The New York City Football Club’s tenure under Pascal Jansen has officially begun after the team fought to a 2-2 draw on the road against Lionel Messi and Inter-Miami. Jansen, who was hired in the off season after the dismissal of former head coach Nick Cushing fought back after going down early but surrendered a goal late to a Miami squad playing down a man for most of the match.
NYCFC fell behind early just 6 minutes into the match after a spectacular right footed pass from across the box found Tomás Avilés who scored to the bottom left corner for the early IM lead. However a few minutes later, Aviles drew a pivotal red card just outside of 18 to give NYCFC a fighting chance back in, lead a few minutes later by Maxi Moralez feeding Mitja Ilenic to the right side of the box for a bad angle goal on a free kick play no one on Inter-Miami saw coming.
In the second half Alonso Martinez picked up where he left off last season, scoring his first of the year to the left side of the box 55 minutes in for NYCFC’s first lead of the match. However (and some are calling this the Messi-factor), the match had an whopping 11 minutes of added time. And 10 minutes into said 11 minutes with Inter-Miami playing like a team possessed, the match drew even after Telasco Segovia picked up a Messi pass and buried a lob over goalkeeper Matt Freese’s head and into the left corner of the net for a 2-2 final. In the end, it’s a draw that felt like a loss to some (including Ilenic during the press conference) but Jansen’s thoughts summed up the match well. “We were just a little too short—that sums it all up. Just a little too short. But on the other hand, an away game against [Inter] Miami is always a challenge, and I think my boys took on the challenge with brave hearts and were very courageous. I think we controlled some parts of the game the way we wanted to, especially out of possession, even though they went down to 10 men. But then again, it’s always very, very sad to concede a late equalizer.”
Next up is another rough road match as the team travels to California to take on LAFC in a past my bedtime match at 10:30pm Eastern. Nap and coffee will be on the schedule that night.
My Thoughts:
The match had vibes of the 2006 film Rocky Balboa where, if you remember, Mason “The Line” Dixon owned the early part of the fight until he broke his hand in the second round allowing Balboa to come back with a knockdown that round and ended with a fight that went the distance (including Mason knocking down Balboa late in the fight). That red card last night was that broken hand. Getting a point against Messi and Inter-Miami is in many ways a win in itself, however to be that close to getting 3 points and ending with 1 feels a bit like a loss. Lastly seeing Pascal Jansen in a post game press conference felt odd to me despite having been through it before when Ronny Delia left. Going to take some getting used to.
5 Stats:
1) This is NYCFC’s third straight draw against Inter-Miami, including a pair of 1-1 draws last season.
2) This officially began Maxi Moralez’s 9th season with the team, far and away the longest tenured player with the club.
3) The match was also the debut of both 23 year old Nico Cavallo and 17 year old Jonathan Shore. Nothing makes you feel old like realizing you were well into your 30s by the time a professional MLS player was born. Laugh if you want, but one day you’ll get there.
4) Mitja’s goal was the second of his career, scoring last season back on October 2 against FC Cincinatti in a 3-2 win at home.
5) As mentioned, NYCFC will be heading west to talk on LAFC, a team that has gone 35W-8L-9D since 2022. The reigning Supporters Shield winners were ousted in a 2-1 loss at home to Seattle in a match that saw former NYCFC captain Maxime Chanot give up an Own Goal to draw the match even.
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