New York City FC vs. Montreal Impact: Match Recap 3-1 WIN Interviews with COACH KREIS, DAVID VILLA, JOSH SAUNDERS, MIX DISKERUD, TOMMY MCNAMARA AND CHRIS WINGERT With Commentary by Peachy Deegan @Guaje7Villa @MixDiskerud @wingert17 @JasonKreis Our Coverage Sponsored by Hallak Cleaners the Couture Cleaner
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Did you see that magic word in the title? WIN.
Now we will use the other magic words, please NYCFC, win again and again and again and thank you! We could not be more excited to write about the first win Peachy's seen by the NYCFC!
Not only did they win but also they won their second game in a row.
It's not too late to jump on the bandwagon!!!
The first half was the best half of soccer that we've ever seen them play. Starting with the fantastic lineup that they should stick with!
Starting lineup:
Mullins
Ballouchy
Villa
McNamara
Allen
Grabavoy
Jacobson
Facey
Hernandez
Wingert
Saunders
That was the first step in the New York recipe for success in the first meeting between these two teams so if we were coaching the team, we would stick with that lineup going forward. Right from the start, the game/match was total excitement starting with three corners for New York in the first nine minutes. It was apparent right away that there was elevated chemistry going on between the players in the passing and the shots, especially on the offense. We saw some beautiful picks set up.
Half an hour in, Villa scored with assists from Mullins and Ballouchy and the crowd erupted!
Not only did they score, but NYCFC was offensively dominant most of the first half. We did notice they favored their left side of the field and more action happened there. What was fabulous to see was the offensive generosity; we saw more intelligent passes than ever before, especially when one had the vision that a teammate would have a better shot on goal. From our point of view it seemed as if NYC had magnets on their feet with the ball from the passer to the receiver.
The second half confirmed the phenomenal cohesion we witnessed among the players on the field. They had the momentum and they continued! Saunders nearly had a shutout in front of the 24,042 in attendance. Up until this game, we have not seen any officiating in MLS that was something to get really worked up about, but in this game we did see some questionable calls. NYCFC professionally overcame them all and obviously rose to the occasion!
Mix scored in the second half and the third goal by Poku was the cherry on top. We witnessed genius moves of agility throughout, but enough about what we have to say.
Listen to the insiders!
Peachy said to Coach Kreis: Today we saw a much more evolved team than we saw in the past at home, what was the final catalyst that set this new level of cohesion?
In short, his answer was confidence.
He told us:
"For me it's all about confidence. We picked up the points in Philadelphia but I think it was extremely important that we finally got a win. All week in training I felt like this giant-sized gorilla had been lifted off everybody's shoulders and I think we were able for the first time since the second game of the year to work in a positive and correct way. Because of that we saw a group tonight that felt a little bit more liberated and a little bit more free to be the type of players and the type of team that they're capable of."
Thank you!
"I'm really happy for the guys; as I've said time and time again, this group has continued to endure and continued to work hard and continued to stay together. We're really pleased that tonight to see a little bit of a culmination of that. Not perfect for sure, there's 20 minutes in the second half [that we played poorly.] At the end of the night to get our second win in a row was important to this group."
"The mental side of things is such a huge part of professional sports," Kreis continued. "We're finally getting an understanding of what we're looking for and how we want to play. I'm really pleased and impressed with all the performances."
First David Villa-who speaks in Spanish and is translated said:
"I think it was a fantastic game! The first goal gave us the lead and we felt more comfortable. I think we had a fantastic day both offensively and defensively tonight. I'm really happy."
Peachy asked him: What do you think is the biggest key to winning two games in a row?
Villa said: "Just hard work really. We've been working very hard to improve and have kept going. We had a fantastic game in Philadelphia the other day. The obviously is a morale boost for the team and in terms of confidence it's going to be great for the team and we just have to continue."
Then we asked Josh Saunders how two wins in a row felt. Josh Saunders said: "Three will feel better if we get that! I'll take two. I think this was our best complete game. I thought our ball movement was excellent. I though we wore [Montreal] down and that's exactly what we wanted to do on our field for our home fans. Our first goal was straight out of a playbook. I thought everyone did great. It was awesome."
Next we asked Josh what we asked Coach Kreis-what was the final catalyst? "I think getting the second goal was great; the belief and continual hard work is the catalyst and not getting discouraged. It's going to be natural to have ups and downs. We can't win every game that everyone would like us to but we're going to put our best effort out there,"concluded Josh Saunders.
