NYCFC WITH 1-1 TIE AGAIN, THIS TIME FEELING LIKE A LOSS

Photo courtesy of NYCFC Advanced Media

Article by Scott Churchson

Columnist and Host of The Sports Den on Spanglish World Networks, Spanglish Sports World & Zingo TV

New York. -  Last match I talked about how sometimes a tie can feel like a win when NYCFC came from behind to tie New England 1-1 (article shamelessly posted below). This time around, taking on Atlanta United at home and coming away with another 1-1 tie, it felt like a loss.

In a match against 2nd in the East in both record and offensive firepower, Atlanta United came into this match with 13 points in 6 games, lead by 4 goals by Midfielder Thiago Almada. NYCFC was beginning it’s three match homestand (with the next two at Citi Field), attempting to improve on it’s 2-2-2 record. Mostly a slow start on both ends, something head coach Nick Cushing felt was an issue. “I thought we started too slow. A little too passive. We grew into the game as it went on. You are going to get these games. We have three home games now and if we have a lot of these games where we tie then they are missed opportunities. So, we accept it and look at where we can improve and prepare for next week.”

The 5 Stripes nearly got scoring underway at the 22nd minute, when Almada has a shot stopped by goalkeeper Luis Barraza only to have the rebound be knocked in by Derrick Etienne, however offside was ruled and the goal negated.

With few shots on goal by either team in the first half the second half opened with vigor. After a yellow card was initially issued to Defender James Sands, upon further review was changed to an Atlanta Red Card to Franco Ibarra, giving the Gents in Blue a man advantage starting at the 65 minute mark. Just five minutes later the first goal of the match came from Atlanta. Immediately after a sliding save by goalkeeper Luis Barraza a pass over center turned into a header goal by striker Giorgos Giakoumakis for his 3rd goal in the last 4 matches. However, NYCFC found the equalizer just 2 minutes later after Gabriel Pereira fired a right foot shot to the left side for a 1-1 score with an assist from 18 year old Mitja Ilenic, his first assist of his young MLS career.

In the end, it was a disappointing 1-1 tie. The team still gets a point, but with a man advantage for 35 minutes +10, in many ways it feels like a missed opportunity for a win as the club falls into 7th place. Next week the team will have the chance to improve on that mark as their have their second match of the season against 5th place Nashville and a chance to avenge the 2-0 road loss to the Music to start the season.

4 NOTES:

1) Gabriel Pereira’s goal was the second in two games against Atlanta United.

2) The attendance for this match was 20,095 which is slightly down from the 20,885 average the club has had this season. However, compared to last year’s 17,180 average, a definite improvement after 3 home games. That 20K puts them 12th in the league this season and a 22% growth over last season 17,198 over first three home games last season.

3) Captain James Sands went off in what may have been a serious injury in the 66th minute mark. Sands, who was captain of the match, was forced to give up his arm band. Per Coach Nick Cushing: “James [Sands] is in pain. He had to come off. There was real pain there. We have to hope it’s not a fracture or break. At the moment there is a lot of swelling there.”

4) NYCFC has yet to have a win over Nashville in three matches this far, going 0-2-1 dating back to 2021. Nashville’s offense this season has largely come from the tandem of forward Johan Schaffelburg (2 goals) and last year’s Golden Boot winner Hany Muktar (1 goal, 3 assists). On the other side goalkeeper Joe Willis is currently tied for the MLS lead with 5 Clean Sheets.