NYCFC Loses Late In LA

 

Ryan Hollingshead celebrates after his goal. @LAFC.

New York City Football Club came close to taking out points from their second road game to open the season, but they lost a heartbreaker to LAFC, 1-0, on Saturday night.

Just like it was in their 2-2 draw with Inter Miami last Saturday, this was an intense match that came down to the wire, only this time it was scoreless deep into the second half.

In the 86th minute, LAFC's Denis Bouanga came down the left side, sent a cross in the box to David Martinez, which deflected off of him towards NYCFC defender Birk Risa, who shanked the clearing pass.

It went to Risa's left still in the box, right to Ryan Hollingshead, who drilled it home for the lone goal of the game.

LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, the French national who played for Lyon and Tottenham, earned the shutout with three saves, as NYCFC got three shots on goal, with 11 overall.

NYCFC's Matt Freese turned aside four out of five shots on target, while overall, LAFC had eight.

The possession number was indicative of how tight a game it was, as NCYFC had the ball 50.7 percent of the time, while LAFC controlled it 49.3% of the game.

NYCFC comes home with a record of 0-1-1, with their home opener next Saturday night, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Yankee Stadium against Orlando City FC.

COACH'S COMMENTS: NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jensen addressed the media after the game: 

On what was said to the team after their performance: “The one thing I will say that we shared after the match in the dressing room is that you can play an even match - because I think the game was in balance [throughout the match] - but details will always make a difference once the game is in balance. It can be a set piece on offense or defense, and today it was one moment where they're [LAFC] in attack, and we don't have the situation under control yet. We give away our advantage [after] being in a good position, and we get punished for it... I believe my guys are quick learners, and unfortunately, this is a moment where we still have to understand that different behavior is required in order to stay away from these types of situations.” 

Overall thoughts on the game tonight: “As I mentioned earlier, the game overall was in balance. It was a tough game away. LAFC is a strong squad with good players. It was a very competitive game, a very tight game. However, details will make the difference when a game is in balance. Unfortunately, [because] of one detail right before when we conceded a goal—we switched off for just one or two seconds, and we got punished for it. So, that's the biggest difference in this game.” 

On what the team can learn from tonight going into the home opener:
“I thought we were progressing the ball well. I thought we were breaking them down in the midfield and I think we had an overload, and we were finding Maxi [Moralez] behind the lines and sometimes Alonso [Martínez]. As long as we moved the ball from side to side, they had a lot of space on the outside... We weren't very dangerous in the final third. I think we needed to be better on the ball, pay attention to the details and finish things off, create chances. I don't think we were very dangerous tonight.” 

On the home opener against Orlando and playing at home: “I’m very excited to get back home and play in front of our fans again. It's been a long time... So I'm very excited to get back to New York and obviously just be home with my family, too. It's time for a win as well... but we'll learn from this. We'll move forward and we'll bring a strong performance home for the fans.”