Goal-of-the-week scorer Tommy McNamara commented: "[After being injured] I'm glad to be able to have an impact on the games in order for us to get results. We're coming into a bit of a rhythm. We've been grinding it out for awhile and we've been working really hard and it's finally starting to click a little bit more. Last week we got the result but maybe it wasn't the best of performances and now I think you can see the difference because today we not only got the result but also played pretty well for long stretches of the game. I've improved from a mental standpoint. Last year I took a step back from the game and learned from the league technically and positionally so that was an improvement and I've put in a lot of work and I feel good physically now."
Peachy asked Tommy: "Growing up in New York, what does it mean to play in New York?"
"It's awesome. I'm so happy to represent my home state and my home city. It's awesome to be able to have my family come to the games and support me and I'm really happy to be a part of this from Day One,"said Tommy McNamara, New Yorker extraordinaire.
Of course you know we have a lot of questions-other than this all interviews we do are in writing. Then we asked him to talk about his goal of the week. "I ended up winning the ball and playing it to Poku in the middle and found some space in their back line and he played a good pass to me and I played a couple good touches and figured why not go for it? And it connected nicely and went in! As long as we're winning that's what matters. The three points is the most important thing," summarized Tommy.
"The key to us winning twice in a row was last week we did a good job of hanging tough," commented Chris Wingert. "Grinding out a result-and credit to the guys on the nice goals. This week I think was a little bit different. We came off on the front foot right from the start, and were able to put them under it and create a lot of chances because of that. We also know we didn't put them away until later in the game so we knew we needed to keep going and do the same things. We spoke about it at halftime-not to let our foot off the gas."
The post on Chris's grandfather is getting a lot of attention and we brought that up. Chris is funny: "I wasn't alive for the win in 1946! I have a lot of great memories. He was a really fun guy to be around. As I grew up I don't remember a time when it wasn't a thing-when I didn't know about it. I knew it when I was young and when I grew older I guess I realized how significant it was and how unique it was. He was a diver in high school and a real good athlete and had a growth deficiency so someone suggested he become a jockey. He tried it and he was very good. He's not the kind of guy to brag about it so it's not like we were talking about it all the time, but there were cool pictures up and I think it's amazing. I'm really proud of him for it. My mom's whole family grew up at the track at Saratoga. It's such an incredibly rare thing; it really is special. He passed away in 1998 when I was a junior in high school. Up until the past few years he was a great athlete; he played a ton of tennis and a ton of golf."
Mix Diskerud said, "[It's been] a very fun week! It's been crazy traveling around the world winning games! That feels good! Of course it's fun to represent the country and win against two of the best teams in the world right now, and then [come back to New York and] join the little winning streak we've got going on here. They probably would have won without me as well but it's always fun to contribute. This is my home and winning games here [with this team] is most important.
We're winning right now! That's a start. It feels like we have a lot of confidence and we're creating a lot of chances. We're playing good soccer. For me, and you all have to write this [note from the Editor: you speak, we write] the supporters- as many as they do and game after game when we're losing- it felt so good to give this back to them. Taking the subway or taxi home and being happy with a smile!" We are happy. You will be happy. We are in the business of telling you what will make you happy! Take action:
Why on earth would you ever miss this kind of excitement!
Be there next game.
We're pretty straight shooters-we want to watch this team grow whether they win or lose... (and did you know why the Chicago Blackhawks get so much attention here? We do work with the NHL, however, we want to because we watched Joel and Kevin (with NYR Coach Ulfie, when he just came from Sweden and couldn't even speak English yet) grow tremendously with the Hartford Whalers, an expansion team that was created by Mover and Shaker Howard Baldwin who tells the story in his book here.)
However NYCFC, let's never have an 11-game winless streak again-third-longest winless run for an expansion team in MLS history. Choo Choo! We thought they could, and they did.
P.S. Thanks Montreal for putting the Game Notes in French! Though there is a lot of Spanish going on with soccer, guess who took six years of French inspired by informal lessons by French Canadian hockey players at a young age...and so enjoyed the game notes.
The NYCFC tells Whom You Know:
On Wednesday afternoon, New York City FC fans celebrated as midfielder Mix Diskerud scored for the United States National Team in a win over Germany.
