NYCFC’s Playoff Hopes Diminish With Another Draw

The New York City Football Club goal to scratch back into a playoff spot took a small hit after ending in a 1-1 draw with visiting Vancouver, keeping the club 3 points out of a 9th place spot with just 6 games to go. One a mid afternoon game on Saturday the team struck first after a setup in their own end led to a Mounsef Bakrar shot that went 5 hole against Whitecap goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka at the 55 minute mark, giving the Boys in Blue (in their green kits) the 1-0 advantage to start the second half. However barely 5 minutes later afterwards after Vancouver’s Ryan Gauld converted a Penalty Kick at the 60 minute mark for the 1-1 score, and final.

With just 6 games left in the season it’s 100% going to be an uphill climb if the club is going to work it’s way into a playoff spot. 4 of which are at home, however one is against Lionel Messi/Inter-Miami on the road. Notes and facts below after a couple vids for you:

5 NOTES:

1) Up next is a one week MLS break for the Concacaf Nations League with NYCFC resuming on September 16 at home against the New York Red Bulls. RBNY sits one point behind NYCFC at 13th place with two games in hand (at the time of this writing). NYCFC is 6-3-1 against it’s Derby rivals at Yankee Stadium.

2) At the time of this writing, NYCFC sits (as mentioned) 3 points out of the final playoff spot, currently being DC United at 33 points with one match in hand over the Cityzens. The two teams will face off in the last match of the year, October 21 at the moment at Red Bull Arena. However personally I expect it will be moved to Yankee Stadium as the Yankees sit a whopping 8.5 games out of the last Wild Card spot and have a less than 1% chance of reaching the postseason, per PlayoffStatus.com.

3) Speaking of PlayoffStatus.com, the website gives NYCFC a 13% chance of making the postseason. The last three full seasons the 9th place team in 2022, 2021 and 2019 had 42, 47, 41 respectively. NYCFC max points they can accomplish is 48.

4) Matt Freese has now started the past two matches and now 4 of the last 6 overall. In those 4 matches he’s allowed 2 goals on 9 shots and posted two clean sheets (the other against Toronto in Leagues Cup.

5) At 12 draws, the NYCFC sets a team record with every tie. The previous record for the club was 10 back in 2019. The MLS record is 18, both by the Chicago Fire in 2014 and again by Nashville in 2021.

About the author – Scott Churchson has been an actor in every way for the past 13 years, from BG to stand in to stunts and principal, a sports writer for the past 4 and is one of the people that created Stream Punk Entertainment. He’s married to a veterinarian, has a cat with three working legs, a mother-in-law who just moved in and is just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe.