BRONX, NY — Two minutes in at Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon and NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen sensed there was an urgency. Tani Oluwaseyi scored his team leading fifth goal of the season and Minnesota United would not look back and handed NYCFC a 2-1 loss at home.
There was urgency after that quick goal and Jansen was aware, though NYCFC has that reputation of overcoming a deficit. In franchise history at home against a Western division opponent NYCFC (20-19-9) has scored 79 goals and conceded 47. Though there was urgency because Jansen sensed there was limited early protection of the ball.
“Performances always bring along new lessons and new questions in the development of a team,” he said. “What we have to get under control is what I told my guys just now. You can never start a match like we did today. It’s impossible.”
But it has been impossible for NYCFC not to play well at home, this one though they had to bring intense play after that opening goal. The opportunities came and they went because Minnesota kept applying the pressure. They were relentless and urgency was definite in the second half for NYCFC.
Keaton Parks pulled a goal back in the 80th minute, that was it. It wasn’t until the 75th minute when NYCFC registered their first shot on target. Parks, a midfielder, scored his first goal of the season and 15th overall for NYCFC. But that goal came too late and the urgency from that early goal was a theme of this one.
And for this team as constructed with plenty of youth, including 17-year old midfielder Jonathan Shore, they have to overcome conceding an early goal. It’s an aspect of their game they believe can be achieved. Western Conference clubs are also compiled with that control of the ball. Jansen knows his team will have to do better when they host eastern rival Philadelphia next Saturday evening at Citi Field.
“So, it has to do with time,” he said. “Obviously young players need time. But on the other hand, we need to perform. There will be a moment in time when we say, ‘okay, yeah, we tried our best,’ but it’s not enough. That moment is not here not by a long mile. So, I’m not worried about that. But that is a huge aspect of our game we need to improve.”
In due time of course a young team will develop, Jansen was hired as a coach that works well with developing young players on the pitch. Still relatively early on the MLS schedule adjustments are also certain based on the urgency. It was that second half when urgency was stressed based on that early goal as many of the 18,279 in attendance were still filing into the stadium.
“Trying to get rid of easy turnovers halftime was about getting rid of the urgency,” said midfielder Justin Haak. “We created more chances. We knew they are going to be attacking. They are a team of good strikers.”
He quickly wiped away any theory that NYCFC can’t handle the urgency, especially when opposing teams from the western conference, their second game of the season they lost 1-0 at Los Angeles, the reigning 2024 MLS champion.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Haak said about losing to the superior western conference teams. “I don’t think so.”
Said Parks, “We started slow, and we gave up early goals then we had to chase them. Our game plan was the same: it was to break them down with the ball because they like to sit. It just became much harder once we were down goals, so it didn’t change much. Our game plan was the same, but it did open up a little bit because we had to score.”
Regardless, NYCFC is not in that stage of urgency. The season is still young, however a loss is not as good as a win of gaining three points in the Eastern Conference standings or a draw of one point. They got limited contributions from the constant attack, scoring from midfielder Maxi Moralez, and assists contributor Julián Fernández. Keeper Matt Freeze had seven saves, the all-time series leader versus Minnesota.
“The first 15–20 minutes weren’t good enough,” said defender Kevin O’Toole. “And we’ve got to learn from it really quickly because we need to start stringing together 90-minute performances if we want to get results and be the team that we know we can be.”
As a unit they made a point of not giving up goals and in the early stages. Though that second half did have adjustments addressed for the second half, Jansen had a plan but Minnesota would not relent their attack.
“So, we had a few moments that we could have gotten back into the game with the new strategy, but that’s something that was lacking today,” he said.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and contributor LatinoSports.com – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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