Union fall, dominated by NYC FC in MLS playoff tilt
Union’s big-game troubles continue with playoff loss at New York
NEW YORK >> As the Union set most of the franchise singleseason records worth having in 2018, perhaps no accomplishment was as poignant as enshrining an identity under coach Jim Curtin.
“I think that the club has shown now that we have an identity, of good young American players, of experienced veterans who can play with anybody in this league, home and away, a cohesive group, and a group that isn’t scared of anybody,” Curtin said Wednesday night. “It’s a difficult score line tonight and I know perspective-wise, it’s going to look bad, but I still see a lot of positives.”
Those factors were a blueprint for the Union’s second playoff berth in three years. And Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, they provided a point-by-point illustration of how this Union season imploded in a 3-1 loss to New York City FC in an MLS Cup wild card playoff.
Those young American players had a rough night, the center-back pairing of Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie getting roughed up by the NYC attack for a second time in four days. Of those veterans, Borek Dockal was anonymous and Haris Medunjanin’s biggest contribution was a yellow card for dissent, spending more time with his hands up petitioning for fouls than playing passes.
That cohesive group was the same one that featured Dockal and Cory Burke screaming at each other on the field Sunday. And if it wasn’t fear that drove the Union – after allowing goals in the eighth and 10th minutes Sunday to NYC – to concede in the 10th and 26th Wednesday, well then, what was it?
The clearest answer is a decisive and unbridgeable gulf in class, between a Union team that has overachieved this season and a New York City FC side that dealt with a midseason coaching change and injuries before getting healthy at the right time to charge into the playoffs as a third seed far superior to the sixth-seeded Union. With the class of David Villa and Maxi Moralez, it would’ve taken the Union’s best shot Wednesday. They brought something much less than that.
“We got caught, but I think our guys will learn from it,” Curtin said. “They’ll grow from it. And it’s not just those two. It’s everyone collectively as a team. And it’s not our best punch tonight.”
The punchless Union stand at nine MLS seasons without a playoff win, trailing only the moribund first decade that was Toronto FC. The Union have lost all four playoff games by a combined score of 9-3. And if you add in three losses in U.S. Open Cup finals, including one against a generally inferior Houston team in September, that’s 0-for-7 all-time in the meaningful games category.
It looked like the Union had bucked the trend of poor starts Wednesday when they reached the ninth minute with a zero on the scoreboard. Then Villa dummied a Moralez through ball after a McKenzie giveaway, and winger Ismael Tajouri-Shradi smacked a perfect first-time volley from the edge of the box to put NYC up 1-0 in the 10th.
“We were a little naïve and young in our transition defense,” Curtin said, “and their quality players punished us.”
Villa doubled the lead when Moralez crossed to him and McKenzie afforded the Spanish striker a yard too much space. Villa, as he’s been doing as a pro since roughly when McKenzie was still in diapers, struck an across-the-grain shot into the far-side netting. And Moralez made it 3-0 in the 78th with the most delicate chip over an onrushing Andre Blake, after an innocuous long ball from right back Anton Tinnerholm caught out the entire Union defense.
“I think we were a bit naïve,” midfielder Alejandro Bedoya said. “The other day when I talked to you guys, I told you that we can’t give up an early goal. To play from behind, it’s always difficult, especially playing away. To give up a goal again in the first 10 minutes and play from behind away is an uphill battle.”
Curtin tried to switch things up from Sunday, removing CJ Sapong from the lineup in favor of Warren Creavalle, shoring up the middle of the pitch and shifting Bedoya wide right. The experiment lasted all of 45 minutes, with Creavalle exiting at half in search of a goal, though Curtin felt that mistakes elsewhere doomed that plan before it even had a chance to work.
It wasn’t until the 83rd minute that the Union had their first shot on target, a side-footed effort from Burke to score past goalie Sean Johnson off an Ilsinho cross. But it was too little, too late.
Curtin summed it up nicely, looking at the difference in expenditure on players on both sides and the gulf in experience and quality on both benches.
“You could say it 100 different ways, but they have quality on the field,” Curtin said. “… They have quality, they punished us. And it’s not one person, it’s not one position. Collectively as a team, we would’ve had to have been all 11 at our best to beat them, and we weren’t. That’s why our season ends and why they move on.”