DEPORTES

Soccer

The 3 Week Layoff: Past, Present and Future

New York. - Hang in there diehard NYCFC fans, the wait is almost over. The three week layoff before the season starts again is coming to an end. Let's recap: When last we left the team they came off an impressive come from behind 2-1 win over LAFC on the road to snap a 3 game winless streak, bringing their record to 3-2-2 & good for 4th place in the East. That game, as I covered a few weeks back was as big a win as head coach Ronny Delia has had since taking over at the start of last year, with them trailing 1 nil until the 70th minute, then a goal by Medina (his team leading 5th of the year) and a shorthanded goal at the 90th minute by Ismael Tajouri-Shradi pulled victory from the jaws of defeat. Holy Hannah, if they lost that game, 3 week breaks like this can be brutal to the psyche of a team.

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Huge Win For NYCFC To Go Into The Break

New York. - After the past two MLS weekends, if there was a team that needed a win to go into the break it was NYCFC. The last two games saw disappointment for the gents in blue as they lost the lead in the second half not once but both games, turning a possible 6 points down to a measly single point. Against LA FC not only got that much needed win, but this time with a comeback win of their own, scoring a tiebreaker late while in fact being a man down.

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Canada’s Soccer hopes in Qatar

TORONTO. - Since 1924 when Canada joined the competition to be the best in the world in the sport of soccer aka “Football” Canada has only scratched the surface. The challenge of scoring goals requires talent which cannot be taught. Defense can be taught and Canada can. In a group of much smaller countries aside from the US and Mexico, Canada has faded out of contention tripping over its inability to find the net.

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New York Welcomes Talles Magno To The “Biggest Small Market City” in Sports

New York. - New York City is unlike most places in the world. This city has the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Broadway, Times Square, and a thousand more places that it's known for. It is also one of the biggest sports cities in the world with 8 teams inside and 3 just outside it. Two of these, the Yankees, and Knicks, are the most valuable teams in their respective sports. Despite this, when the announcement was made that Talles Magno, the talented 18-year-old attacker from Brazil was coming to NYCFC, it was regarded as a massive grab both for the team and MLS as a whole. Experts predicted that he'd end up in Europe, with Liverpool and Real Madrid considered by many to be front runners, so the idea of going to a city and a country where soccer takes an absolute back seat to other sports came as a surprise to many. This is the player who ended up on the world's radar after scoring two goals in the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup for his native Brazil on route to the championship that year, the player who was named The Guardians Next Generation 2019 and was profiled as one of the 60 best young talents in the world ended up in NY of all places. The posting fee to grab him was about $12 million U.S., making him one of the most expensive transfers in MLS history. All of this adds up to a great deal of pressure for the young man.

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NYCFC vs Columbus – a Baseball Fan’s Guide to Major League Soccer

TORONTO. - Ah, spring, the time of year where I can’t wait to get back to the stadium. The sun on my face, the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the taste of ice cream eaten from a tiny batting helmet. And here I am, in Red Bull Arena, which is as gorgeous and well maintained as CitiField or Camden Yards. But there’s no diamond, no bats, the ball is much bigger. They’re wearing shorts. There’s a DJ? And a band? So begins this baseball fan’s introduction to covering major league soccer.

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NYCFC Vs Columbus: The Everchanging Storyline

TORONTO. - Sometimes when I write articles covering a game of any kind I have a gameplan in mind going in. Doing homework ahead of time, formulate a basic story in my mind; oftentimes have quotes that I jot down to use when writing the story itself. USUALLY this works out well; usually. I had that plan tonight; to talk about how Red Bull Arena was a home away from home・, as the gents in blue were 4-1 since last year playing there as the home team; about how Columbus had struggled to put the ball in the net outside of CONCACAF; having been shut out in 4 of 5 MLS matches and so on. And for 82 minutes, I had this article 80% written already. Makes my life easier when the team you're emotionally attached to pulls off a win. Then, as had happened last week, NYCFC lost the lead late in the second half, only this time not even salvaging a point like they did against Toronto, but rather suffering a brutal loss 2-1 giving up the game winning goal five minutes into the added time. Two goals scored by midfielder Lucas Zelaray疣 on two different free kicks & so now this article will shift very simply to why and what now?

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NYCFC / Toronto FC: Bad Calls and Stray Balls

New York. - I feel bad for most referees. I feel one of the best quotes with regards to officiating came from the late, great MLB player/broadcaster Joe Garagiola when he said, “The best applause an umpire (in this case a referee) can ever receive is dead silence.” It's a tough job with split second decisions and I have absolute respect for them for that challenge. Most times, it doesn't affect the game as mistakes against both teams often wash themselves out. However sometimes in sports decisions are made that are not just incorrect, but so detrimental that it affects the outcome of the game. Enter NYCFC vs. TorontoFC & a call which many would argue cost NYCFC a win.

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NYCFC: A Rebound Win...With An Exclamation Point.

New York. - I'm used to being a fan of disappointing teams. After turning 35 many years ago it's kind of become my lot in life as a NJ/NY sports fan. The Yankees have had one World Series win in the past 20 years. The Giants have one playoff appearance in the past 9 years and don't get me started on the NJ Devils; a team reduced to a league laughingstock after 2 decades of quietly thriving in the league. Then of course the topic at hand, NYCFC and that disappointing shootout loss in November. Another season, another exit.

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