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| You seen Godoy? |
That wasn’t the prettiest game, by any means; in fact, the
first goal, scored by the San Jose Earthquakes, set the tone nicely, in that it
came as the New York City FC’s winner would – e.g. pressure forcing an error,
thereby creating a goal. Wow, is that a mess of words and punctuation.
For all that, New York deserved its 2-1 win, and, to swing back
to a pre-game tweet, I don’t see much to fear from the specific iteration of
San Jose that played today. Their defense held up admirably under, oh, 500
pounds’ of pressure from New York, even with San Jose’s midfield too separated,
but with San Jose’s attack struggling to get going, they got overwhelmed in the
end.
Now, some specifics on both teams.
New York City FC
- It’s been said countless times, but it bears repeating:
David Villa (two assists) was one hell of a signing, both for NYCFC and MLS. He
made something out of a mushy cross to set up NYCFC’s momentum-sucking equalizer.
- I have two notes on the “middle 3” of NYCFC’s 4-3-3.
First, Alex Ring and Maxi Moralez bring enough to let the 37-year-old Andrea
Pirlo play just about the only game he can, by way of aggression/eating ground
and an ever-available passing combination outlet, respectively. Ring, in
particular, gives two-way cover for the Italian legend, but, second, you really
have to ask whether it’s worth it. Tommy McNamara scored NYCFC’s winner thanks
to a run I’m not sure Pirlo would ever make. (And, I gotta say, Villa seems to LOVE playing with Wallace...see the celebration.)
- In spite of Alexander Callens (admittedly forced) error on
San Jose’s lone goal (I'll lard up the links once I can get to them sans spoilers), between him, Maxime Chanot, and Frederic Brillant, NYCFC
looks like it has a pretty damned solid CB rotation for 2017.
- Rodney Wallace gets deserved praise for his solid two-way
play, but it’s having Roland Matarrita behind him that makes NYCFC’s left as
strong as it is. San Jose couldn’t get a damn thing going down that side…which
makes for a great segue.
