New York City FC: Big weekend win shows balance but promise
New York City FC was dominant in win
On Saturday, New York City FC played the way they wanted to play and came away with a win. Not just a win, but an emphatic one.
It was a borderline impressive and dominant showing from New York City FC, a team that has played well this season but all too often doesn’t have the results to back up their style. That wasn’t the case in a 5-0 win at home over Orlando City SC.
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Too many times this year, New York City FC has been the better team by nearly every measure and yet has managed to drop points.
“When we do the same performance over time, we’re going to get what we deserve in the end. Today we played top football from the first minute to the last minute and we won by five,” NYCFC head coach Ronny Deila told reporters after the match.
“We could even one more, and they had one goal chance during 90 minutes, that is impressive. It’s top professional, what we do, and the way that we get three, we go for four, we go for five, and players coming on do the job. The others, just keep on going, then we’re going to be really hard to play against, so I’m just a proud coach today, I’m very happy for the boys.”
For a thorough dive into NYCFC’s win check out this piece by Caitlyn Chale.
With the win, NYCFC improves to 7-5-2 (23 points) on the year and sits in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. But in their previous two matches in early July, they lost by a 2-1 score line at home to both Columbus Crew SC and CF Montreal.
In both matches, NYCFC clearly outplayed their opponent but came up short on the scoreboard.
New York City FC has now won two straight matches.
Five different goal scorers for New York City FC
It took 40 minutes for New York City FC to get on the board via a Jesus Medina goal, but the onslaught after that initial breakthrough backs up the way Deila wants to play and sporting director David Lee’s vision with this roster.
Starting in the 53rd minute, NYCFC would score four goals in the next 29 minutes. The balanced scoring approach underscores a team that is built with balance in mind. This isn’t a squad full of heavy hitters but rather, Lee’s roster construct has this team among the deepest in MLS.
Maxi Moralez, who scored in the 65th minute, said that throughout the team’s recent up-and-down performances, they didn’t change their identity. And on Saturday in the Bronx, the offense was on fire.
“I think didn’t we change anything, we try to do our best and what is important is that we play as a team,” Moralez said after the match.
“I think that the goals that went in were the goals that were needed in the past games and it is a great difference. It is hard playing every 2-3 days, various games but playing our first game home with a lot of intensity and the difference we made.”