New York City FC vs. Toronto FC: Match Recap 4-4 Tie With Interviews from Coach Jason Kreis, David Villa, Tommy McNamara, Patrick Mullins and Josh Saunders Welcome to New York Andoni Iraola and Angelino Our Coverage Sponsored by Stribling and Associates
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It certainly is a thrill to see NYCFC light up the scoreboard and depart from the initial challenges of being an expansion team. However, all growing pains are not gone and the city that never sleeps is never satisfied with a tie, and neither is this team which is why THEY BELONG HERE. NYCFC wants to win, and they will continue to win.
Covering their games has been one of the true highlights of 2015 so far (guess who was a sportswriter before writing on any other topic), and more important than what we have to say is what THEY have to say.
We'll put what Peachy Deegan has to say after them.
Coach Jason Kreis first spoke during the press conference post-game.
He responded to a question (by another journalist-as all other questions. We saved our questions for the players) asking him how many gray hairs he added during this game:
"This is the type of fans love and coaches hate. There was a lot of loose stuff there. A lot of bad plays. A lot of lack of focus. Tired guys....[to give Toronto players] that much time and space is incomprehensible...
We are really starting off games well. Creating attacking chances, goal scoring chances, taking goals, but for whatever reason there seems to be a moment in every game where we just stop. We have to continue to strive to improve because we need to put ninety minutes together."
When asked about Angelino:
"Angelino is a bright, bright prospect. He was someone I really enjoyed watching over in Manchester a year ago. He's someone I thought would be a real benefit to any MLS team and to ours in particular because of the way we want to play. He's been developed in the Manchester City way, and that's to be an attacking onside back. Do I think he could play as a winger? Sure. But this is how we want to see him play as an outside back."
When asked about Frank Lampard:
"The plans are to get him back involved. He's taken a couple days to rest and heal and recuperate. We believe at this moment that he'll be available for next Saturday's game."
On center backs:
"I think most honest and quickest answer is we have three center backs on our team. We scouted and signed one that we got wrong. (Mendoza). Since his departure we have been looking for another center back. We need more depth there. You need consistency among the back four and that is a big reason for our inconsistencies."
We asked David Villa if he could please comment on the momentum changes during the game. Villa gave us a thoughtful, thorough and insightful response (translated back to us in English from Spanish.) Thank you David for taking us as your second question post-match.
"At the beginning, how can I put it-it was a very strange game. At the beginning we were winning 2-0, and Giovinco took the penalty and [maybe we thought] it was going to be easy, and we had a huge advantage and then we ourselves made mistakes for ourselves and we suffered three goals against us in [about] six minutes and what looked like an instant victory became a very complicated match for us. I would like to add that we have the best goalkeeper in the whole league [Josh Saunders] so if it wasn't for him it would be a much bigger problem."
Then he was asked if he considered it one point gained or three points lost:
"Every time we don't win we are losing points."
We applaud Villa's attitude on the concept of opportunity cost!
What does he think is wrong with the defense right now?
"I don't know we have to work on that. We have new players right now and they have to help us a lot and they're going to help us a lot in the future. You've seen that only with one week of training they've been very good. But as I always say, everybody has to defend. It's a job for the eleven of us, so we all have not done a good job of defending today."
Next Tommy McNamara spoke, and we asked him the same question we asked Villa.
McNamara: "I don't even know how to keep track of the momentum changes today to be honest. It was pretty crazy out there and it's pretty difficult to remember everything that happened."
How would you assess the season so far; it's half over? Is it what you thought it would be? Surprises?
"We knew it was going to be difficult starting from scratch with the franchise. At the same time, we always thought we would be competitive from day one and we struggled a little bit at the beginning in terms of results and figuring things out, which is a little bit expected, but I think as you look over the past six weeks we've been positive results-wise, going 4-1-1. We're in a very good place right now [especially with the new additions.]"
What do you predict for the next half of the season?
Tommy: "I think we're going to push on. We got a little bit of a positive momentum going results-wise - two new fresh faces today and another two coming when they're available."
Next Patrick Mullins graciously commented on his play when we asked him:
"It wasn't the three points that we really wanted today."
On momentum changes:
Mullins: "Crazy. There's been a couple instances this season when we played well for the first 20-30 minutes, and the next 15 not so well. That's something we need to fix quickly."
Josh Saunders, who as Villa alluded to really kept the team in the game in a big way, said when we asked about how he'd assess the first half of the season:
"Ups and downs. Emotional."
Is it what you thought it would be or was it hard to anticipate?
"It's always hard to anticipate the first season. I think the progress we've made has been good and the progress in the last six games is great."
