NYCFC has some problems.
It was known going into Sunday’s match against Orlando City that New York City FC never had found a way to contain forward Cyle Larin. But what wasn’t known was how NYCFC would react to the loss of wingback Ronald Matarrita or how much midfielder Andrea Pirlo had left in the tank.
Those questions were answered. Larin’s pair of goals exposed Rodney Wallace, Matarrita’s replacement, and Pirlo failed to play a full match for the fourth straight game. NYCFC came away pointless for the first time in their past 11 home matches, losing 2-1 to ex-coach Jason Kreis in an over-officiated affair at Yankee Stadium.
“We didn’t take our chances and we didn’t really defend well,” said NYCFC coach Patrick Vieira. “I don’t think [Orlando] is better than us or played better than us today.”
As NYCFC coach, Vieira has yet to defeat Orlando City (5-1-0, 15 points) and more telling, the Lions have outscored NYCFC, 8-3, in five matches under Vieira.
“[Orlando City] maybe isn’t a nice team to watch play, but they are very efficient,” Vieira said.
NYCFC (3-3-1, 10 points) held Orlando City to just three shots on target, but two of those went in thanks to suspect defending by Wallace.
The Costa Rican replaced Matarrita, who suffered a high ankle sprain and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. Despite the injury, Vieira opted to stay in the 4-3-3 formation with Wallace, who normally plays on the wing in the attacking end, dropping back as a replacement with the assignment of containing Larin.
Twice, that proved costly.
In the 31st minute, Wallace was beaten on the wing when a cross skipped past him and a slew of NYCFC defenders, finding Larin for an easy tap-in in front of goalkeeper Sean Johnson. In the second half, Larin manhandled Wallace on a back-post header, when the Canadian leapt on the shoulders of Wallace to head one in in the 53rd minute.
Larin has scored 13 goals in eight games against NYCFC since 2015.
Despite Wallace’s poor performance, Vieira said left back isn’t Wallace’s favorite position, but believes Wallace can continue playing left back going forward. Wallace admitted he has some work to do.
“They are two different positions,” said Wallace, frustratingly, when asked about the position switch. “There are different responsibilities.”
The disastrous game also marked the fourth straight match in which Pirlo was yanked off the field, this time in the 56th minute for Yangel Herrera.
“I made a change because I wanted something different,” said Vieira, who danced around being critical of his hobbled star.
The ugliness even extended to the referee, Sorin Stoica, who oversaw a match that had no rhythm of play. Stoica handed out eight yellow cards, four to each side.
While the stop-and-start atmosphere affected both teams, NYCFC did get one goal back later in the match when Orlando City was caught asleep, allowing David Villa to extend his leg like Gumby and lope one over the head of goalie Joe Bendik, whose heroics kept six of NYCFC’s seven shots on target out of the net.
If there was one lone bright spot for NYCFC, it was Jack Harrison, whom NYCFC relied heavily on to filter their attack on the flanks. But Vieira admitted NYCFC didn’t create enough two-on-one opportunities on the wing for Harrison and Tommy McNamara to create an overload on the wings.
“You wouldn’t find a coach who’s more familiar with this field than me,” said Kreis, who again got revenge against his former team. “I’m obviously very familiar with how Patrick [Vieira] wants to play after watching him play in Manchester four or five months coaching his team there. We did go into the game with a very clear game plan.”