NYCFC fall 3-2 on road to Charlotte FC
Courtesy: NYCFC
By Chris Tsakonas
The road struggles continue for New York City FC, as they fell 3-2 to Charlotte FC tonight at Bank of America Stadium. Santi Rodriguez and Gabriel Pereira had the goals for NYCFC, while Enzo Copetti had a brace for Charlotte.
“I think the guys in the locker room are pretty down and pretty disappointed, because everything we wanted to do in the game, we did,” manager Nick Cushing said after the match. “I thought we carried the game, we dominate the game again away from home, we get into really good areas, we created some chances.”
It didn’t take long for Charlotte to attack on the front foot, and they broke through in the 8th minute. On a quick counter, Orrin Gaines took the ball down the right side of the pitch before playing it across the face of goal to Capetti for the easy tap-in at the far post to go up 1-0.
Charlotte nearly doubled their advantage in the 26th minute, when a giveaway at midfield led to a strike from Justin Meram grazing the outside of the right post from the top of the box. Less than a minute later, it looked like Karol Swiderski had doubled the lead off a cross - but the offside flag came up on an earlier pass in the buildup.
Gabriel Pereira leveled the match at 1-1 in the 37th minute, finishing off an impressive solo run into the box and beating Kristijan Kahlina for the equalizer.
Just seconds after the match resumed, it was Charlotte who retook the lead. Off a corner, Meram found Copetti, who headed it home for his second goal of the match.
“Of course we’re not happy with conceding two goals on the road from set plays,” Cushing said. “[If] you concede two goals on the road from set plays, you don’t win football games.”
Nick Cushing made one substitution out of the halftime break, with Talles Magno coming on to replace Andres Jasson. The change paid off, as New York City became much more threatening in the second half.
“We knew they were going to jump on the right side and we played through it every time,” Cushing said. “We dropped Santi a little bit deeper and put Richy on the side and brought Talles on in the nine, [and] it gave us an improvement.”
In the 54th minute, Braian Cufre drew a penalty off a challenge from Adilson Malanda. Rodriguez stepped up to the spot and finished to level the match at 2-2.
Charlotte went ahead for the third time of the match in the 74th minute. Off a free kick from the left flank, Swiderski sent a dangerous ball into the box that deflected off Richy Ledezma’s head and in for an own goal.
“It’s unfortunate. It's not really [Ledezma’s] fault, it’s a moment in the game,” Cushing said. “And of course, we want to be better on set plays - there's the one area that if we're better in this game, we win the game.”
With the win, the next step for NYCFC is the US Open Cup, with a road trip to FC Cincinnati for the Round of 32 on Wednesday night. City returns to league play next Saturday for the Hudson River Derby at Red Bull Arena.