Leagues Cup ’23: New York City FC vs Atlas FC

This match-up sees two teams on different paths in their seasons, for Atlas, their season just started, and they sit in 7th place with a good record and looking to gain momentum from this tournament to take back home. For NYCFC they sit below the Mendoza line out of the playoffs and have a huge mountain to climb even though they’re only 4 points out of the last spot. See New York now has to deal with a new version of Inter Miami CF when league play resumes. It won’t be the punching bag Miami going into the final half of the season.

The world saw what Messi can do in just the small amount of time he has been with the club along with Sergio, it was impressive and jaw-dropping. The man has already got Robert Taylor looking like a man possessed and Josef Martinez is happy which is a huge shocker to many in the media and fans alike. It is well-known Josef likes being the center of attention, he will not be that with Messi and his friends in town playing alongside him.

“We need to be ruthless; we need to get on the board and just go all out, pin the other side to the ground, and leave them there with no hope of victory. I know the lads are close I can feel it, this team is going to explode on someone, and it will be brutal it will be ruthless”. –Nick Cushings NYCFC Head Coach

New York needs to get a reboot in this tournament, they need to find the magic they’re used to playing with taking players people knew little about and making them stars. The first match in the tournament won’t be easy as Atlas is a solid team who plays a physical style and love to pressure their opponents in various ways. The biggest key for New York is to not fall behind early in this match, they struggled with coming back in matches they trail at halftime, which is something this club isn’t used to seeing. They usually can recover quickly and stay in matches; this year it’s been literal doom for them.

Unfortunately, for New York, it wasn’t just their supporter’s section that got trampled by Atlas it was the first team as well. They fell asleep for a moment in the 7′ Luis Reyes made the boys in blue pay when he found his teammate Aldo Rocha for the only goal of the match. Aldo took the cross on the volley and sent a rocket into the back of the net beating Luis Barraza to the lower corner of the 1st post.

New York had chances before the Atlas goal by Aldo, but in typical fashion this season Talles Magno just couldn’t finish the series off with a goal. It’s been a plague for goals this year in New York. Nick Cushing’s has thrown everything including the kitchen sink at the goal this season and his players have just ‘struggled to finish. The coach who helped NYC win its first MLS Cup is frustrated with his side’s results and watching the games he has every right to be. He sets them up for success, but they struggle to reel it in and get the wins, so instead of battling for the first seed which is the norm for the boys in blue, they’re instead battling for the brand-new playoff seeds in the bottom of the conference.

In the second half we saw a better effort from New York but with the same results of no goals, New York thought they had the match tied to set up a possible penalty kick finish, but the goal was taken away by VAR following its review of the goal. Haak never made it back to an onside position after his teammate’s initial shot was blocked by Atlas. Keaton headed a perfect ball over to Haak for a great goal. The big issue was Haak took too long to run back into place to be on for the pass. Nick Cushing’s when asked about the play said, “Everyone in this room knows the goal should’ve stood, if Haak was offside I don’t know the laws anymore or understand the clarifications”. While Nick is usually spot on, I’m sure after he rewatches it he will see Haak took a bit too long to reset and be eligible to score. It is not the first time Haak has cost his team this season and it surely won’t be the last. The once-reliable player is now in the fan’s doghouse and probably headed to Nick’s as well if things don’t change soon.

This tournament gave fans hope of silverware this season, they had a group that they could win, and now they will head to Red Bull Arena to face off against Toronto FC. Nick will need to figure it out fast too as the turnaround between matches is only days. If New York falls to Toronto, they will be out of the tournament in the group stages. #dalenewyork