New York City FC Falls 3-1 in Disappointing Fashion to Charlotte FC
Courtesy: NYCFC Twitter
In their first home match since July 23rd, New York City FC suffered their third consecutive defeat, losing 3-1, this time at the hands of Charlotte FC, in the first ever meeting between the clubs. NYCFC has scored just one point in four matches since the departure of Taty Castellanos, losing significant ground in the Eastern Conference standings.
City began their first regular season MLS home contest at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey aggressive, looking to get rolling again after back-to-back 3-2 losses to teams on the playoff bubble. Santi Rodriguez just narrowly missed a second minute shot, but just two minutes later it was Charlotte FC who struck first. A slow trickling delivery from Karol Swiderski snuck past keeper Sean Johnson. The tally was confirmed via video review, giving Charlotte the early 1-0 lead.
That would be their only shot of the first half. Over the next twenty minutes, NYCFC would dominate possession, keeping the ball on their side and stringing together multitudes of attacks. Charlotte’s vulnerable defense would finally break in the 28th minute, as Alfredo Morales found Maxime Chanot, just four days after his first career assist, scored the equalizer from nearly thirty feet away to level the game at one goal apiece. The rest of the half would remain scoreless, but it felt like New York City FC had the upper edge, controlling possession for 67% of the frame, and outshooting Charlotte by a massive nine to one margin.
The start of the second half was structurally a mirror image to the first. Again, it was Charlotte FC getting the first real scoring chance, but this time Sean Johnson was able to make the diving save. But after that one isolated opportunity, New York City FC maintained possession for most of the next 30 minutes of game action. But during this time, City found just about every way not to score. Heber had a point blank shot right at the keeper Kahlina. Three minutes later, he beat Kahlina, but had the potential go-ahead goal deflect off teammate Talles Magno and result in a turnover. Later on, Talles Magno and Anton Tinnerholm would narrowly miss consecutive high-percentage chances, with Magno grazing the right post and Tinnerholm misfiring above the crossbar on a shot that closely resembled Maxime Chanot’s first half goal. After giving up five goals just four days prior against LAFC, Charlotte’s defense had found a way to hold steady and firm.
City’s defense, however, without the services of Keaton Parks and Alexander Callens, was bound to stumble. With the loss of Alfredo Morales in the 51st minute to injury, City’s attack was shorthanded, and eventually, the tide began to turn. After 70 minutes of play, Charlotte FC started to make some plays, and in the 77th minute, made the debilitated defense pay. American striker Brandt Bronico broke the tie, sniping one to the right of Sean Johnson to give Charlotte the lead, just the third time they’d scored multiple goals in thirteen road games this season.
Moments later, Chris Gloster would commit a costly penalty, which would set up Christian Fuchs to cash in on an 88th minute penalty goal to break the game open and put Charlotte up 3-1. New York City failed to muster a single shot in six minutes of stoppage time, falling by that score.
The loss was their third in a row, dropping New York City FC even further behind Philadelphia and Montreal atop the east, while the Red Bulls climbed to within two points of their crosstown rivals. Just a month after a clean sheet streak of more than four games, Sean Johnson has now allowed nine goals in his last three contests, while the offense has scored just five times in four games without Taty Castellanos.
“Sometimes in football, you come in too high when you win, or you come in too low if you lose. I think that’s what happened today,” interim manager Nick Cushing said. “We know this is our little bump in the road, but we’ll stick together, and I have full confidence that this group can run into points.”
It will be another quick turnaround for New York City FC, as they set off on another two game road trip, beginning this Sunday in the Windy City against the Chicago Fire.