NYCFC Shutout By Montreal In Return To Stadium

 

Montreal celebrates their victory after the referee's whistle at the end extra time in the second half. Photo by Jason Schott.

New York City Football Club suffered their toughest loss of the season on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium, as they were shutout, 1-0, by CF Montreal, who earned their first win of the season.

This was the fifth straight MLS game for NYCFC in which they or their opponent was shutout. Within this stretch, NYCFC notched three of the shutouts in MLS games, while they were kept off the board on April 19 in New England and in this one. This technically was their sixth overall involving a shutout, as they were blanked this past Wednesday in the US Open Cup when they lost 1-0 to USL side Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC.

Overall this season, NYCFC has notched four clean sheets and been shutout four times. They also are even at Yankee Stadium, as they now have two wins and two losses, while they have scored five goals, and allowed five. 

NYCFC had a couple big chances early in this one, starting with Alonso Martinez's point-blank shot in the third minute that was turned aside by Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.

Then, in the 15th minute, Martinez started to sprint from NYCFC's end, and wound up in alone, but Sirois met him just outside the box, forcing Martinez into a less-quality shot from a tough angle on the right side.

Montreal's Giacomo Vrioni fired one towards the net in the 22nd minute, but NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese punched it away.

Early in the second half, Montreal broke through in the 48th minute. They got control of ball just inside the center line, and Victor Loturi dropped one ahead to Prince Owusu, who dribbled ahead, and just after he got inside the box on the right side, he fired a left-footed shot into the top left corner to make it 1-0 Montreal.

Montreal reacts after they got the lead early in the second half in front of the left field seats. Photo by Jason Schott.

NYCFC, who only had nine overall shots (two on net) did not have many chances in the second half, with one of the noteworthy ones coming in the 80th minute, off a Strahinja Tanasijevic free kick that Sirois waited to come to him to notch the save.

Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois has the shot lined up in the 80th minute. Photo by Jason Schott.

Despite the low shot total, NYCFC had 60 percent possession, and Montreal made the most of their time with the ball, as they had 22 shots overall, with eight on target.

NYCFC is now 5-2-5, with 17 points, as they fell to 10th place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings. Montreal is now 1-3-8, with six points, and they are in last place.

Up next for NYCFC is the Hudson River Derby, where they will host the Red Bulls at Citi Field next Saturday afternoon. The Red Bulls beat the LA Galaxy, 7-0, on Saturday night at Sports Illustrated Stadium in an MLS Cup rematch to improve to 5-3-4, with 18 points, and move up to sixth place.

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

On having another quick turnaround between games before they play at DC United this upcoming Wednesday: "That's the only advantage of a [three-game) week like this. You play so many games, so you get an extra opportunity in a few days to recover and set it straight again. That was our plan going into the game. Even though over 50 percent of the starting XI today wasn't involved in the game on Wednesday (referring to the US Open Cup in Pittsburgh), the defeat on Wednesday was on all of us - even the guys who didn't come with us on the road. So we were very determined today to make sure we set things straight. If you go back to the first 20, 25 minutes or so, we should have done exactly that, because we had a few opportunities to get into a comfortable position. But let's try again in DC on Wednesday."

On the thought process behind starting a newcomer, midfielder Aidan O'Neill, and his performance: "When Keaton Parks is not available for us, we have to do some homework to shape our midfield. Keaton wasn't available, and Aiden O'Neill came in. We checked him - he trained with us for two days and looked good. So, he was cleared for a maximum of 60 minutes. As for his peformance, I think especially in the first half, he showed some good moments in collaboration with the other midfield players. His game understanding and awareness are at a good level, and he's only been with us for two days. I've seen a couple of things I really, really like, and that's for us to work on going forward."