New York City FC drops second straight match with 2-0 loss to St. Louis City SC

Courtesy: NYCFC

By Chris Tsakonas

New York City FC dropped its second straight match with a 2-0 loss to St Louis City SC at City Park tonight. St. Louis City opened the scoring in the 35th minute off of a goal from Celio Pompeu before doubling the lead in the 71st off of a near-post goal from Samuel Adeniran. James Sands will miss NYCFC’s next match after being sent off in the 82nd minute for kicking towards Chris Durkin as he went to the ground on a challenge.

Here are three observations from NYCFC’s first match of the regular season.

Early struggles
St. Louis City got the upper hand in the early portion of the match. Through the first 20 minutes, St Louis City held 52.9 percent of the possession and outshot NYCFC by a 4-1 margin. New York City nearly conceded early for the second straight match when Pompeu fired a shot from the edge of the penalty area that hit the left post in the seventh minute.

The struggles come after NYCFC underwent a similar stretch in the opening minutes of last week’s 1-0 loss to Charlotte FC in which they conceded the match-winning goal.

Chance creation
New York City didn’t record a shot until the 27th minute, but picked up the attacking activity late to record four shots in the first half. NYCFC’s best chance of the half came in the 42nd minute, when Hannes Wolf got on the end of a service from Kevin O’Toole to force goalkeeper Roman Burki into a point-blank save. Wolf’s shot was the most efficient of the half with a 0.42 expected goal value.

The attacking struggles continued in the second half as New York City struggled to create in the final third and did not record a second-half shot until the 78th minute. Wolf’s shot ended up being NYCFC’s only shot on goal as New York City was out-shot by a 16-7 margin through the course of the match.

“We had some great opportunities - we had one where the ball is cut back and Andres Perea just doesn't arrive on time,” head coach Nick Cushing said after the match. “We have one where Mitja [Illenic] gets into a really good moment. And maybe should hit the back post and Mounsef [Bakrar where] the ball is cleared at the front post. I was really pleased that we're in the game for 70 minutes. I think it is difficult on the road to create big chances.”

Giveaways
One consistent theme of the first half came from St Louis City’s pressure, as they were able to force several turnovers that led to scoring chances. The opening goal in the 34th minute ultimately came off of a giveaway, as the St. Louis City attack started with a giveaway on NYCFC’s own end from James Sands. The second goal from Adeniran also came indirectly off of a giveaway, with the preceding counterattack beginning from an intercepted long ball at midfield from Santi Rodriguez.

“I think it is their main factor - the pressure that they put on their team and on the opposition and the way that they press the game I think is their style,” Cushing said. “We've experienced that across the league. I thought for us last week [against Charlotte] we conceded a goal early and I think we showed that we can stay in games, we can manage situations [and] we can be under pressure. The nature of being on the road in our league is that you are under pressure and teams are going to try and come on strong.”

Next Match
NYCFC will return to the Bronx to host the Portland Timbers in the club’s home opener next Saturday at 2 P.M. Live commentary from Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence can be heard on the New York City FC Network at nycfc.com/radio.