NYCFC suffer first loss of season after struggling to finish chances

NEW YORK — The newest matchup in Major League Soccer is building up to become one of the more exciting ones.

New York City FC and Orlando City SC met three times in their inaugural seasons in MLS last year, with the 1-1 draw in the Citrus Bowl on Opening Day owning the 10th highest single game attendance total in league history despite it being the first game in both sides’ short histories.

The only time the teams faced off in Yankee Stadium, a historic venue in its own right, the Blues escaped with a thrilling 5-3 win.

While the second ever meeting between the sides in the Bronx didn’t share a similar scoreline, it was filled with as much action.

NYCFC created a plethora of chances in Friday night’s contest, but it wasn’t enough as a Cyle Larin goal and six saves from Joe Bendik handed the Blues their first loss of the season in a 1-0 decision.

It was one of those games where NYCFC could play all night without finding the back of the net.

Whether it was captain David Villa skying a bicycle kick over the crossbar after a lovely flick from Andrea Pirlo, or Steven Mendoza, making his second appearance on loan from Brazilian Serie A side Corinthians, rifling a shot from the right edge of the box against Bendik’s left post, the Blues were unable to get it past Bendik.

After scoring multiple goals in its first two games, the struggles in front of goal were reminiscent of last season, when NYCFC went scoreless on seven different occasions.

“I’m really disappointed because I think we managed to play well, especially in the second half, but we give away the game in the first 10 minutes,” said head coach Patrick Vieira. “The way we entered to the game wasn’t good at all and it was really easy for them to defend and go into a counter attack.”

Larin, Orlando’s leading scorer in their inaugural MLS season last year, scored the only goal of the contest in the 7th minute. NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders came off his line to deflect a cross from the right flank away from goal, but instead directed it straight onto the 20-year-old Canadian striker’s head. Larin headed into the empty net to make it 1-0.

The home side responded immediately following the goal with midfielder Thomas McNamara forcing Bendik into his first save with a strike from the right edge of the box. It was the first time Bendik was secure all night, as the goalkeeper slipped three times prior to his team’s goal attempting to clear his lines, but NYCFC wasn’t able to take advantage.

Bendik made a pair of saves after the McNamara chance, including on a volley from Mix Diskerud in which the Norwegian-American midfielder slipped in unmarked into the box and hit a perfect cross from Pirlo right into Bendik’s body.

The Orlando City keeper was forced into another save from a corner shortly after, when his team failed to completely clear a Pirlo cross and allowed Ronald Matarrita to recover possession and let it rip from 40-meters out. The strike fell right into Bendik’s chest.

Matarrita had a similar chance minutes later, but his strike was deflected out for one of NYCFC’s seven first-half corners.

“I think Joe’s been excellent for us since he’s been with us,” Orlando City head coach Adrian Heath said. “On the whole, I was really pleased with Joe’s performance. A couple of big saves when we needed it.”

While the Blues had six more shots than Orlando, they only had one more on goal. Orlando didn’t create as much, but were dangerous when attacking. With 13 minutes remaining in the first half, the visitors nearly doubled their lead when a Kevin Molina shot was headed off the line by right-back Andoni Iraola after a deflection from Saunders.

The second half was much of the same, with NYCFC controlling most of the possession and owning a majority of the chances.

With Antonio Nocerino coming off for Orlando due to injury, the Blues continued to pile on the pressure, but were unable to capitalize.

The best chance of the night produced the best save of the night. Diskerud was put through on goal by David Villa, who had a relatively quiet night, and forced Bendik to stretch his whole body to his left to parry it away.

Two minutes later, Orlando City recovered a pass in the final third and were through on goal in a three-on-two counter attack. Pedro Ribeiro, who came on for Larin in the 55th minute, played the ball back to Molino, who took much too long to pull the trigger, allowing Matarritta to step in and make the save.

New York continued to threaten from there, but 12 corners and multiple set pieces weren’t enough for the Blues as they drop to 1-1-1 on the young season.

“I think it just didn’t go our way tonight,” forward Khiry Shelton said. “If we play like that any other game, we’re going to score, and I believe that. We all believe that.”

Despite the final result, Vieira is pleased with the way his team played.

“It’s frustrating the way we lost the game, yes, but on the other side, when you analyze the 90 minutes, the way we played, the number of chances we create, the way we control the game, that’s really encouraging and positive for the next game and for the rest of the season,” he said. “I think playing this way, we win more games than we will lose.”

New York has a week to rest for its next game, a third consecutive home match as it hosts the New England Revolution next Saturday.

Coming off a loss for the first time since Vieira agreed to become the second coach in team history, there is an element of wonder in how the Blues will bounce back from their first taste of defeat.

But there is no doubt in the Frenchman’s mind.

“I think I know the group quite really well, even if its a really short period of time that we’ve been working together,” Vieira said. “This is a really strong team, we have really strong characters in the dressing room and all I need to do is look in their face, the rest of the players and see how disappointed they are and they will bounce back.”