New York City FC showed why they are one of the strongest home teams in Major League Soccer this season with an (almost-)convincing 4-2 win against Orlando City on last Friday night.
By James Nalton
Only Los Angeles FC have won more games at home (nine) than NYCFC’s seven so far in 2024.
Nick Cushing’s side were back in New York City following a run of two defeats on the road, in Los Angeles and Nashville, having also succumbed to a rare home defeat to Columbus Crew prior to their trip west.
NYCFC’s season so far can be split roughly into three stages: A difficult start bordering on crisis, a sustained recovery and, most recently, a stumble.
The sustained recovery consisted of five wins on the bounce and eight wins in nine games ahead of the recent run of three defeats (the stumble). That winning run was the kind of form they were looking to get back into against Orlando.
And it is something they managed thanks to first-half goals from Santi Rodríguez, Hannes Wolf, and Agustín Ojeda.
There was a late scare when Orlando brought the score back to 3-2 but Mounsef Bakrar’s strike in the final seconds of the game sealed the win.
The four goals scored by New York City FC means they are now the second-highest scorers in the Eastern Conference in games at home with 23, behind Inter Miami’s 28, and the third-highest in MLS overall.
A team that struggled for goals earlier in the season is now finding the net regularly, especially in New York.
It is an element of the game they appear to have been working on this season, having failed to get much going in attack last year when only the bottom teams in each conference — Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC — scored fewer goals than NYC.
They were regularly unable to convert sustained possession into advantageous attacking situations, often hogging the ball in the middle of the field but unable to progress it into dangerous areas.
One stat that demonstrates the turnaround in this regard in 2024 is the number of touches in the opposition box.
Cushing’s side are second for this stat throughout the whole of MLS this season, with a total of 575 touches in the opposition box so far, just behind Los Angeles FC, having been 20th for this stat in 2023.
This season there is a feeling that the gameplan is more flexible. If the moment calls for it the team can still keep possession, putting together simple passing moves to keep the ball and attempt to take some control of the game by doing so.
But, perhaps unexpectedly for a City Football Group-owned side, this team is no longer defined by possession.
With their group of direct wingers, plus the creativity of players like Santi Rodríguez and the recently returned from injury Maxi Moralez, the team can look to break opposition defences down much earlier in moves.
The ball playing in front of defence from James Sands and the box-to-box-ness of Keaton Parks contribute to this flexibility, too.
Just as they aren’t a possession side, per se, New York City could not be described solely as a pressing, counter-attacking team either, but they still have these elements to their game. They are not overly reliant on set pieces but have scored a few goals from such situations.
There is a bit of everything in their play, which is perhaps needed in MLS given the various squad-building restrictions and limitations of a salary cap.
The goalkeeping of Matt Freese has also been key to New York City’s improvement this year.
There have been plenty of occasions when he has saved them points by making saves at key moments in games, and he has been the only player to have performed at a high level during each of the three stages of NYCFC’s 2024 season mentioned earlier.
The most recent win at Yankee Stadium puts NYC at a crossroads which could determine where they end up come the end of the regular season.
It is a key moment. Win this week’s game against Montreal at Citi Field, and it would signal the start of another run of wins to propel them further up the Eastern Conference and secure that all-important home advantage in the playoffs. Lose, and the win against Orlando will go down as part of another inconsistent spell.
These type of runs, the peaks and the troughs, can be the nature of MLS as a league that, through its rules and regulations, strives for some kind of parity. But some teams still understandably have higher expectations than others.
A franchise based in New York City and part of an ownership group such as City Football Group is one such team. Good home form helps them live up to these expectations, and this is something they have recovered in 2024 following last season’s blip.
(Cover Image from IMAGO)
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