On Wednesday, October 20th, NYCFC had gone over four hundred minutes without scoring a goal and inexplicably looked to be out of the playoff picture. That night in Atlanta, Gudi Thorarinsson waived off Maxi Morales from a kick outside the box with his “Viking stare” and launched a perfect free kick in the 90th minute to beat Brad Guzan, getting a result the team desperately needed. Since that goal, NYCFC have outscored their opponents 11-2 and Valentine Castellanos has won the golden boot. Now NYCFC host Atlanta as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and the match up is nothing but appropriate.
Yesterday’s match against Philadelphia was a hard fought contest that could have seen NYCFC jump as high as second place in the standings, a thought that seemed impossible a month ago. The team has gone from plummeting toward the bottom of the table on a losing streak to the team that nobody wants to face in the playoffs. They are riding high with confidence and ability. Even yesterday when Gedion Zelalem was sent off in the Twenty first minute and NYCFC went behind just five minutes later off a goal by Casper Przybylko the team did not hang their heads and accept defeat. Even with just ten men, NYCFC rallied in the second half and kept Philadelphia reeling on their heels. Valentin Castellanos scored the tying goal in the fifty third minute, securing the draw, NYCFC’s fourth place in the East, a home playoff match, and his golden boot, all with one thunderous header into the goal.
Nov 7, 2021; New York, New York, USA; New York City FC midfielder Valentin Castellanos (11) heads the ball against the Philadelphia Union during the second half at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Ronny Deila has spoken several times about how the Thorarinsson goal in Atlanta put them back on course and gave them some confidence again. Yesterday he was nothing but smiles.
“I think it’s been a really really nice season. Most importantly that you go everyday to work and you enjoy it. I can’t remember one day when I didn’t want to go there. I work with a bunch of great people who make my day good and hopefully I can give something to them as well. The togetherness we have now at the Club is really important and that makes everyone’s potential come out, and there is so much quality and youth on the team so it’s building for something special not only this year but also going forward, it’s a massive thing. Like I said it’s to be ambitious and want to improve and we have to have the mindset to want to learn. These things are important and then you deal with the ups and downs.”
There have indeed been ups and downs this season. None were worse than the streak a month ago where NYCFC lost to their cross river rivals suffered an embarrassing defeat at Chicago. The team has rallied and the last six games were the most important in the season. NYCFC viewed them as six finals and needed results in each one to get them where they are now. It is a position that can be summed up by Deila’s talk to the team at halftime yesterday.
“I told them that we have everything to win. We have a great opportunity here with fans, so we just have to go for it. Be organized but try to press them and get hold of the ball. We also knew we we’re going to get a chance or two, so it’s about keeping them away from chances and taking chances when you get them. The header from Taty (Castellanos) was top top quality so I think we deserved a point and that’s a credit to the whole team and I think they played really well today.”
That chance was all they needed to secure a first round home game against Atlanta. The match up seems so appropriate since the last time the two teams met NYCFC righted their sinking ship and saved a season in the process. Deila spoke about what changed and is next after the result yesterday.
“It’s hard to find just one thing, but confidence is important. You have to build leadership as well and I think also the central line with the experienced boys like Taty (Castellanos) up front and these guys taking more responsibility. Of course, we deal with bad times better than we’ve done before. For one year we were all over the place. We saw the playoff game and what happened against Orlando, so we are much better now with keeping focus. Of course, you can’t have bad luck all the time, we’ve been so close in many of the games.
“We had like eight red cards against us this year and its many things that happened that has to turn around when you perform the way we do because we have been a good performing team throughout the whole season. There’s a lot of injuries in the group and we’ve played an unbelievable amount of games in a short period, maybe more than others because we also played in the international break in September.
“When these things happen, it’s a lot of new things for the group but we reorganized ourselves, we got more energy, and we really had to put ourselves together to get into the playoffs. We have three wins and two draws in the last five and if we had lost one, we would have been out of the playoffs, so that says something about how to deal with pressure. All the credit now to the boys and how they’ve really stood up for each other and performed. I’m so happy to go to the playoffs now and we will enjoy it and we will go with everything we have, and we’ll see how far we go, but we have a big opportunity.”
A big opportunity indeed. The date and time have yet to be announced, but there is no doubt the atmosphere in Yankee Stadium will be electric. The sky is the limit for the team and they seem to be peaking at the right moment in the season all thanks to that last minute bit of heroics that saved a season.
New York City FC
Philadelphia Union
