One goal not enough as NYCFC settles for draw with Kansas City

New York City FC looked like they should have made it two straight wins on the road but instead failed to make a 1-0 lead last and were held to a 1-1 draw by Sporting Kansas City at Children's Mercy Park.

An inch-perfect link-up between Maxi Moralez and goalscorer Andrés Perea gave New York City a lead halfway through a dominant first half, but the visitors couldn't find a second goal and eventually paid the price.

They let Sporting KC hang around, much like how Orlando City SC let New York City hang around at midweek. The home team got an equalizer from birthday boy Dániel Sallói in the 74th minute and withstood a late barrage from New York City, led by some young and inexperienced substitutes, to settle this as a 1-1 draw.

Pascal Jansen's team is left to rue two points dropped, though New York City is now through three of the four away matches scheduled during this July gauntlet. The team picked up four of a possible nine points so far – serviceable for a team that's still figuring out how to get results away from home.

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Hudson River BlueMatthew Mangam

Faster start

It was a much different first half than what New York City produced at midweek in Orlando. In Kansas City, the visitors were the overwhelming aggressors early, playing a dominant opening 25 minutes that included nine shot attempts, three put on target, and the early opening goal from Perea.

Maxi Moralez played Andrés Perea in with a perfect ball from midfield that split the Kansas City defense, Perea took one quality touch, then put an even higher-quality low strike past John Pulskamp.

A breakthrough that was well-deserved for New York City, as Pulskamp had already made one huge save to deny Alonso Martínez minutes before Perea's strike. NYCFC had been knocking and the opening goal gave them a valuable early edge on Kansas City, who had shown flashes of danger in the game's early stages, forcing Matt Freese into two saves of his own in the opening half-hour.

Perea was playing in a more advanced, wider role on the left of Pascal Jansen's formation with Hannes Wolf out with a minor hamstring injury. Hard to call Perea a true winger in this game – the NYCFC system functioned more like a 3-2-4-1 with Kevin O'Toole providing width while Perea and Moralez operated in advanced central roles, and the structure paid off early.

In the first half, it didn't look like the team was struggling on short rest or while playing without their joint-leading goal scorer in Wolf. They put together a dominant opening half, but they wouldn't replicate that dominance after the break.

One moment all SKC needed

The second half felt more even, with NYCFC unable to get a second result-sealing goal. Really, they didn't threaten much in the period after halftime, and that opened the door for Kansas City to push for an equalizer.

Anything good that was going to happen for the Kansas City attack figured to run through either Dániel Sallói or Dejan Joveljić, the two most dangerous Sporting attackers. It took them until the 74th minute, but both players had an impact, with Joveljić setting up a different teammate, Santiago Muñoz, for a dangerous shot in the box in the 74th minute.

Freese charged off his line to stop the initial shot from Muñoz, but the attacking move that led to his shot drew numerous NYCFC defenders out of their positions and toward Muñoz and the ball.

When the rebound ricocheted off Freese, it fell into the path of an unmarked, unobstructed Sallói, who connected on the volley and equalized – on his birthday, no less, because sometimes you have to give yourself the best gift of all.

A disappointing goal to concede given that Kansas City hadn't threatened much leading up to that scoring sequence, but the home team took full advantage of a swarm-to-the-ball shift by the NYCFC defense at an inopportune time.

NYCFC II enters, impresses

Fresh legs, if there were any available, were going to play an important role for New York City in this game. Kansas City had a full week's worth of rest, without a game scheduled at midweek, while NYCFC struggled through the humidity to win in Orlando on Wednesday night prior to this also-disgustingly-hot encounter with SKC.

Head Coach Pascal Jansen was aggressive with his substitutes in Orlando, yanking players at halftime and shuffling his deck while in search of a spark. In Kansas City, Jansen's bench only has so many options, especially when Mounsef Bakrar is out of the squad entirely, and with Mitja Ilenič not receiving minutes, either, as transfer talk swirls around both players.

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After Kansas City equalized in the 74th minute, Jansen decided changes were necessary. The legs were getting heavy and the team's dominant first-half showing had faded, so Jansen added a trio of players to the mix, though the twist was that that trio was most recently seen starring with New York City FC II in MLS Next Pro.

It was forwards Sebastiano Musu and Seymour Reid, plus fullback Nico Cavallo coming on as subs, not Bakrar, or Ilenič, or another more veteran attacking option. To the credit of this collection of NYCFC II players, they collectively had a very positive impact in their time on the pitch.

Musu was heavily involved from his first touch, attempting three shots and constantly popping up in dangerous spaces while functioning on the right side of the NYCFC attack. It seemed like Kansas City didn't account for his potential influence, as they left him unmarked repeatedly and almost dared the debutante to beat them. He came close but didn't get a goal, though his performance was very impressive for a 24-year-old from Italy who'd previously played collegiately with the Manhattan University Jaspers before going pro.

Musu and Reid pushed for a late winner to emulate the heroics of Alonso Martínez at midweek, but the final bit of quality just wasn't there – unsurprising when you consider that those two players are just getting their feet wet, in Musu's case for the very first time, in MLS. It would have been a storybook ending to get a winner from a II player, but instead, New York City moves on to their final leg of this lengthy road trip with a slightly disappointing, though ultimately deserved, draw.