NYCFC bows out of US Open Cup after Pittsburgh scores stoppage-time winner

New year, same old New York City FC in the US Open Cup.

NYCFC bowed out of the competition in the Round of 32 on Wednesday night, losing 1-0 to Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC of the second-tier USL Championship. New York City is the only Major League Soccer club to lose in this round.

Strahinja Tanasijević was sent off in the 78th minute, dooming New York City to finish the game with 10 players. With Pittsburgh riding the momentum, a corner from Robbie Mertz met the head of Beto Ydrach deep into stoppage time in what was almost certainly the last play of the game, sending the crowd at Highmark Stadium into a frenzy.

Strong Starting XI

Head Coach Pascal Jansen made six changes to the New York City side that defeated FC Cincinnati 1-0 just three days ago. It was a strong lineup, featuring the likes of Hannes Wolf, Justin Haak, Jonny Shore, and Andrés Perea.

The backline was rotated the most, as Nico Cavallo, Birk Risa, Tanasijević, and Tayvon Gray started. Cavallo looked the best out of the four and went the full 90 minutes, as Risa came off at halftime due to problems, according to Jansen.

Haak wore the captain's armband for the first time in his career and had another consistent performance. He started in the midfield but moved to defense at halftime to fill in for Risa.

"Justin [Haak] has presented himself during the MLS Regular Season—and even in preseason going into the season—as a very stable player," Jansen said. "He helps the team as a center back, is a good player in midfield also, and you can see he's getting more confident as the season progresses. So, he earned [the captain armband]."

Just three days after scoring the game-winning goal against Cincinnati, Julián Fernández came on at halftime for Risa, bringing some much-needed offensive firepower. He played the No 10 role, and forced Pittsburgh goalkeeper Eric Dick into a great save in the 52nd minute.

Fernández continued to threaten but missed a golden opportunity to put 10-man NYCFC ahead in the 86th minute. Cavallo made a run in-behind and played a pass to the backpost to Fernández, but he put his open-goal shot wide, hitting the side netting.

Perhaps the biggest bright spot on an otherwise forgettable night was Tomás Romero, who had four saves in his First-Team debut.

The ugly

Despite a few positive performances, many players did not have a good game.

Mounsef Bakrar started at striker and registered New York City's only shot of the first half — a half-volley straight at Dick. He had a game-low 20 touches, and totaled just three touches in Pittsburgh's box.

Ojeda also had a quiet game despite hitting the crossbar in the 82nd minute. He was dispossessed twice, lost five duels, and did not complete a single dribble.

Tanasijević made his third start this year and did what he does best: Commit fouls and get booked. This time it was a straight red after Tanasijević lost the ball and took down Bradley Sample to prevent him from a goal-scoring opportunity.

"Tana takes the risk — it's the bouncing behavior of a ball on turf," Jansen said. "You know it's unpredictable when you let it bounce, and you can see that the striker was anticipating this move as well, which is on us — it's a lack of concentration, and a lack of understanding what this pitch will do when you let the ball bounce."

The Open Cup curse continues

Last season, New York City II won four of its five matches to reach the Round of 16 — advancing further than any other Division III team — but NYCFC showed hardly any signs of ambition against Pittsburgh.

New York City has now bowed out of the Round of 32 of the cup for the second straight year after losing to the New York Red Bulls 3-0 in the quarterfinals in 2022, the same year that NYCFC last won an Open Cup match.

What is it about this competition that plagues NYCFC? Is it the lack of effort? The rotation? This is the sixth time in eight appearances in the tournament that New York City failed to win a single game, and the third time it was knocked out by a lower-division team.

New York City FC | US Open Cup All-Time Results

"If you slack one moment like we did in the second half — going into overtime —because this is a question of discipline; you know what's being asked in this situation from the corner kick, and we didn't do it. So, that's when you conceded, and it fits perfectly in the whole game of the night," Jansen said.

New York City will need to forget about the loss and focus on its quick turnaround to face Eastern Conference bottom-dwellers CF Montréal in what could be another trap game like we saw against Pittsburgh.