NYCFC Has Up & Down Week At Citi Field

 

Andres Perea (center) taking the ball up the field on Saturday afternoon. Provided by NYCFC.

New York City Football Club's week at Citi Field could best be summed up by the theme of ABC Wide World of Sports, "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat."

On Wednesday night, against Atlanta, NYCFC won 2-1 when Benie Traore, on a feed from Kevin O'Toole, scored in the 95th minute.

This came after Atlanta tied it in the 88th minute on a Breel Embolo goal, which would have set NYCFC on the path to a tie in the must-win game.

Then, against CF Montreal on Saturday afternoon, it appeared that an Andres Perea goal in the 41st minute would be all NYCFC needed, as they held the 1-0 lead deep into the second half.

Montreal put pressure on late, and Daniel Rios fired one from the top of the box and into the top left corner to tie the game at 1 in the 92nd minute.

That would be the final, and it has left NYCFC out of the playoffs, as they needed to win both games to stay alive. 

NYCFC are 9-12-12, with 39 points four behind Orlando City's 43 points (12-7-14) for the final playoff spot in the MLS Eastern Conference.

It is a heartbreaking end to the season because in the first half, they appeared to be one of the elite teams once again, on a path to contend after they reached the Eastern Conference Final last season, losing to Miami.

Any momentum NYCFC had was taken away by the two-month World Cup break in June and July. NYCFC was 5-6-4, with 21 points, after the final game of the first half on May 24, and then just 4-6-8, only 18 points, after it. Their final match is next Saturday, November 7, at 4:00 p.m. at DC United.

NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen, after Saturday's game, said of what the priorities will be going into next season, "That is something that we're going to discuss now. Obviously, we've done our homework and made our analysis to learn from this season going forward. As I mentioned just now, availability is a very important aspect of how we proceed going forward. We need to make sure that recruitment is in a decent spot, that we see enough progress from the individual players we want to keep on board, and especially that we keep the availability rate as high as possible so you can always put your best team out there."

On the message to NYCFC's supporters, Jansen said, "We thank every supporter for their massive support, especially when you have a difficult season like we had this year. That's not only the Latino community, but that goes for every New York City FC fan. We appreciate the support they've shown. For me, as a coach form Europe, it's also very interesting to see how the dynamics work when you go away on the road to play an away game and there are still New York City FC fans in the stands, helping us try to perform at our best. We didn't make the playoffs...That is very disappointing, because we believe that we should be in the playoffs every season. That is a target that is always there for us as a team and always there for us as a Club. There are many reasons why we didn't qualify, but I will not shy away from excuses. I will never make excuses. I've never done that since I started working here, and I won't have any excuses now. At the end of the day, when you have to play in a high-performance culture, a high-performance environment,  results are expected. This year, we didn't meet our challenges and our goals. That is disappointing, and we have to do better next year again. That's also how it works in sports."