On a night with so much at stake, New York City FC failed to get the job done in Queens, losing 2-1 to the Seattle Sounders.
The first half was not the prettiest for neutrals watching on, or Seattle and New York City fans for that matter. It was a half plagued by injury delays, VAR checks, yellow cards, and a lack of quality football, and it saw both teams enter the break scoreless.
The second half was quite a different story. Coming out of the break it was NYCFC who started asking some questions early. However, Seattle struck first through Jordan Morris, then a late Sounders goal scored in the 87th minute saw the hosts unable to crawl back into the game. Here’s three thoughts on that disappointing result to close out the NYCFC regular season.
Hudson River Blue Staff
1. Lack of attack
A lack of attacking prowess was on display tonight by New York City, and was especially apparent in the first half. In a match with huge implications on the line, the timid first half performance was something that left many fans scratching their heads.
Alonso MartĂnez was looking to get back on the MLS score sheet off the back of a successful international break where he bagged two goals and an assist against Nicaragua in Costa Rica’s World Cup Qualifiers.
Unfortunately, the Costa Rican was ineffective in the first half on Saturday night. His involvement early on in the second half was encouraging, and he had a half chance in the 90th minute while in on goal that went just wide of the post.
The blame cannot go just to MartĂnez, however, as he received little to no service. The wing play was incredibly limited with Hannes Wolf unable to create anything for himself and his teammates. Jansen turned to AgustĂn Ojeda and Julian Fernández off the bench to put a spark in the side but they were unable to thread the needle.
The final 20 minutes saw momentum swing New York City’s way. In the 82nd minute, a loose ball in the final third was picked up by the Blues, who displayed their most fluid attack of the night, with the ball falling to Nico Fernández Mercau who slotted home what would be a short-lived equalizer.
2. Absence of O’Neill looms large
Since the beginning of August 2024, Aiden O’Neill has logged 5,158 minutes of soccer, including over 180 minutes for Australia this past international break coming into Saturday night’s fixture. Pascal Jansen had a big decision, risk overplaying a key player with the playoffs looming, or give him a rest and reap the rewards.
Unfortunately for Jansen and NYCFC, O’Neill’s absence was apparent as they were unable to grab a hold of the midfield. With this came an inability to dominate possession and turn that into clear cut chances, which were few and far between on Saturday night.
The manager turned to 18-year-old Johnathan Shore to solidify the midfield after going 1-0 down, which allowed New York City to suffocate the midfield and generate more possession and chances, eventually leading to the equalizer. Questions will be asked whether NYCFC could have left Citi Field with more had O’Neill started the game.
3. Playoff implications
Charlotte FC’s Decision Day win against Philadelphia Union secured them 4th Place in the Eastern Conference table, meaning Charlotte will have home-field advantage against 5th Place New York City FC in the best-of-three round. With NYCFC failing to pick up three points against the Sounders, the performance could’ve been labelled a missed opportunity to take home field advantage, but a dominant Charlotte FC shut the door on New York City’s home field hopes regardless of their Decision Day loss.
What does this mean for New York City? For starters, NYCFC is winless when playing Charlotte away from home since Charlotte was inaugurated into Major League Soccer. Just this season, the Pigeons were unable to break the deadlock in Charlotte despite outshooting the opponent by nine, eventually falling to a 2-0 loss.
In 11 away playoff games, New York City FC have won just two. With potentially two games to be played at Bank of America Stadium, New York City will have to win at least one to have any chance of advancing to the Conference Semifinals.
There’s always hope, and regardless of how Game One goes in Charlotte, New York City FC will have to get the job done at Yankee Stadium in Game Two. In nine games played at home in the MLS Cup Playoffs, The Pigeons have won five of them, so of course, not all hope is lost.
