NYCFC, Nashville Draw At Stadium

 

The scene on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. Photo by Jason Schott.

New York City Football Club played to a 0-0 draw with Nashville SC on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

This was NYCFC's third straight draw, after the prior two being on the road, 1-1 at New England on August 23 and in Toronto last Saturday, August 29, which was also 1-1.

NYCFC is now 7-8-8, with 29 points, and they are in seventh place in the MLS Eastern Conference. Nashville is in first place with a record of 16-5-2, and their 53 points give them an 11-point lead over Leo Messi's Inter Miami (12-6-4, 42 points)

NCYFC's last win in MLS play was on July 25, when they beat the Chicago Fire, 3-1, at The Stadium. Since then, they now have four draws and two losses, with the Leagues Cup in between, in which they won one and lost two of the three games.

NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese earned his first clean sheet against Nashville in the MLS Regular Season in his career, as he turned away two shots on goal. Nashville had 13 shots overall in the match.

Nashville's best chance in the match came in the 43rd minute when Hany Mukhtar found himself with an open net as Freese was caught out of the box after Patrick Yazbek had a shot.

Mukhtar fired it off the bar, which at first seemed shocking, but he had to shoot it over an NYCFC defender who put himself in the center of the box.

This came after NYCFC had a golden opportunity in the 41st minute, as they gained possession in the box, and after a little maneuvering, Luighi got a shot off, but it was blocked.

The second half started a little chippy, as Yazbek was given a yellow card for running into Freese on his way back up the field after a shot attempt from Sam Surridge in the 49th minute.

Then, in the 53rd minute, Mukhtar received a yellow of his own for running into Nicolas Fernandez Mercau in the center of the field.

NYCFC couldn't take advantage the rest of the way, and for the match, they only put one shot on target, and just six overall. 

Maxwell Woletzi earned the clean sheet for Nashville.

NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen said of the match, "I think overall we did a very good job today, given the fact that you are playing against the best team in the League at this moment in time. We limited their chances, and the moments they did get were predominantly from set pieces...Overall, we're trying to build momentum by scrapping points together, but also realizing that we were in very good positions in previous games and still gave them away. This is sometimes a little hard to avoid because you have two or three moments in a game to get yourself on the scoreboard. Maybe you think there's more in it and forget what it takes in the final stage of the game to make sure you don't concede as well."