Three days later, those same fans were cheering again as the midfielder found the back of the net for the second time in a week, helping New York City FC to a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Impact in front of 24,042 on a beautiful Saturday evening at Yankee Stadium.
"It always helps to win games and have fun playing soccer and that’s definitely something I was a part of the past two weeks," Diskerud said. "When I came back here I saw a group of guys who were happy and I was happy to see them. It’s good to be home and win games with this team."
David Villa and Kwadwo Poku also scored for the Club as New York City FC improve to 3-7-5 (14 points) following consecutive victories, while the Impact fall to 4-5-2 (14 points).
“As I’ve said time and time again, this group has continued to endure, continued to work hard, continued to stay together," head coach Jason Kreis said. "I’m really pleased that tonight we saw a little bit of a culmination of that. Still not perfect, for sure. There was 20 minutes in the second half I thought we really got cold, but at the end of the night to get our second win in a row I think was really, really important for this group."
Diskerud, who played 70 minutes in the United States’ 2-1 win over the defending World Cup champions in Cologne on Wednesday and 34 minutes in a 4-3 comeback win over the Netherlands on June 5, came on as a substitute in the 65th minute for Mehdi Ballouchy.
Poku put pressure on the Montreal defense and forced a turnover. The midfielder then played the ball diagonally across to a streaking Diskerud, who fired it past Impact goalie Evan Bush for a two-goal advantage in the 76th minute.
"He, like every other player it’s a confidence thing and the mental side of things is such a huge part of professional sports," Kreis said. "You saw Mix gain some confidence through his two performances with the national team and he brings that back with us. He took one chance and scored it."
Poku, who made his first-career start in a 2-1 win at Philadelphia on June 6, recorded an assist in his second straight match. He scored his first-career goal in stoppage time. Villa latched onto a ball over the top and crossed it from the left side. Patrice Bernier misplayed it and it landed at Poku’s feet before he fired it home in the 90th minute.
New York City FC, which extended their unbeaten run to three matches, took a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute thanks to Villa.
Tommy McNamara, who was making his second straight start in midfield, crossed the ball from the left side into the box to Patrick Mullins. The forward one-touched it back to Ballouchy, who lasered a pass across the box to Villa, who slotted it home for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
New York City FC held a 1-0 advantage at halftime.
"It was great," Villa said. "I’m very happy for the team and my teammates. Today on the pitch the fans saw the hard work of the team. I’m happy for three more points."
The Club led in possession (64.3%), total shots (8-4), corner kicks (6-2) and total passes (228-129) after the first half.
Montreal, who came into the match winners in four of the last five, cut the lead to 2-1 in the 88th minute on a header by defender Wandrille Lefevre, but it proved consolation as Poku put the match to rest two minutes later.
New York City FC return to action on Wednesday evening against the New York Cosmos in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. EDT from Hofstra University’s Shuart Stadium.
"We’ll enjoy this one tonight, get back at it and review tomorrow and look ahead to the Cosmos on Wednesday," defender RJ Allen said.
New York City FC 3, Montreal Impact 1
Saturday June 13, 2015: 7:00 p.m. EDT
MLS Regular Season
Yankee Stadium
Scoring Summary:
31’ David Villa, NYC
76’ Mix Diskerud, NYC
88’ Wandrille Lefevre, MTL
90’ Kwadwo Poku, NYC
Misconduct Summary:
52’ RJ Allen, NYC (Yellow Card)
Lineups:
New York City FC:.Josh Saunders, Chris Wingert (Jeb Brovsky, 78’), Jason Hernandez, Shay Facey, RJ Allen, Andrew Jacobson, Ned Grabavoy, Thomas McNamara, Mehdi Ballouchy (Mix Diskerud, 65’), David Villa, Patrick Mullins (Kwadwo Poku, 75’)
Unused substitutes: Ryan Maera, Pablo Alvarez, Matthew Dunn, Sebastian Velasquez
TOTAL SHOTS: 17; SHOTS ON GOAL: 9; FOULS: 16; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 2.
Montreal Impact: Evan Bush, Laurent Ciman, Donny Toia, Victor Cabrera (Anthony Jackson-Hamel, 45’), Wandrille Lefevre, Ignacio Piatti (Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, 78’), Nigel Reo-Coker, Andres Romero, Calum Mallace (Patrice Bernier, 70’), Eric Alexander, Jack McInerney
Unused substitutes: Eric Kronberg, Bakary Soumare, Romario Williams, Dominic Oduro
TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDE: 3; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 6.
