NYCFC fall in Eastern Conference Final 3-1 to Philadelphia
Courtesy: NYCFC
By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC’s season came to an end tonight in a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference Final at Subaru Park.
The first half didn’t feature many dangerous scoring chances. The Union did find the back of the net in the 16th minute when Daniel Gazdag found the back of the net off a free kick cross from Kai Wagner - only to be disallowed when the offside flag came up.
At the end of the first half, the match remained scoreless, with the expected goals similarly level at 0.17-0.17.
The breakthrough came for New York City FC in the 57th minute, as Santi Rodriguez set up Maxi Moralez for a shot from the edge of the 18 that beat Andre Blake and found the left corner of the goal. It was Moralez’s fifth career playoff goal with NYCFC, cementing his hold on the all-time lead in that category.
“I can’t speak highly enough of Maxi [Moralez], he’s been incredible from the moment I came in as interim manager until now,” Cushing said. “He’s been an incredible professional, an incredible leader, and has had some top, top performances on the pitch.”
In the 59th minute, New York City nearly doubled their advantage, with a cross from the right flank from Kevin O’Toole finding the head of Alexander Callens in the middle - forcing Blake into a diving point blank stop.
From that moment on, the Union took over. In the 66th minute, Jacob Glesnes found Julian Caranza on the right side of the area - and he beat Sean Johnson to level the match at one.
In the 67th minute, Philadelphia took the lead when Carranza nodded down a glancing header for Daniel Gazdag, setting him up for what turned out to be the game winning goal.
“We just lost our concentration and they get in and get it to one-one,” Cushing said. “And then we just don’t manage those next three-four minutes well enough, and we know what it’s like here in Philadelphia - the crowd gets on and they get you in that moment. The game can go from one-one to two-one really quickly.”
The Union iced the match in the 76th minute. Cory Burke took an individual dribble past two defenders into the box, and recovered from a deflection to beat Johnson at the near post and put the match away at 3-1.
With the defeat, City’s season comes to an end, with the title defense coming just two matches short. The Union move on to their first MLS Cup in club history against LAFC on Saturday.