The New York City Football Club fell short once again in a road match as they lost to the New York Red Bulls in 1-0 in the first match of the annual Hudson River Derby. In a match where both teams came out aggressively as opposed to playing the wait and see game, NYCFC maintained possession of the ball for just under 70% of the match however managing just one shot on goal to RBNY’s 4, raising major questions as the team falls to 0-5-2 on the road this season and falling 5 slots down to now 10th place in the East (CONFIRM IT STAYS THIS WAY). Goalkeeper Luis Barraza saved 3 out of 4 shots however couldn’t keep a Omir Fernandez right footed shot from outside the box out of the net in the 76th minute giving the Red Bulls the 1-0 lead, scoring the first goal for new interim head coach Troy Lesesne the first goal of his MLS coaching career, and after a full 9 minutes of stoppage time, his first win.
The team played mostly well, came out aggressive and showed a different look than what we’ve seen previously. However getting the shots towards the net was difficult throughout thanks to a crisp RBNY defense and moments of indecision by NYCFC.
Afterwards, head coach Nick Cushing was direct in his assessment: ““Listen, we can sit here and keep talking about performance and things like this. We didn’t win the game. We didn’t do enough to win the game, which meant we lost the game. I take responsibility for it. I can talk about performance, and everyone will have their opinion on urgency, and [being] flat, and passes, and all of these things and that’s okay. We didn’t do enough to win the game today.”
No rest for the weary, as the team heads down to Orlando for the final road match in a four game stretch away from New York City. This suddenly has become a hugely important match as Orlando sits in 11th place in the East as both squads battle to into a playoff spot under the new system.
5 NOTES:
1) Late in the match have been tough for NYCFC this season. 9 of their 15 goals they’ve allowed have come at the 70th minute or later.
2) Including the US Open loss on Wednesday, the team has lost 4 in a row, all by one goal and never once having a lead during the losing streak. To that point:
3) In all four matches they won this season, they had the lead going into halftime. Nick Cushing attributed scoring early helped to settle the team down.
4) In 4 of their 5 losses, they were shut out entirely.
5) In facing Orlando, the Gents in Blue are 2-1-2 in their last 5 however a career 3-5-6 on the road against the Florida squad. Goal scoring has been lead by 22 year old Duncan McGuire who sits with 4 goals on the season in 8 matches (3 starts). 4 other players on the team have 2 goals themselves.
About the author – Scott Churchson has been an actor in every way for the past 13 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, a mother-in-law who just moved in and is just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe.
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