New York City FC again cracked under the pressure of playing their biggest rival in a win-or-go-home knockout match, falling to the Red Bulls 1-0 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey to crash out of Leagues Cup in the Round of 32.
Struggling against the Red Bulls is nothing new for the Boys in Blue. They’ve only won twice as the away team in Harrison since the team began play in 2015, and have yet to even score a goal against RBNJ in any of the four elimination games they’ve now played against the cross-river club in team history.
The performance was eerily similar to the dreary one NYCFC produced in another 1-0 loss to the Red Bulls back in May. NYCFC yet again looked disjointed and unsteady while trying to play through that patented Red Bull high press, and while New York City won the possession battle, it was mostly pointless possession in the team’s own defensive half, with shots on target largely nonexistent. Red Bull keeper Carlos Coronel was not forced to make a save until the 59th minute.
It turns out that beating woeful Toronto FC 5-0 did not mark the end of NYCFC’s season-long struggles with scoring goals and winning matches. The NYCFC attack was so limp that Nick Cushing abandoned the 4-2-3-1 formation his team started the match with during halftime, sending on Justin Haak to again function as a center back in something resembling a 3-4-3.
NYCFC did create a few decent chances to equalize in the second half, but the familiar script of the vast majority of Hudson River Derbies contested on the New Jersey side of the river played out once more. The Red Bulls defended smartly and physically and NYCFC again was made to pay for its most glaring mistake, and once again were held scoreless by their most bitter rivals.
New York City still has never won a knockout match against one of its local rivals. They’ve now lost six times to a combination of the Red Bulls and New York Cosmos in both the US Open Cup and Leagues Cup knockout rounds.
The Red Bulls have had their way with their cross-river rivals in all of the biggest games the teams have played to date, owning NYCFC to the tune of a combined score of 9-0 across their four elimination Hudson River Derby wins.
It’s not an allergy to all big games, as NYCFC have successfully navigated the MLS Cup Playoffs en route to winning MLS Cup, which the team from New Jersey has still not accomplished in 27 seasons of competition.
Local derbies have rarely brought out the best of NYCFC, as the team has frequently failed to rise to meet the intensity level of the hotly-contested games they’ve played against local rivals red and green. Yes, these elimination games have been in ancillary cup tournaments and not in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and the past games involved players long gone from either side of the Hudson (or East) River rivalry.
The fact remains that these are the games NYCFC’s fans care the most about, and the team too often has fallen flat on its face and failed to deliver inspiring performances under the brighter lights of a derby day.
Further attacking reinforcements, like Julián Fernández and perhaps Maxi Moralez or even another random CFG winger who might arrive, may very well improve an attack that has floundered for far too much of the 2023 season.
Yet it’s not just talent holding NYCFC back in games like their snoozer of a Leagues Cup exit. Post-match, Nick Cushing kept repeating that he had wanted to see more fight from his team in the first half—an admission of sorts from the head coach that his NYCFC lacked the killer instinct and extra edge necessary to push themselves past the Red Bulls to earn a historic win.
Instead, it was more of the same from the Blue side, another flat loss to an opportunistic pressing team that grabbed its one goal and held onto it, confident that they’d seen this exact game play out before. The names and talent levels have changed over the years for NYCFC, but the results in must-win derby games have, sadly, stayed exactly the same.
Disagree that this game was similar to the one in May. That game still had Gerhard Struber and his regressive tactics. Red Bulls pressed for a few minutes, then dropped back and stayed there for pretty much the whole match. We rarely looked uncomfortable on the ball and even gave a little back at the end of the first half.
Tonight under Lesesne they pressed hard, they pressed effectively, they turned the ball over a lot, and they kept it up for the entire first half. We didn’t look settled at all for the entire 90 minutes.
With a proper striker we probably win the May game 9 times out of 10. We have a proper striker now, and we would lose tonight’s game 9 times out of 10.
You’ve adopted Cushing-speak, he has pulled out the “we win this game 9 times out of 10 times if…” line often this year after games his team did not win. Red Bulls played the style they’ve frequently played vs. NYCFC, Struber ball or not, issue is mainly with how unprepared NYC looked when trying to cope with it.
Except that they did cope with it pretty well back in May and you’ll find that I basically said as much if you look at my comment history. I was one of the only people who was satisfied with that performance despite the result.
Last night was totally different.
we’re so cute totally thought that the problem was gone away overnight with one striker acquisition, on one rare win over a known dysfuctional team. the real and big problem of the team is lacking ‘the deputy’ #10. no one’s choreographing the attack line. Santi needs to step up or we’d need a new one. another painful game to watch. it’s one incompetent bunch. sigh
Can I interest you in a 36 year old No 10 who may or may not still have the legs to handle MLS? Because it sounds like that’s what NYCFC are getting.
IS IT FREDDY ADU???
I enjoyed NYCFC’S defeat immensely.
Set aside that it was the Jersey team for a second. This version of NYCFC seem completely unprepared to play against teams that play this style of “let’s beat them up for 90 minutes and put the onus on the ref to stop us”. Whether it be Jersey or Philly, we hold onto the ball too long against these teams, try to dribble out off three defenders at a time, and then look baffled when it doesn’t work for the 80th time. Does the coaching staff not have a video system hooked up? When we have been successful against these teams, it has been because we have been consistent with our spacing and movement to counter their aggressiveness……with playing soccer. But every touch took the ball too far away from our feet last night. Every pass made it hard for the receiving player to control. Every time a player couldn’t see the obvious pass option they thought they could just spin move out of it. They looked ill prepared. And while I always want us to win….I can’t get too worked up over Jersey winning a one goal game on a penalty. Whatever. But we don’t look like we are ready to beat enough teams ahead of us to make the playoffs. It’s going to be a long Fall for those of us who care about this team.