Photo Credit: NYCFC
David Villa stood in front of his locker, his right hand holding his body up against the wall as he leaned over the chair standing over his feet.
Usually willing to speak with the media – even talking after the 7-0 nightmare loss against the New York Red Bulls, his club’s biggest rivals – the Spanish striker soon collected his belongings and left the locker room without addressing a single question.
But based off the 90 minutes of soccer that unfolded at Yankee Stadium shortly beforehand, words weren’t needed to describe the disappointment he felt in the moment.
His mind surely raced between the multitude of chances he wasted — flashing the ball wide of goal after a ball from RJ Allen set him through on goal, returning a ball back to Andrea Pirlo’s feet after the Italian found him open at the far end of the opponents 18-yard box, bombing the ball over the crossbar in the final minute of regulation.
Among the misses, the one which will sting the most is the half-volley he missed while wide-open in the penalty area in the dying moments of the contest which, had it gone in, would’ve been the late equalizer his club has found itself on the wrong side of so many times before.
Instead, New York City FC’s form at home continued to plummet as it suffered a 3-2 loss to visiting Real Salt Lake Thursday before heading into a two-week break for Copa America.
The Blues are now 1-3-5 when playing at Yankee Stadium this season, earning just eight points of a possible 27.
Things seemed to be heading towards changing that trend in the opening half of the match.
NYCFC had complete control of the match, creating a barrage of chances as it held a majority of the possession. The team provided excellent service to Villa, but Major League Soccer’s leading goal scorer looked like anything but as he missed every one of the chances he was given.
As the 34-year old had one of his worst performances in his time at the club, 19-year old Jack Harrison created a high standard for the future in his first career start in MLS.
The rookie out of Wake Forest was impressive on both sides of the ball in his debut, fearlessly taking on defenders and providing decent service into the box when he had the ball and intercepting the ball and leading counter-attacks when he was without it.
Harrison’s phenomenal individual performance culminated in the 56th minute with his first career goal to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. The Englishman received a pass from Pirlo at midfield before charging forward and passing two defenders before unleashing a strike that deflected off of Justen Glad and past Nick Rimando.
“Obviously really nice to get your first goal,” Harrison said. “Got a bit lucky with it, got a deflection, but I’m still happy to get out there and fortunate to get the start, really.”
The opener came against the run of play as Real Salt Lake gradually grew into the game immediately after coming out of the locker room at the half, creating the first moment of danger on Josh Saunders’ goal a minute into the second half.
So it came as no surprise when Yura Movsisyan equalized for the visitors four minutes after Harrison’s goal, putting RSL’s first shot on goal past Saunders after controlling a long ball from Sunday Stephen at midfield and beating defender Jason Hernandez handily.
After its first shot on goal tied the game at one, Salt Lake’s second shot on goal gave it the lead eight minutes later as Juan Manuel Martinez rifled a cleared header off a free-kick into the top right corner past Saunders using the outside of his boot.
Real Salt Lake didn’t get another shot on goal for the rest of the night but managed to push its lead to 3-1 after Frederic Brillant deflected a Javier Morales cross past Saunders. The own goal completed RSL’s run of three goals in 15 minutes.
Shortly before Real Salt Lake doubled its lead, Mix Diskerud missed a sitter on the other end, heading a cross from Villa over Rimando’s goal while standing at the edge of his six-yard box, continuing the wastefulness his team showed in front of goal for most of the night.
“I think we should go back to the dressing room at least three goals ahead and that wasn’t the case and I think when you don’t score in the first half and you come back in the second half, I believe the opposition team had more confidence in themselves and they make it difficult for us,” said NYCFC head coach Patrick Vieira. “But of course, when you score the first goal, you expect the team to be more composed, to defend better, and it wasn’t the case, so tonight is one of the similar nights we’ve had previously where the team played well and in the end, we draw or we lose and it’s really frustrating.”
The Blues didn’t give up after conceding a third, however. With Kwadwo Poku and Frank Lampard having come on for Harrison and Diskerud, respectively, moments before Brillant’s own goal, the home side continued to create chances at a similar rate to the first half.
The persistence paid off in the 87th minute when they were given a shot from the penalty spot after suffering a foul in the penalty area. After missing a penalty in a 2-2 tie with Orlando that would’ve effectively ended the match, Villa made no mistakes from the spot this time, burying the shot to make it 3-2 with three minutes of regulation and five minutes of extra time remaining.
As the seconds ticked off and the chances for the Blues piled up, so did the misses, none more flagrant than Villa’s in the last few seconds, moments before he hung his head in disappointment in the dressing room.
With two weeks off until it returns to MLS action on June 18th when it hosts Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia Union, Vieira has a lot to think about on how his squad could overcome the mental block it faces when playing in its friendly confines.
For now, he has an idea of what he wants to fix.
“I think when I analyze all the games that we play at home, there is positive and negative, obviously,” he said. “The positive is the way we play football and the number of chances we create. I think today, you all and i could agree that, especially the first half, we played some fantastic football. Our movement was really good, we created opportunities and it was really positive.”
“On the other side is that, we don’t score enough goals with the chances that we create. So we have to change something and that something for me is the mental approach to the game. What I mean by that is that we have to be a little bit more humble and I think the team at times showed a bit of arrogance and over-confidence and we got punished straight away.”
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