It seems none of the subs worked out for Rony Delia, one gets a caution shortly after going in, another lost for the season. Forget the score line, the loss of Heber is season long and impactful. With Maxi still not back to fitness, the offense took a massive blow. We were half a section up in the seats and at the midpoint of the goal, he went down, hard and his defender was calling for the doctors as soon as he hit the floor then for the stretcher as well long before the ref or teammates.
Some changes to the starting lineup included Tinnerholm, Medina & Castellanos, in hopes of jump starting the goaless last game facing the Revs as they sought lucky #7 games without a loss. They and TFC know each other well and with the full compliment of points from a win, NYCFC would then be but a pair of points from Toronto. NYCFC did start off very well, possessing the ball and keepoing it in their offensive third for quite some time on both sides of the field, the first half came to a close with NY having the 10-3 advantage for shots, 5-1 on goal. Castellanos had a great chance on a headerr but Bono parried it beyond the goal. He would make more saves in the first half on Medina, Callens and Ring. Te 2nd half began mush the same as the game when at 51' Mackay-Steven played in a ball to Taty, it was inches wide and Bono again made a play on the ball. 57' saw Taty give way to Heber as he then had a caution for a hard collision on Bono and other fouls. Heber in short term put a good chance on goal, blocked by Bono. At the 70' mark a trio of changes were instituted by coach as Matarrita, Mitrita & Tajouri-Shradi came on, maybe 15' later, Heber was out. Following his lengthy evaluation and removal from the field, Heber was replaced by Acevedo, he was carded for a hanball in the area and Pozuelo put it away for the win, he did similarly at Citifield last year in the playoffs.
NY clearly had the better of the play, but as Delia observed earlier in the year, they need to send more balls goal bound. Throughout the whole of the game the wing mid and forwards were free to receive the ball, they tried again and again to play the ball inside, as that kept on not working, they must adjust, carry the ball, seek another outlet for as free as they were this should hae been a totally different game. Please see the Facebook page of Soccer Long Island Magazine for videos.
Next up, Sat., FC CIncinnati at 7 on Yes and NYCFC.com/Radio.