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee’s Assistants: Corey Parker and Richard Gamache
4th Official: Alex Chilowicz
Attendance: 24,042
Notes:
· Captain David Villa scored his fourth goal of the season making him the leading goal-scorer for New York City FC.
· Kwadwo Poku recorded an assist for the second consecutive game, he now leads the team with 3 assists on the year.
· Mix Diskerud, in his return from national team duty, scored his second goal of the season in the 76th minute.
· Kwadwo Poku came on to score his first career MLS goal in the 90th minute of tonight’s match.
· New York City FC has now won consecutive games for the first time in club history.
· Jason Kreis earned his 100th MLS career victory as a head coach.
New York City FC head coach Jason Kreis shook up his lineup, particularly in the midfield, for last week's match at Philadelphia.
The insertion of Tommy McNamara and Kwadwo Poku paid dividends as the duo teamed up for the Club's first goal in a 2-1 comeback victory over the Union on June 6. Kreis said both players deserved their debut starts with New York City FC and brought on a fresh perspective to the side.
"I think they both feel and both have felt they have contributed in some ways," Kreis said. "It wasn’t their first minutes of the season. Both of them deserved their opportunities. It’s a message to all the players, really, that if you continue to do things right in the training sessions, the coaches will give you the opportunities you deserve."
McNamara scored a 25-yard strike on an assist from Poku in the 53rd minute. The 24-year-old started and played a full 90 minutes in the victory. Poku started the match and played a season-high 58 minutes.
"Sometimes that’s what you need, somebody to come in with a fresh perspective, somebody who hasn’t had to bear some of the burden of the difficult results we’ve had for so long here," Kreis said of McNamara. "Hats off to him and glad he could do it for us."
Hitting Their Stride?
It took the Impact 23 games in the 2014 campaign to register their fourth win. Montreal come into tonight's match winners in four of their last five.
After starting the Major League Soccer season 0-3-2 with an emphasis on the CONCACAF Champions League -- in which they finished runners up -- the Impact may be hitting their stride. Montreal has allowed one goal in each of the four victories during this stretch and snapped a 25-road game drought in MLS with a 2-1 win at Columbus Crew SC on June 6.
Last Five Matches
DATE
OPPONENT
RESULT
June 6
at Columbus
2-1 W
June 3
vs. Vancouver
2-1 W
May 30
at Chicago
3-0 L
May 23
vs. FC Dallas
2-1 W
May 16
vs. Real Salt Lake
4-1 W
International Duty
Both New York City FC and Montreal will be without players due to international call ups.
New York City FC is without forward Adam Nemec (Slovakia). The Impact will be missing midfielder Maxin Tissot (Canada) and defender Ambroise Oyongo (Cameroon).
Midfielder Mix Diskerud has returned to the Club after playing 70 minutes and scoring in the United States' 2-1 victory over defending World Cup Champions Germany on Wednesday in Cologne.
Road Woes
The Impact have struggled on the road this season. In fact, Montreal's troubles away from home extend further back than that. The Impact endured a 25-match winless streak on the road prior to a 2-1 win at Columbus on June 6.
Not surprisingly, the woes translate into poor statistics on the road. Montreal has just two goals away from Stade Saputo with a minus-6 goal differential, being outscored 8-2 in five MLS matches.
DATE
OPPONENT
RESULT
June 6
at Columbus
2-1 W
May 30
at Chicago
3-0 L
April 11
at Houston
3-0 L
March 21
at New England
0-0 D
March 7
at D.C. United
1-0 L
Key Numbers
New York City FC defender Jeb Brovsky made 65 appearances (61 starts) for Montreal from 2012-14. He scored the only two goals of his career while with the Impact during the 2013 campaign.
New York City FC head coach Jason Kreis is one win away from No. 100 in his career. The former Real Salt Lake coach is 99-84-68 in 251 matches managed.
Montreal defender Laurent Ciman leads all MLS players with 5.33 interceptions per game (minimum two games played).
New York City FC has scored nine of their 12 goals in the second half (75%) -- the highest ratio in MLS this season.
Montreal and New York City FC are the only teams in MLS to not score a headed goal yet this season.
