MLS Peachy: New York City FC vs. Toronto FC: Match Recap 2-0 WIN BRAVO JOSH SAUNDERS ON THE SHUTOUT! Interviews with Josh Saunders, Frank Lampard, Chris Wingert & Andrea Pirlo Our Coverage Sponsored by Stribling and Associates
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The truly stellar in life are clutch under pressure, and NYCFC last night lived up to all Manhattan sky-high expectations, surpassing ours even, score-wise. As you know, normally we are critics and only publish on the positive and discard the negative, however, we are happy that New York City has a professional soccer team IN the city for the first time in about a century. We would have settled for any kind of win, but this one was a SHUTOUT!~!!!! Bravo Josh Saunders and the best defense we have ever seen by this team this year in front of the enthusiastic and appreciated crowd of 25,075. We love shutouts and this is the first one we've seen in MLS. The defense is gelling like a gorgeous coat of Essie Bikini So Teeny drying. (L'Oreal-we believe you own Essie-why not rename this for the playoffs NYCFC scores?)
The weather is cooling down and it's getting darker earlier, but the good news is that it's not cold! And the excitement continues this Saturday, as in 2 DAYS so make sure you have your tickets. We are nearly at our 19,000th post and we know they've sold 19k tickets. We hope they reach 20k way before us! We still say NYCFC is the best part of New York for 2015 across the board.
This game was the third meeting between these teams, with the previous efforts resulting in one win and one tie for New York.
The game got off to a bit of a lethargic start and initially seemed evenly matched, but overall our hats off to Lampard and Pirlo for stepping it up this game and filling the enormous shoes of David Villa. (We're sure you saw Leon Yano the Bulldog in Japan in his jersey if you are reading. Leon is more popular than anyone else...). We can't remember not seeing Villa play in a game and of course he is the most significant player on the team, especially when it comes to lighting the lamp. (scoring) This game, Lampard scored his first, and later on off a Pirlo corner, Patrick Mullins used his head for the 2nd goal, maximizing his playing time and showing his value on the field. Mullins was also quite effective in the 4-4 tie in the last meeting vs. Toronto as he scored two then. We're really happy that Lampard has a goal under his belt on this side of the pond! We had heard such good things about him.
Other than the goals and the defense (OK Brits, defence!), we were incredibly impressed with the total field versatility of both Andrew Jacobson and Chris Wingert who though did not have their name on the stat sheet did incredibly laudable work on the field. Watch these guys. They will be big contributors to winning. We can see it in their eyes.
The second half was a lot more quickly paced, which we always prefer. Though we were obviously thrilled with the final result, if we were pulling the strings we would make different choices to achieve the same effect, or better. It is obvious that the whole team nevermind the crowd (which erupts) blossoms when Poku comes on the field. His agility over the season has improved and he's proved why he should be out there. We like how we see Poku and Saunders talking to the fans after the game is over and high-5-ing them. Poku came in for Lampard in the 68th minute, and Shelton came in the 74th minute for Grabavoy. Though we are happy with the play of Mullins, we think Angelino should not be starting in the 84th minute. Not since Jaromir Jagr have we seen any 18 year-old play anything so well (and Jagr STILL plays well), and Angelino doesn't have the assistance of Lemieux or Francis. And a scratch that definitely, absolutely should not happen? Kreis said it was a tough decision when asked where Tommy McNamara was, however, we never want to see that again. There is no way that anyone that has not scored at all should be playing when someone that has scored five times and does not get the full 90 minutes even is benched. Decision making is just as important as scoring in the race to make the playoffs because you can't score without the scorers, and if you score enough, YOU WIN.
(Please humor us. We'd really like to write on the playoffs.)
We always say what the players have to say is more important than anything we've got to say.
Listen to them.
Frank Lampard comments:
"Scoring in Yankee Stadium was brilliant; it was great. It was most important to get the win. It's been a tough start with the injury. I enjoy playing with Pirlo; you couldn't not enjoy playing with a player of his quality. The lads, from Josh in goal who was absolutely fantastic, right on through...the desire to get the win was really special about today. That's what we need at the end of the season. I wanted to show people what I can do. I'll get fit, I'll get better, there will be more goals I hope. I'm confident of that. For me personally it was nice and for the team to win is a good feeling, and very important to get on the winning track."
Peachy: What do you enjoy most about MLS compared to the Premiere League and what do you think of the playoffs this year maybe?
Frank: "This is a new challenge for me. I'm enjoying the challenge. It's different. It's fantastic to be able to experience playing in a new country with new players, new teammates, traveling around America, discovering the quality. The difficulties of playing here are high and I think sometimes people don't realize that. They expect you to come here and that it will be easy but it's not. I've enjoyed the challenge. I'll continue to enjoy it."
Peachy: What do you think people in the UK don't understand about MLS?
Frank: "I don't know. The Premiere League is probably the most competitive league in the world; we hold that quite dear at home. We think it's the best and no one else can match it. But I know from being here that Steven Gerrard said the same, every player comes over here says the same. The quality, the desire, it's not easy to come here. People who think it's easy just don't understand."
Frank: "I don't know. The Premiere League is probably the most competitive league in the world; we hold that quite dear at home. We think it's the best and no one else can match it. But I know from being here that Steven Gerrard said the same, every player comes over here says the same. The quality, the desire, it's not easy to come here. People who think it's easy just don't understand."
Chris Wingert contributes:
"Every game takes on a life of its own. Because we play well tonight does not mean we're going to play well [in the future.] It's something we can build on and hopefully we can continue to move forward and get better. I think we're trying to do that every week and every game. I think we'll be pretty pleased with the result."
Peachy: Are you feeling better and what are you proudest of this season so far?
Chris: "I'm feeling better, thanks. My body feels good now; my hamstring feels good. I'm not thinking about proudest right now...I'll reflect on that after the season."
Peachy: What do you think of the playoff [possibility]?
Chris: "I don't feel anything; I'm concerned with Saturday and making sure we do our best to get three more points so that we're still in the race."
Peachy: Do you feel like the team is more consistent than it used to be?
Chris: "I hope so! We're certainly working towards putting together some consistently good performances, but we're taking it game by game. As much as it was nice to get a win tonight, it's going to be a quick turn around to focus on Saturday."
Josh Saunders says:
"Getting a clean sheet and a win is huge. I thought that the defense did a really good job. You could tell when they were making plays and blocking shots. They're rewarding each other: high 5's, pats on the back, excellent communication. I was pretty happy with that. I think they limited the guys to outside shots which is good for me; I can see the ball a little bit better. We looked at this game as a playoff game."
Peachy: How did this shutout compare to other shutouts in your career?
What do you think of the yellow card you got?
What do you think of your playoff chances?
Josh: "I'll take the yellow card. The shutout was great because it's an important time of the year for us right now. Moving forward, we need to build off of this and stay consistent with our spacing and allow our special players to make special plays."
Peachy: What do you think of the future of soccer in America?
Josh: "I think it's going to be the sky is the limit. Obviously you can see with 30k people a game for us right now, it's going to continue to build."
Peachy: Boys and girls?
Josh: "Boys AND girls. Absolutely. You look at the demographic of the people in the stands and there's a lot of women out there and there's a lot of women that want to see women play as well."
L'Oreal, don't miss your market.
Andrea Pirlo adds through an interpreter in Italian:
"It was a good game; the team was working well together. It was the same in Dallas although we didn't have such a good result there. The team played well together and I think we've been improving so the more time we spend together, the better it goes. I think things are improving. I don't like to talk about individuals. I like to talk about the team. We must consider one game at a time; at this point we need to win them all."
"The team obviously worked really hard. They were willing to do whatever it took tonight to get the result."
Kreis on Lampard:
"He's an unbelievable professional and an unbelievable person. He has desperately wanted to help this group for a very long time. I think he felt quite relieved by that goal."
Kreis on Pirlo:
"I think that Andrea is a natural-born competitor that doesn't take to losing well. In the last two games I think he's played extremely hard and worked quite well."
We wanted to know about what Kreis thought of the evolution of the team and its playoff chances:
"The evolution of the team is incomplete. I'll have a much better answer for you five games from now. For playoff chances, I think we have a chance. That's all I have to say. We'll keep fighting until someone tells us we are mathematically out. And then we better fight on after that too."
The playoffs are within reach.
Keep winning.
Score.
You can do it, again and again and again.
We still want a hat trick please.
And New York: BE THERE. SATURDAY.
NYCFC tells Whom You Know:
Frank Lampard scored his first goal for New York City FC and Patrick Mullins scored for the second straight match as New York City FC beat Toronto FC 2-0 to earn a crucial three points as the race for the Major League Soccer playoffs heats up in front of 25,075 on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
New York City FC snap a three-match losing streak and improve to 8-14-7 (31 points), while Toronto FC fall to 11-13-4 (37 points).
The Club is 2-0-1 in three regular-season matches against Toronto FC.
"It’s great to get off the mark," Lampard said. "I had a tough start with injuries, but I’m getting fitter and hopefully more to come. It’s been frustrating for me. No one is more frustrated than the player himself. I want to give back. I want to show people what I can do. It’s a goal.
"I’ll get fitter and there will be more goals I hope. For me personally it was nice and for the team to win it is nice. Very important to get back on the winning track and important again on Saturday.”
In the 20th minute, midfielder Andrea Pirlo played a dangerous ball over the top of the defense to an on-rushing R.J. Allen. The right back slid in an effort to keep the ball in play near the byline and flicked it backwards to Lampard at the top of the 18-yard box. The Designated Player controlled the ball and fired home a shot into the low far corner for a 1-0 advantage.
Lampard, who holds the record for most English Premier Leagues scored against, added his first MLS team to his extensive list with his first goal in a New York City FC jersey. The midfielder stood in the Toronto FC box with both arms held proudly in the air.
That goal was the difference at halftime as New York City FC held a 1-0 lead.
The two Eastern Conference teams exchanged opportunities in the second half. Toronto FC, which are winless in their last seven road matches, had a pair of Sebastian Giovinco free kicks saved by goalkeeper Josh Saunders in the 60th and 62nd minutes.
The veteran shot-stopper had seven saves in the Club’s first clean sheet since June 20.
"It’s a confidence builder because it’s one of those things that can be a momentum builder as well," Saunders said. "It’s huge because this is a massive time for us get some results so getting a clean sheet and a win is huge."
Added head coach Jason Kreis: "That’s the biggest thing tonight apart from the three points. To get a shutout was critical for us against a team that is very good in the attacking half of the field."
Saunders was at his best again less than 10 minutes later with two emphatic saves on Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley. Bradley fired a shot from distance in the 70th minute that Saunders pushed away, but the rebound fell back to the United States National Team captain, who rocketed another shot at the goalkeeper once more.
New York City FC had a pair of opportunities at the other end five minutes later off corner kicks, capitalizing on the second chance.
Pirlo curled an enticing ball around the 6-yard box that Mullins, who leapt above a horde of Toronto FC defenders and smashed it home for a 2-0 lead in the 74th.
"I didn’t do much movement," said Mullins, who scored his sixth of the season. "I kind of put myself in a good spot and the guy taking the kick obviously puts it in a good spot. I jumped up and headed it in. That’s it, to be honest.
"It felt more rewarding getting three points in the business end of the year."
New York City FC look to keep the momentum in their favor on Saturday against San Jose. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ET from Yankee Stadium (YES Network, WFAN, WADO).
