New York City FC gave up the 1-0 lead when free kicks dismantled the team towards the end of the second half and the Pigeons lost 2-1.
The past week has been hectic for New York City FC. Of course, it started with last week’s game against Toronto FC, where poor referees resulted in a 1-1 draw with the Canadian side. Bad goalkeepers and the legal jumping of Jesús Medina resulted in an abandoned goal. The Professional referee organization approved this week that the goal should have been given, but unfortunately it’s a little late and NYCFC has been robbed of three points.
More positively, the pigeons announced the signing from Talles Magno as a young designated player. The youngest Brazilian is a highly regarded candidate and should be an impressive player in the attacking third.
So the team went into the game against the Columbus Crew on Saturday evening with a lot of drive. Columbus has struggled so far this season, and NYCFC had a chance to beat them on their first meet. The team also wanted to win their first home game of the year at the Red Bull Arena, as the team will have to play several games in New Jersey this year.
Unfortunately, bad luck plagued the Bronx side and The team lost 1: 2 to the reining MLS Cup Champions. Despite the first goal in the 18th minute, NYCFC couldn’t hold out and was dismantled by one thing: free kicks.
Initially, Columbus fought until the 80th minute to get a shot on goal. Both sides have played well up to this point; NYCFC was just a little stronger on attack. But everything changed late in the game and that’s down to one player: Lucas Zelarayán. Columbus was rewarded with free kicks twice, once in the 82nd minute and then again in the 95th minute. Zelarayán took them both and Sean Johnson couldn’t do anything but watch them go to the back of the web.
In all fairness, NYCFC was strong defensively until those free kicks. The players stopped Columbus from taking shots on goal and did well to remove every danger that Johnson’s path was going. They were also dangerous in the attack. Without Eloy Room, the pigeons might have taken the lead 2-0 or 3-0 after the first half. The Columbus goalkeeper kept them in the game and unfortunately NYCFC failed to score that second goal. Instead, two incredible free kicks resulted in them losing three points.
Despite the disappointing defeat, the first half delivered one Ismael Tajouri-Shradi Performance that the fans were waiting for. Most importantly, he eventually scored his first goal of the 2021 season and NYCFC’s only one of the night. In the 18th minute Valentin Castellanos tried to make the shot first but it was blocked. The Argentine then had to regroup and when he realized he had no shot, he passed the ball to Tajouri-Shradi. The Libyan received the ball and swept the ball past Columbus’ goalkeeper with one touch.
In addition, Tajouri-Shradi was in the attacking third before he was substituted. While he stayed mostly on the left and in the middle, he supported the team on the right at times. He moved the ball quickly and easily, creating multiple opportunities. This included a perfect pass for Castellanos in the 35th minute, but the striker hit the ball just wide.
Regardless of the positive moments for the team or the player, a loss is a loss. Worse still, the pigeons have only two points in their last three games. Now they have to go across the country and face a difficult team at Los Angeles FC. Yes, they had a good start to the season, but now the pressure is on before the break in June.
And sometimes it only takes one player and two free kicks to dismantle a team. Columbus’ Zelarayán did just that to New York City FC and the disappointing defeat will obviously continue for some time.
