They New York City Football Club has had a rough week. Just 4 days after losing late in a 1-0 match on the road against USL team Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, the team was once again shut out 1-0, this time to a visiting CF Montreal Club.
NYCFC, which was at the moment in 7th place in the East faced off against a Montreal squad that had a league worst 3 points on the season, having 8 losses and 3 draws in it’s first 11 matches plus a long history of success against the Canadian club but much like the US Open Match on Wednesday struggled to apply prolonged pressure. The team’s best chance came early in the first half when Alonso Martinez broke free on a full 50 yard run with the ball but had the chance dashed on a spectacular aggressive play by Montreal Goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois. However aside from that the threats weren’t really there, something Head Coach Pascal Jansen stated the offense was on more than just Alonso.
The only scoring of the match came early into the the second half when Prince Owusu scored from the right side of the box for the 1-0 score and what would be the final.
In the end, the long month continues with a quick turnaround and a trip to DC, facing off against former goalkeeper Luis Barraza and the always dangerous Christian Benteke.
4 STATS
1) Going into this match NYCFC was 12W-3L-5D against CF Montreal, their best record against any team.
2) Midfielder Aiden O’Neill played his first minutes with the squad.
3) NYCFC is a perfect 5-0-0 when their opponents have 4 shots on goal or less, but 0W-6L-2D when their opponents have 5 or more shots.
4) Despite the loss, Matt Freese’s save percentage is back up to 75%, good for 10th best in the league.
