The New York City Football Club suffered more than just one loss last night in their 4-2 loss on the road against Columbus in a rematch of their Leagues Cup match from two weeks back; starting Goalkeeper (and leader) Matt Freese went down early in the first half due to an apparent knee injury for which he had to be pulled.
First, the match itself, in a form of Deja Vu, the club jumped out to an early lead again on the road in Lower.com field as once again Alonso Martinez scored early to give the team the early lead. Not 14 seconds early mind you as we saw in Leagues Cup, but this time 4 minutes in to the left corner after taking a dynamite pass from Defender Tayvon Gray across the middle for the early lead. However the reigning MLS Cup & Leagues Cup champions, despite playing 4 matches in a stretch of just 11 days forced the equalizer just 13 minutes later as Diego Rossi scored his 10th of the year.
However it was the second half where Columbus showed it’s strength once again. The team, which had outscored it’s opponents 17-6 in the second half of it’s last 10 matches picked up three, first at 58 minutes by Winger Max Arfsten, followed by 2 more in added time, first DuJuan Jones followed by Jacen Russell-Rowe for the Crew’s final tally of 4. With the team down 1, NYCFC did draw even at 2-2 after Mounsef Bakrar picked up a goal at 86 to the bottom right of the net however as mentioned, was a short lived lead which ended in a 4-2 loss for the team from the Bronx.
However it was other losses that may loom larger for the club after just 11 minutes in Goalkeeper Matt Freese had to be replaced by backup Luis Barraza after a knee injury that could suggest a partial tear to the ligament in the right knee. However (and this is key) this is only speculation and not fact at this time. However regardless of the extent of the injury, it could be weeks before he returns to the pitch this season, if at all. In the post match press conference, Midfielder Keaton Parks talked about the next steps. “We fight. We’ve been doing this all year. We did it all through last year. We’ve been through tons of adversity, and we just keep fighting. We get together in the locker room, we get together on the training pitch, we get it right, and we move forward.”
Next up is a week break followed by a road match against DC United on the 14th.
3 STATS
1) The loss of Freese as mentioned, is huge. Freese was 2nd in the league in save percentage at 77.1% so depending on the circumstances will put the remainder of the season on the shoulders of backup Luis Barraza.
2) In a bit of a lucky break, NYCFC lost no points in the East. First the New York Red Bulls suffered their first home loss of the season (the last time in the league to do so) keeping NYCFC 3 points behind plus Charlotte lost at home themselves to Atlanta keeping them a point behind the Pigeons.
3) For Alonso Martinez, it was his overall 12th goal of the season in 20 matches this season. The 25 year old Costa Rican forward has emerged as a force, scoring 4 goals in his last 3 matches and now being 2nd in the league in Expected Goals per 90 minutes with .97, second only to Lionel Messi.
About the author – Scott Churchson has been an actor in every way for the past 14 years, from BG to stand in to stunts and principal, a sports writer for the past 4 and is one of the people that created Stream Punk Entertainment. He’s married to a veterinarian, has a cat with three working legs and is just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe.