NYFCF suffered a poignant 4-0 loss to Toronto F.C. on Friday night and Domenec Torrent is feeling the heat.
It’s unfortunate that New York City F.C. doesn’t have a couple of memory-zappers. NYCFC’s performance in their 4-0 loss against Toronto F.C. sits comfortably in their top-five worst performances ever.
Nothing worked for The Pigeons on Friday night—starting with the defense. On Toronto’s first goal, playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo danced his way around three New York defenders in the box before passing the ball to a wide-open Jozy Altidore in the 29th minute.
Over in midfield, TFC players easily intercepted their passes time and time again. Jonathan Osorio ran from half field to the top of the box in the 78th minute to set up Pozuelo’s second goal. To add to that Pozuelo constantly had tons of space to pick his passes in the middle of his pitch.
Up top, Alexandru Mitrita should’ve scored in the 51st minute but hit a weak shot straight at Alex Bono. New York was outshot 16 to seven.
On the sideline, sadly Domenec Torrent is probably the most unloved coach in the MLS now:
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— Ricky (@Horseytweets) March 30, 2019
Torrent only made two substitutions in a night in which most of his starters were off.
He subbed Ebenezer Ofori in the 59th minute for attacking midfielder Valentin Castellanos. Ofori wasn’t having the game of his life but was hustling in the middle of the pitch as he always does. Perhaps Torrent wanted his side to be more attacking minded.
Keaton Parks, a midfielder who broke into Portuguese side Benfica’s first team at 20 years old, didn’t take part in the match.
It’s going to be tough for NYCFC to crawl out from under this loss, especially under a coach who’s in the hot seat.
However, looking back at the Bronx based team’s previous games, there’s hope. The club drew their first three matches of the season with Los Angeles F.C., the top placed team in the West, D.C. United, the second placed team in the East, and with Orlando City SC.
Torrent’s men will hope that Friday was a rare mediocre display. Their next game is not against a powerhouse and they’re home at the Yankee Stadium, which makes their road to recovery easier. Montreal Impact is carrying a 2W-1L-0T record but ended last season as the 15th overall seed.
Furthermore, NYCFC’s long waited new striker Héber Araujo dos Santos is available to make his debut next weekend. And the team’s star playmaker Maximiliano Moralez will be fit to play in their next match. Moralez’s absence was a big reason why The Boys in Blue couldn’t connect in their passes in the middle of the pitch against Toronto.
Moralez and Héber will be valuable assets for New York, but they will need more than an Argentine maestro and a Brazilian striker to bounce back from their performance on Friday. Their road to recovery must start from the back.
