NYCFC Stunned By Seattle On Decision Day

 

NYCFC attempted to convert on this free kick in the 50th minute. Photo by Jason Schott.

New York City Football Club suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Seattle Sounders, 2-1, on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 24,832 at Citi Field on Decision Day.

That refers to the final day of the season, when, yes, it is decided where teams will he finishing, and in NYCFC's case, who they're facing in the MLS Playoffs.

In the past 10 seasons, NYCFC have now made the playoffs in nine of them, and this time with the second-youngest active roster in MLS.

NYCFC finished with a record of 17-5-12, with 56 points, costing themselves a chance at fourth place in the MLS Eastern Conference. 

That went to Charlotte FC, who won their season finale, 2-0, over the Philadelphia Union to finish with 59 points (19-2-13).

With that "decision," Charlotte will have home field advantage in the MLS Playoffs Round One Best-of-3 starting next weekend.

NYCFC finished the regular season with a  home record of 11-0-6, the first season in which it did not record a tie at home. NYCFC went 3-0-2 in their five games at Citi Field.

After a scoreless first half, Seattle broke through in the 61st minute when Jordan Morris headed one home from the center of the box, on a beautiful set-up from Albert Rusnak.

Seattle was jubilant after they got the opening goal of the match. Photo by Jason Schott.

It would stay that way until the final stages of the game, with NYCFC notching the equalizer 20 minutes or so later.

Seattle gave the ball away on a sloppy pass as they were trying to advance out of their zone in the 82nd minute. NYCFC's Maximo Carrizo corralled it on the left side, and he brought it forward, then slickly flicked it with his left foot to Julian Fernandez, who was coming down the center of the field, and he dropped it off to Nicolas Fernandez Mercau, and he fired one from the right side of the box that deflected off a Seattle defender, and snuck inside the post to tie the game at 1.

This was Fernandez Mercau's first goal in a home match for NYCFC, and he now has two goals in his past three games, and three overall since he joined the team. He became the fourth different NYCFC player to score at Citi Field, along with Alonso Martinez, who had two goals, Julian Fernandez (one), and Maxi Moralez (one).

The jubilation would be short-lived, as Seattle regained the lead on another goal off a header, this one by Jackson Ragen, on a feed from Danny Leyva.

Though Seattle, who came in fifth in the West with 55 points (15-10-9) came out on top, the final stats were as even as you will ever see. Possession was 50/50, shots on goal were 5-4 NYCFC, pass accuracy was 84.6 percent for Seattle to 84.2% for NYCFC, corner kicks 9-6 NYCFC, shots on goal 5-4 for NYCFC.

NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen said playoffs were "not at all" on his mind, and said, "We set up to win this match, and the players gave their best game possible today like we always do. I just mentioned to my boys that now the switch will be made, the focus goes into playoff mode. Today, unfortunately, we were not playing our A-game. It was slow and predictable. We emphasized the urgency that should be there, like we always try to have in our game. Throughout the game, there were only bits and pieces of urgency, way too little for the standard we're after."

Jansen was asked if he was concerned about the production from the attacking players, and he said, "I'm not worried about that part of the game because we've shown throughout the season what we're capable of. I trust my guys that we'll be ready once we head for Charlotte. I was just told that Charlotte will be the team that we play...We just have to make sure that we have the right focus and energy. Now the focus can go straight to the playoffs. Like I said, no concerns with league position or points. Now it's do-or-die games, and my guys have shown that they can handle those matches as well."