NYCFC aims to put an end to sluggish starts
After giving away a game Saturday in Philadelphia, New York City FC enters Thursday’s home contest ( 7 p. m.; YES; WFAN, 660 AM / 101.9 FM) facing the possibility of backtoback defeats for the first time in their young history. But at least they don’t have to wait long to get some payback, because they are hosting those same Union at Yankee Stadium.
“I like the fact that the game is soon, so that we can come back from our loss and try to win this game. The fact that it’s against Philadelphia is quite important, but I don’t necessarily think it constitutes an advantage,” captain David Villa told The Post. “In soccer, there’s always an opportunity for a rematch. … When you win, the rival that you defeated wants to win against you, and vice versa.
“For me, the most important thing is that we lost, andwe needed a rematch to feel good again. It just so happens that we’re playing against [ Philadelphia] … so our rematch is immediate.”
Villa, sitting in the team’s highrise midtown offices, was right about one thing: the team desperately needs three points. After consecutive defeats, NYCFC is 122 for five points, sitting eighth in the 10team MLS Eastern Conference going into a game they will have to play without Mix Diskerud.
They have suffered froma slow start in more ways than one, being badly outplayed in the first half of every game except their March 15 homeopener. Not coincidently, that’s the only game they won, 20 over New England.
“We have to improve and come out with more energy at the beginning of the match,” Villa said. “All we can do is follow the coach’s directions, work harder to win more matches, and I don’t really know why this happens. All we can do is work harder so that it doesn’t happen again.”
Coach Jason Kreis seemed as baffled as his players trying to explain his team’s slow starts.
“[ Saturday was] another match where I thought we wasted 45 minutes,’’ Kreis said. “For whatever reason — I don’t knowthe answer to it, and I don’t think anyone has it quite yet, but we have to figure it out pretty quickly— we can’t seem to start amatch the rightway. … Sowe’ve got to sort through that.”
There’s plenty of sorting to do, and they will have to do it with Diskerud away for U. S. National Team duty. While their veteranled defense of MLS journeymen has been fairly solid, their attack has sputtered.
NYCFC has scored just one firsthalf goal in five games, tied for the worst mark in MLS. And they have been outshot 3517 in first halves, with their shot output the secondworst in the league, before bouncing back to have a 4033 edge in shiots following the break.
“Yeah, that’s been a topic of discussion amongst the team right now,” defender Jason Hernandez said. “We look like two teams in every match. The first half we kind of look like we’re sleepwalking a little bit. The second half we seemed to play more of our style and look more like ourselves.
“We’ll get together … and really put our heads together and try and find the reason behind that, and try and rectify it.”
The Red Bulls have been invited to play in this year’s International Champions’ Cup. The third ICC North America runs from July 11 to Aug. 5 and has a loaded international field that includes Barcelona, Chelsea and defending champion Manchester United.
This year’s tournament will air on Fox, Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.