NYCFC Can't Deliver Against DC United

 

An NYCFC corner kick in the 63rd minute that was cleared away by the DC defense. Photo by Jason Schott.

New York City Football Club coughed up an early lead as they lost a heartbreaker, 2-1, to DC United on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 20,192 at Yankee Stadium.

This broke a three-game winning streak, and five games unbeaten for NYCFC, as they fell to 13-5-9, with 44 points. They are in eighth place in the MLS Eastern Conference, just three points behind Orlando City, whose in fifth with 47 points and a record of 13-8-7.

NYCFC got the lead in the 19th minute when they were controlling the play on the left side of the field. Alonso Martinez, just outside the top of the box, dropped it off to Maxi Moralez, who while falling down, flicked to to Justin Haak, who buried it to give them a 1-0 lead.

This was Haak's first goal of the season, and just the second of his MLS career. His other goal came over two years ago, on July 8, 2023, against the Columbus Crew. He is now the second homegrown player to score two or more goals for NYCFC in the MLS regular season, and the only other to achieve that feat is former midfielder Andres Jasson, who netted three goals.

It was the second assist of the season for Martinez, and fifth in his MLS career. His other assist this season came on May 17 against the Red Bulls.

It stayed that way nearly until halftime, when Gabriel Pirani tied it for DC United in the 44th minute. It was a sideline throw-in for DC that ricocheted out of a scrum in the box, and found its way to Pirani at the top of the box before he fired it in.

It remained tied until deep into the second half, when DC stunned NYCFC in the 77th minute.

NYCFC was advancing into DC territory when Matti Peltola flicked it off his thigh back towards the center of the field when Christian Benteke received the ball, and sent it ahead to Pirani, who raced ahead of a pair of NYCFC defenders, and got it by NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese for his second goal of the night to make it 2-1 DC.

DC celebrating taking their late lead. Photo by Jason Schott.

NYCFC had their chances, as they had a corner kick in the 87th minute and then, in the 94th, the final minute of play, they had a free kick, followed by a corner, which were both cleared away.

NYCFC's final corner kick, with the time going past the 95-minute mark, was punched away. Photo by Jason Schott.

DC, who was eliminated from playoff contention last weekend, improved to 5-9-15, with 24 points, and they are in last place in the MLS Eastern Conference.

NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen said of the match, "My final comment just now in the locker room was we played Montreal twice when they were at the bottom of the table. Today, DC is bottom of the table, finished for the playoffs already, so they're just playing to finish the league. It's a competition, and we only got one point out of three games. In all three games, there is something that's alike: we have a lot of possession, but we get punished for small errors. That was the case today. The first half was going out way; we were playing well, good goal. We also knew they were looking for moments like when they scored the equalizer, giving away a throw-in and then defending it like we did, especially in the second phase. I even used a couple of examples from the Premier League today, like what happened with Burnley and with Manchester United. Very unfortunate, but it says a lot about our attacking play today."

NYCFC lost to Montreal 1-0 on May 10 at Yankee Stadium, and then 1-0 on the road on June 28th.