Peachy:
David Villa set the stadium on fire with his first goal (of two-the second in the 65th minute) at 16:52 on a free kick, after Tommy McNamara was obstructed by Toronto. Patrick Mullins followed up on this with a fabulous angle kick in the 29th minute with a great rebound effort classified as an own goal. We notice Patrick always shows 110% effort when in the lineup and he capitalized on this again with the last goal. There were lots of momentum changes during the match and of course this team is striving for a higher level of consistency.
Though we acknowledge goals scored against NYCFC are the fault of every player on the field and it is not only the defense to be blamed, we feel that the crowd was elated at four goals in a game. A hat trick by either scorer was so close!
Fingers crossed as now it is becoming a possible realty that NYCFC just might make the playoffs, which we will shout from the rooftops if it happens.
NYCFC tells Whom You Know:
New York City FC were up, then they were down, but ultimately, they were never out.
The Club rallied not once, but twice to share the spoils in a 4-4 draw with Toronto FC in front of a sell-out crowd of 27,533 fans on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Captain David Villa scored twice – once on a free kick and once from the penalty spot – and Patrick Mullins found the back of the net in the 84th minute as New York City FC have now suffered just one loss in their last six matches.
New York City FC improves to 5-8-6 (21 points), while Toronto FC is now 7-7-3 (24 points).
"We are really starting out games well, creating attacking chances, creating goal scoring chances and taking goals," head coach Jason Kreis said. "But for whatever reason, there seems to be a moment in every game where we just stop. I think the moment probably came when we gave away that penalty kick—the second one that he (Sebastian Giovinco) actually scored to make it 2-1. I think a lot of guys kind of hung their heads at that moment and said, ‘Here we go again.'
"That’s not a good enough reaction and we’ve got to continue to strive to improve because we need to be able to put 90 minutes together. That always has to be our goal. I think in soccer, you’re never going to be dominant and the leader of the match for 90 minutes, but it certainly needs to be our goal.”
The Club took a 2-0 lead in an exciting first half that saw a total of three penalty kicks. Villa put New York City FC ahead 1-0 with a beautiful free kick from the corner of the 18-yard box in the 16th minute. His strike to the near post hit the hands of goalie Chris Konopka, but still found the back of the net.
It was the second consecutive match Villa’s scored on a free kick.
A mere three minutes later, Toronto FC had a chance to equalize as Mehdi Ballouchy was called for a foul in the box. Sebastian Giovinco’s ensuing penalty kick went off the post as New York City FC’s 1-0 lead remained in tact.
Villa had a chance to double it down the other end as Tommy McNamara was taken down in the area by Damien Perquis, but the captain’s penalty was saved by Konopka. Mullins was there to slam home the rebound off Perquis, which was deemed an own goal in the 28th minute.
Giovinco took over from there as the momentum swung toward the visitors.
The Atomic Ant scored three goals in nine minutes, including avenging his prior penalty miss with a make in the 33rd minute, as Toronto FC held a 3-2 lead at halftime.
"It was a very strange game," Villa said. "At the beginning, we were winning 2-0. We were happy and thinking we had such an advantage that we started making mistakes. We suffered three goals against us in about 10 minutes. What looked like an easy victory became a very peculiar match for us. I would also like to add that we have the best goalkeeper in the whole league. If it wasn’t for him (Josh Saunders), it would have been a bigger problem.”
The action didn’t slow in the second half as a fourth penalty was awarded as Villa was taken down in the box by Konopka. Villa slammed home his kick from the spot for his 10th goal of the season and third brace in four matches, to tie the match at 3-all.
Toronto FC appeared to escape with all the spoils as Marky Delgado put the visitors back ahead in the 82nd minute.
Just like he did on June 6 at Philadelphia, Mullins came to the rescue again. Villa’s free kick was bouncing around the penalty area and the forward was the last to get his head onto it and put it into the back of the net.
New York City FC welcomed the debuts of both Andoni Iraola and Angelino in the draw. Iraola started at left back and played the entire match, while Angelino came at left back in place of Kwame Watson-Siriboe to start the second half.
"It was a big day for me because it was my professional debut and I’m really happy," Angelino said. "Hopefully we can get even better as a team. We worked hard and fought to earn the draw. We need to improve our results."
Added Iraola: "It was exciting. I really wanted to help my teammates more and I’m not really happy because we couldn’t win this one. We’ve had some training this week with the team but we need to train more together. We need to know more about each other and get used to each other. We’ll improve for sure but we need to play better than we did today."
The Club returns to action on July 18 at New England. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. EDT Gillette Stadium. The match will be broadcast on YES Network, WFAN and WADO.
