to us, this is the first time this season that we have played a team like that and in the first 20 minutes, we gave them too much respect and too much space. Then we started to be aggressive and get up the field higher to get pressure on. We started to create chances in transition. We started to have more moments with the ball. I am content with the performance, but we know we have another level within us.”
NYCFC will have to find that next level if they want to keep their home streak alive. They enjoy two more home matches before going out on the road. But next week, they face Nashville, a team that beat them soundly in the season opener.
For NYCFC this year, it has been a revolving door of players, more leaving that coming in. New pieces will be a added and hopefully soon, but as Cushing said in the midweek interview before the Atlanta game, ” It is about getting results while we wait for them. ” NYCFC got a point as a result against Atlanta last night…seems like a fair result for the game.
