NYCFC Crushed By Charlotte At Citi Field

 

The scene at Citi Field early in the match. Photo by Jason Schott.

New York City Football Club lost a tough one to Charlotte FC, 2-1, on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 20,997 at Citi Field.

NYCFC has now lost three of their last four matches, leaving their record at 3-2-3, with 11 points, and in seventh place in the MLS Eastern Conference.

In their two matches at Citi Field, they have taken just one out of a possible six points, as they had a 1-1 draw with St. Louis on April 4.

NYCFC had a big chance just five minutes in on a play that began with Nicolas Fernandez Mercau taking it down the left side, dropping it off to Hannes Wolf, who then sent a slow-moving pass back towards the center of the field, where a trailing Kai Trewin teed it up and blasted it, but it went wide right.

In the 24th minute, NYCFC had another A+ chance to score. Tayvon Gray lofted one from midfield towards the right corner, where Agustin Ojeda caught up with it, and fired one right into the hands of Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina.

The ball flew off Kahlina's gloves, and Wolf was on it and fired one towards net that was kicked away by a Charlotte defender - one of three positioned in front of the net.

Then, in the 32nd minute, Kevin O'Toole fired one from the left side over to the right side of the box, where Ojeda was on the doorstep again, and this time he got it by Kahlina, but it was off the post!

Incredibly, this game remained scoreless into halftime.

Then, in the early stages of the second half, it was Charlotte that broke the ice on a beautiful thread-the-needle type of goal.

Wilfried Zaha was taking it down the center of the field when he dropped it off to Harry Toffolo, who flicked it to Idan Toklomati, who came down the center and got a step on an NYCFC defender, and he flicked it past NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese to make it 1-0.

NYCFC had a golden chance to tie it in the 74th when Tayvon Gray fired one towards the left corner of the net that Kahlina turned away.

Charlotte then stunned NYCFC late, and once again, started by Zaha on a similar type play to their first goal.

Zaha came down the center after NYCFC failed to clear Kahlina sending it deep on a free pass from his end, then he dropped it off to Pep Biel on the left side, and he sent a bouncing pass clear across the box to Kerwin Vargas on the right side, and he fired it by Freese to make it 2-0 Charlotte.

NYCFC finally broke through in the 93rd minute when Nicolas Fernandez Mercau was in the perfect spot to fire one just outside of the box after a Charlotte defender knocked it away from an advancing Wolf.

Fernandez Mercau leads NYCFC in scoring with six goals this season, coming in eight MLS Regular Season games.

That cut Charlotte's lead to 2-1, but with only four minutes of extra time - which the refs extended to 95:42 - NYCFC had three distinct possessions in Charlotte territory, but couldn't get a clear shot off.

NYCFC dominated possession in this one by a solid margin, with 56.9 percent to Charlotte's 41.8%. They fired in 23 shots, with eight on goal, while Charlotte had eight overall, with five on target.

Kahlina made seven saves to notch the win, while Freese was credited with two saves on the night.

NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen said of his team's performance and lack of finishing in this one, "We didn't let it go at the back end of the game. You're trying to get yourself into the game, which means you'll probably give away some more space than you would like to. I think the first half was a demonstration of what this team is capable of doing. Unfortunately, if you see the goal that Nico makes at the end of the game, that's the only thing that was lacking throughout the game, the quality of the finishing. We create numerous options, multiple options to score a goal. Credit to the goalkeeper as well from Charlotte, because he did a great job."