As only New York City FC can do, Blues blow a two-goal lead in the final 15 minutes as NYC gives away crucial points at home.
A year later, and the same old story. This one, however, included a SportsCenter Top 10 moment, almost immediately followed by a SportsCenter Not Top 10 moment. In the end though, it was another disappointing result at home for NYCFC after their 2-2 draw against Eastern Conference rival Orlando City SC in the Bronx Sunday afternoon.Kevin Molino’s goal in the final seconds of stoppage time off of a cross by Cyle Larin preserved a point for the Lions, while NYCFC fails to win a home game yet again.
What makes it worse, is that they had the win in their hand, easily.
“Of course we are disappointed because when you look at the game, the way we started, the situation of the game we played, just taking one point from that game is unbelievable,” NYCFC head coach Patrick Vieira said in his post-game presser. “We had a situation where we should have killed the game, scored that third goal and the game would be finished, and we didn’t do it. We gave them the chance to get back in the game and to concede the goal and the win, that is really disappointing.”
That third goal is the highlight you will most likely see on SportsCenter’s Not Top 10 on Friday. Khiry Shelton was able to get Seb Hines to commit a handball in the 70th minute. NYC captain David Villa, who’s 99 percent automatic on penalty kicks ran up and slipped on the grass down where the first base foul line is around, popping the ball sky high over the bar, keeping the Blues’ lead at 2-0. Orlando City pulled within a goal just three minutes later on a goal by Julio Baptista in the 73rd minute, making it 2-1 New York City.
David Villa had a chance to put NYCFC ahead 3-0, but instead skied his penalty after slipping
WATCH: https://t.co/yaiWEwNUqX
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 30, 2016
“That’s a situation that can happen in the game and it happened and we didn’t put on time for us because that goal would have given us three goals, but that situation didn’t happen,” Vieira added.
“I don’t need to talk to David about it because that’s just part of the game and something you can’t control. It happened and that’s it.”
NYCFC tried to create a few chances late to seal the game as Shelton missed a shot just wide in the 84th minute and Steven Mendoza tried for a shot on goal in the 90th.
Yet it was the Lions that continued their press in NYCFC’s defensive third, eventually getting the backline to open up for Molino’s goal at the death that left Saunders simply distraught on the field after the three whistles were blown.
“It’s not really a matter of concentration,” NYCFC midfielder Andrea Pirlo said. “We were very focused, they just had a good shot at the end. These things happen, but we need to work harder to make sure that they do not happen.”
“When errors are committed it’s not good for us, obviously we had one ingenuous penalty during the game. But we were able to solve it and get the win.”
“I don’t necessarily think we lost our fire. We just conceded late,” Saunders said in a rare post-game interview. “It’s part of the game, its football. You just kind of have to roll with it. The season has its ups and downs and at this moment, it’s a mediocre moment so we’ll build on it and get better.”
.@Guaje7Villa earns Star of the Match! pic.twitter.com/uoCPSPLp5X
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) May 29, 2016
While today’s result wasn’t a loss, NYCFC has failed to pick up all three points in seven of their eight home games played so far, extending their league-worst home record to a mere 1-2-5.
“Well I think when you look at our table and where we are, I think we are fighting with teams to be part of the playoffs,” Vieira explained.
“We know that we have to improve our home games, but if we don’t get the points at home, we have to get them somewhere, and if we have to get them away from home, we will do it, but we are conscious that we need to improve our home performance. I think where we are, we are fighting to be in the playoffs.
Vieira also wasn’t shy to take a shot at the media during his press conference as well:
“I think you guys write us off, but it’s far away for us to give up. People are always losing points. People might lose to teams that you maybe don’t expect and in football there’s so many things that can happen that we can’t control. We have to improve our home games, but that doesn’t condition whether we’ll be in the playoffs or not.”
