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Game Recap — New York City FC

What was that?

New York City FC allow five goals for the first time since 2016 – and for just the fourth time in club history – in a 1-5 home loss to Philadelphia Union that was as humiliating as it was unlucky.

,   and  Oliver Strand
7 min read
This one didn't work out | © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

That wasn't how this game was supposed to go.

New York City FC entered this match as the odds-on favorite: They were playing at home, they were healthy, and they were due a result after enduring a seven-game winless streak that stretched back to the start of July. They were facing a stumbling Philadelphia Union who were without goalkeeper Andre Blake and center-back Jack Elliot.

Blake would be replaced by Andrew Rick, an 18-year-old backup who began the night with five Major League Soccer starts and zero wins. The New York City game plan couldn't be easier: Test the goalkeeper, take a lead, close out the win, and prepare for the arrival of Lionel Messi on Saturday.

GAME STATS

New York City: 26 shots, 9 shots on target, 61.5% possession, 607 passes, 86% pass accuracy, 16 fouls, 2 saves

Philadelphia: 12 shots, 7 shots on target, 38.5% possession, 337 passes, 77.2% pass accuracy, 10 fouls, 7 saves

Goals:
• Philadelphia, Tai Baribo, 15'
• Philadelphia, Mikael Uhre, 25'
• Philadelphia, Dániel Gazdag, 32'
• New York City, Alonso Martínez, 45+5'
• Philadelphia, Jakob Glenses, 74'
• Philadelphia, Jesús Bueno 85'

Attendance: 19,153

Instead, Philadelphia won 1-5, handing New York City their biggest loss since 2016, when they were hammered by Toronto FC 0-5 in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

But it was a Freaky Friday kind of night, with Matt Freese, a contender for MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, switching places with Rick. While Freese made one error after another in the worst game of his senior career, Rick made save after save in a Player of the Match performance. Last Saturday, Freese was named to the MLS Team of the Matchday for his 5-save performance against DC United; today, FotMob handed him a career-low rating of 2.9. Last Saturday, Rick had the honor of Messi scoring a brace against him; today, FotMob gave him a game-high rating of 8.6.

Biggest New York City FC Losses

New York City FC 1 - 5 Philadelphia Union | September 18, 2024
New York City FC 0 - 5 Toronto FC | November 6, 2016
New York City FC 0 - 7 New York Red Bulls | May 21, 2016
LA Galaxy 5 - 1 New York City FC | August 23, 2015

Luck is what you make of it

In many ways, Philadelphia were lucky to win this game, and New York City were unlucky to lose it.

Philadelphia opened the scoring when defender Olivier Mbaizo recycled a corner kick by heading a looping ball into the box that striker Tai Baribo put past New York City goalkeeper Matt Freese. Baribo was kept onside by NYCFC defender Tayvon Gray, who was busy grappling with Jakob Glenses in the box.

Baribo was lucky to score on Freese, whose reflex saves have bailed out his team over and over again this season. And he was lucky to be kept onside by Gray. But luck is what you make of it: He took his chance, and his placement was inch-perfect.

Mikael Uhre was lucky with the goal he scored for Philadelphia 10 minutes later. After the normally solid Thiago Martins scuffed a simple clearance, the ball was sent wide to Uhre who got off his shot before a sliding Gray could make a tackle. Uhre's strike was well-taken, but it was as much about the element of surprise as it was placement.

And then there was Dániel Gazdag's goal, which was easily the luckiest of all. Freese made a routine save of a soft header, but he dropped the ball just as Gazdag approached the mouth of the goal, and the Philadelphia No 10 one-touched it into the net.

It's because of lapses like this one that FotMob gave Freese a 2.9. The goalkeeper whose 78.3% save rate led all of MLS going into the night only saved 28.6% of Philadelphia's shots on target tonight. His Goals Prevented was an abysmal -2.19, which is all the more shocking when you consider that Freese is arguably New York City's most consistently excellent player this season, and is making the case to be considered the best goalkeeper in club history.

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Even El Clínico isn't enough

If this was an unusually rough night for Freese, it was a spectualr performance by Rick. The soccer gods were smiling on the 18-year-old goalkeeper, with three New York City shots hitting the woodwork. But just like the rest of the Philadelphia squad, Rick also made his own luck as he logged seven saves.

Alonso Martínez looked inches away from grabbing one back when he lunged at a ball went across the mouth of the goal. But his foot caught on the seam of the turf covering the basepath, and because of that slight stumble he didn't make contact with the ball.

He finally found his goal in first-half stoppage time. It was a near replica of his earlier miss, only this time he volleyed a cross from Kevin O'Toole into the back of the net.

For a moment, it felt like that goal could change the course of the game. Philadelphia were more opportunistic, but New York City were still the more dangerous team. If they could only convert their chances, they could find a way to win this.

New York City FC | Leading Goal Scorers by Season

Name Year Goals Mins
1. David Villa 2016 23 2869
2. David Villa 2017 22 2556
3. Taty Castellanos 2021 19 2760
4. David Villa 2015 18 2514
5. Héber 2019 15 1575
6. David Villa 2018 14 1754
7. Taty Castellanos 2022 13 1436
8. Alonso Martínez 2024 12 1114
Alexandru Mitriță 2019 12 2172
Frank Lampard 2016 12 1280
10. Ismael Tajouri-Shradi 2018 11 1547
Taty Castellanos 2019 11 2052
13. Jack Harrison 2017 10 2757

It wasn't to be. Rick kept making saves, and in a moment of desperation, Head Coach Nick Cushing subbed off center-back Strahinja Tanasijević for striker Jovan Mijatović in the 72nd minute. Two minutes later, Glenses scored Philadelphia's fourth goal.

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What if the defense breaks?

With this loss, New York City's winless streak extends to eight games. The last time the team won a match was on July 3, when NYCFC defeated CF Montréal 2-0 at Citi Field.

The extension of this streak is troubling for a number of reasons. One, the team squandered their two best chances at logging wins. The first one was when they allowed Chicago Fire to come from a two-goal deficit on August 24 to draw NYCFC 2-2. The second one was tonight, when they face-planted against a compromised Philadelphia who nobody expected to walk away from Yankee Stadium with three points.

New York City FC | Longest Winless Streaks

Year Head Coach Games Points PPG H A GF GA GD
2015 Jason Kreis 11 4 0.36 5 6 7 16 -9
2023 Nick Cushing 11 6 0.55 5 6 9 16 -7
2024* Nick Cushing 8 5 0.63 2 6 8 15 -7
2016 Patrick Vieira 7 4 0.57 5 2 6 10 -4
2021 Ronny Deila 6 3 0.50 2 4 2 6 -4
2019 Domé Torrent 6 5 0.83 3 3 7 11 -4

*Currently active

Two, the next run of games is extremely tough, when they play the teams currently in First, Second, and Fourth Places in the Eastern Conference. Inter Miami come to town on Saturday, then New York City cross the Hudson to face New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena the following week. Four days later, they host FC Cincinnati at Red Bull Arena. It's hard to imagine the team that failed to close out a game against Chicago will be able to beat Miami, Red Bulls, or Cincinnati.

Three, two of the losses in this winless streak had unusually brutal scorelines. Before tonight, there was the 4-2 loss to Columbus Crew at the end of August. Freese left that game in the 12th minute with an injury, so it felt like the goal tally didn't really count. But that was the first time New York City allowed four goals since 2022: For all of the troubles with the team last year, no club scored more than three goals on that defense.

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