MLS Peachy: New York City FC vs. Columbus Crew SC: Match Recap 2-1 Loss Interviews with Andrea Pirlo, Patrick Mullins and Coach Jason Kreis Our Coverage Sponsored by Stribling and Associates
For over 30 years, Stribling and Associates has represented high-end residential real estate, specializing in the sale and rental of townhouses, condos, co-ops, and lofts throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, and around the globe. Stribling has more than 200 professional brokers who use their respected expertise to provide personalized service to buyers and sellers at all price levels. A separate division, Stribling Private Brokerage, discreetly markets properties over $5 million, and commands a significant market share in this rarified sector of residential real estate. Stribling is the exclusive New York City affiliate of Savills, a leading global real estate advisor with over 200 office in 48 countries.
Check out their listings: http://www.whomyouknow.com/2015/08/remarkable-real-estate-listings.html#.Vb_DeflViko
& their most recent State of the Market:http://www.whomyouknow.com/2013/12/remarkable-real-estate-stribling-fall.html
Whom You Know Congratulates their new President, Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan: http://www.whomyouknow.com/2012/12/breaking-manhattan-real-estate-news.html
***
The best part of New York City in 2015 is NYCFC.
Still, after a no good, very bad day on Saturday. Nothing would have been finer than beating South Carolina on Saturday night in New York in front of a sellout crowd of 30,018.
The worst part is when their amazing elements do not align with the Gods properly for a win collectively, and we are left with a loss that should have been a win. Losing to the LA Galaxy is more understandable, which happened a week ago yesterday. This is an expansion team, and great success does not happen overnight, not even in New York where the world operates faster, better and smarter. We do not expect wins all the time, but we would like to see chemistry between the team for all 90 minutes and we would like to see ties at least versus teams that are not better than NYCFC.
Despite a starting lineup which would not have been our choice (Tommy McNamara should always start (he has 5 goals which is second on the team behind Villa), and Poku deserved a start versus Columbus especially after the way he played in their last meeting-Coach Kreis said it was a tactical decision not to start Poku), the team chemistry and passing was pretty stellar early for about 15-20 minutes. This needs to last longer. David Villa had two amazing scoring opportunities early on that did not materialize. However, at 9:34 Higuain scored the first of the game for Columbus Crew, and that seemed to take significant wind out of the sails of NYCFC until later, at 28:30, Andrew Jacobson lit the lamp for the first time during his tenure at NYCFC with deadly aim on a nice pass from Patrick Mullins. This goal was undoubtedly the high point of the game.
Too much time was spent in the neutral zone in the second half, and at nearly 60 minutes in, Poku came in for Lampard and at nearly 70 minutes in, McNamara came in for Mullins and Facey for Mena. The final strike came at 82:24 when Justin Meram put one past everyone and seemed to walk in scoring for Columbus Crew.
Still, after a no good, very bad day on Saturday. Nothing would have been finer than beating South Carolina on Saturday night in New York in front of a sellout crowd of 30,018.
The worst part is when their amazing elements do not align with the Gods properly for a win collectively, and we are left with a loss that should have been a win. Losing to the LA Galaxy is more understandable, which happened a week ago yesterday. This is an expansion team, and great success does not happen overnight, not even in New York where the world operates faster, better and smarter. We do not expect wins all the time, but we would like to see chemistry between the team for all 90 minutes and we would like to see ties at least versus teams that are not better than NYCFC.
Despite a starting lineup which would not have been our choice (Tommy McNamara should always start (he has 5 goals which is second on the team behind Villa), and Poku deserved a start versus Columbus especially after the way he played in their last meeting-Coach Kreis said it was a tactical decision not to start Poku), the team chemistry and passing was pretty stellar early for about 15-20 minutes. This needs to last longer. David Villa had two amazing scoring opportunities early on that did not materialize. However, at 9:34 Higuain scored the first of the game for Columbus Crew, and that seemed to take significant wind out of the sails of NYCFC until later, at 28:30, Andrew Jacobson lit the lamp for the first time during his tenure at NYCFC with deadly aim on a nice pass from Patrick Mullins. This goal was undoubtedly the high point of the game.
Too much time was spent in the neutral zone in the second half, and at nearly 60 minutes in, Poku came in for Lampard and at nearly 70 minutes in, McNamara came in for Mullins and Facey for Mena. The final strike came at 82:24 when Justin Meram put one past everyone and seemed to walk in scoring for Columbus Crew.
Coach Jason Kreis sternly said post-game:
"I couldn't be more disappointed. It's devastating for us to lose this game. There are seven games left and 21 points available; I think there still has to be a glimmer of hope. At the moment it's tough to see it....The players need to show if they want to be here and if they want to be a part of this. I know the coaching staff cares an awful lot about this club and about the job we're attempting to do but I'm not so sure that all the players do."
