The New York City Football Club’s run in Leagues Cup 2024 ended last night with a 1-1 (4-3) shootout loss on the road against defending MLS Cup champions the Columbus Crew. On a night where the team set both a team record and a Leagues Cup record for fasted goal in the start of a match (just 14 seconds, see below), the club ended into a back and forth slugfest for position in a match that could have gone either way, at any time.
However, it was an odd patch of grass that seemingly ended the team’s Cinderella run. During the penalty shootout, the Apple TV announcers discussed an issue with the grass where the ball was to be placed, and the need to continually fix it after every shot. Normally surefire forward Santi Rodriguez fired his attempt over the top of the goal, bringing into question if that had an impact. However, it would have been an impact that affected each player on each side, so the discussion is basically moot. In the post game press conference, head coach Nick Cushing stated that his confidence in the club is still sky high as the team resumes it’s MLS regular season schedule, starting on August 24 at Citi Field against the Chicago Fire. Ironically, both games in this run that the team was leading were the matches they ended up losing.
With 9 games left in the regular season, the team currently sits in 5th place in the East with 38 points.
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.