Andrea Pirlo spoke in Italian, which was translated into English through an interpreter. "There are seven important games that we have to play, but we need to take them one at a time. They're all hard but I'm sure if we think of winning the games [individually] one at a time, that's what we need to do to succeed."
Peachy asked him what are the literal keys to success in winning the next seven matches please?
Pirlo: "We have to try to do better and improve. We have to try to not repeat the mistakes that allowed us to lose this game."
"Unfortunately I saw one guy [on the opposition] that was not being watched by anybody so I left my position so I left my position to take care of it, and that's it," Pirlo responded to another question. "You are more concentrated when you lose than when you win. When you lose, you pay more attention to the things you did wrong and you try to improve. It motivates you more. We don't know each other very well; it's a very young team. We need a bit of time to get to know each other better and to get better together."
"I 100% want to be here and I show that on the field and every day in training," Patrick Mullins commented. "I look around and I see guys that want to be here as well: everyone's heart is in the right place...We're professionals and we've seen worse circumstances before and it's about digging deeper and giving that extra 5-10%, that extra yard both offensively and defensively. I have full faith that we can put a string of results together."
"Onto every life some rain must fall" - a wise older man that we once worked with told us when we had a bad day. That was a little too much of a downpour on Saturday; let's get out our Posh Wellies (designed in Manchester, UK!) and umbrellas and conquer the playoffs!
P.S. Posh Wellies should come in SKY BLUE...we'll make a suggestion.
NYCFC tells Whom You Know:
Andrew Jacobson scored his first goal in more than two years as New York City FC lost 2-1 to Columbus Crew SC in front of a sell-out crowd of 30,018 on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Justin Meram scored the match winner in the 83rd minute as New York City FC drop to 7-13-7 (28 points) and the Crew improve to 11-8-8 (41 points).
"It’s seven important games that we have left to play, but we need to take them one at a time," midfielder Andrea Pirlo said. "We need to think of them as one at a time. They’re all hard, but I’m sure that if we think of winning one at a time, then you do one, and you think of the next. That’s the way to proceed.”
"It’s about wins and losses in this league and we needed a win," forward Patrick Mullins said. "Clearly we didn’t get it. I think at the end of the day this game was decided in the two final thirds and I think they were just a little bit sharper than we were."
Trailing 1-0 in the 29th minute, New York City FC defender Jason Hernandez played a ball in the air ahead to Mullins, who showed good control by trapping it on his chest. The forward, who was making his first start since July 18, laid the ball off to his side for Jacobson. The midfielder took one touch ahead then unleashed a rocket from 25 yards out to tie the score at 1-1.
It was Jacobson’s sixth goal in Major League Soccer and his first since June 22, 2013.
Columbus took an early advantage thanks to Federico Higuain in the 10th minute. Wil Trapp served up a corner kick into the box that the Crew midfielder met with his head to put the visitors up 1-0.
New York City FC responded less than 20 minutes later, scoring for the first time in a first half since the Club’s 5-3 win over Orlando City SC on July 26.
"We needed to win this game," defender Andoni Iraola said. "Towards the end of the season, the points matter more. We started off on the wrong foot with a goal against us due to a lack of focus during a corner kick. I think we turned it around after that. We balanced the game and equalized. We had chances to score a second goal. There was a moment when Columbus had chances and so did we, but they seized them first and took the win home."
The Club had a chance to take the lead before the break on a spectacular effort by Mix Diskerud. New York City FC took a quick free kick near midfield. Captain David Villa got the ball on the left and had a nice give-and-go with Frank Lampard, who was making his first start since August 9. Mullins then got the ball and chipped it in front of the net as Mix tried a bicycle kick that went over the bar.
The score remained 1-1 at halftime.
New York City FC came out the aggressor in the second half as Jefferson Mena almost headed home Pirlo’s corner kick, but it went wide of the net.
After a back and forth half, it was Columbus that escaped with the spoils. The Crew gained possession in midfield as Higuain found Meram on the left side. The second-half substitute cut into the box and placed his shot into the low far corner to make it 2-1.
New York City FC are on a bye Labor Day Weekend and return to action on September 12 against FC Dallas. Kickoff is 8:30 p.m. ET from Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas (YES Network, WFAN, WADO).
"We have no other choice but to train harder and continue to work," Iraola said. "We know that it’s not simple and our schedule is difficult, but we have no other options than to keep going, train harder and try for things to turn out better on game days."
Added Lampard: "I’m used to playing where you need to win pretty much every game to try and win leagues. We’re in a similar spot now. We’re all aware of the math and there should be a pressure on ourselves every week. We’ll keep going. There’s enough games, enough points to play for but can’t keep saying it every week when we’re not picking it up. It’s more important what we do than what we say.”
