NYCFC clinch playoffs with win

New York City Football Club are on a bit of a hot streak. Winning five of their last six league games, they seem to have found that consistent level of play they have been searching for all season at the right time. On Saturday, they defeated Charlotte FC at home by a score of 2-0 and jumped all the way to fourth in the league table.

New York were pressing form the start and came out of the locker room hot and ready to play. They jumped on and pressured Charlotte’s defense from the get go. Charlotte who were riding a nine game winning streak, had trouble dealing with the press and in the eleventh minute Kristijan Kahlina to down Andres Perea in the box and gave NYCFC the lead. New York City never looked back.

Charlotte’s star, Wilfred Zaha was essentially taken out of the game with strong one on one defending by Tayvon Gray and never found his footing. He did have a chance to put Charlotte on the board when he earned a questionable PK late in the match, but newly resigned Matt Freese was up to the task and blocked the shot.

New York scored again early in the second half off another penalty awarded for a handball in the box on a Kevin O’toole shot from distance. although Charlotte enjoyed most of the possession, controlling the ball 58 percent of the time, New York City’s Expected goals were almost three times as high as the visiting squad at 2.47 to .90 and New York City outshot the visitors 15 to 5.

Pascal Jansen put the season into perspective after the match. “We’re playing for a top-four spot in general. It’s about how you get there, of course, and how you build your roster. That’s the interesting part. That’s the first experience for me working in the MLS. When certain people were getting a little bit nervous that we didn’t sign any players, and when Santi [former Midfielder Santiago Rodríguez]left, people were like, what’s going on? There’s no DP [Designated Player] coming in. Our strategy is very clear, and that’s what I committed to, and that’s why we got [Defender] Raul [Gustavo]. Same goes for [Midfielder] Aiden [O’Neill], same goes for [Midfielder] Nico [Fernández Mercau], because we believe that we can build a roster that can be competitive throughout the whole season and for many seasons. Now, we’ve clinched the playoff spot, which is obviously a success, but we want more. We still have a few games to go and still 12 points to gain, and then we’ll see where we finish. Once the league is finished, the season is finished, then we will start to focus on the playoffs.”

The team has now clinched the playoff spot and have a game in hand on every team above them in the table. New York City seem to be coming into their own as a squad at the perfect moment in the season. Kevin O’toole summed it up after the match. “I feel like we’re kind of in one of our best moments as a team in quite some time, so it feels great. The momentum and the energy in the locker room is one of just belief, and we feel like when we step out on the field, we can compete with anyone and beat anyone on any day. That’s kind of the vibe that the boys are feeling in the locker room. It’s a good time to have it going into the playoffs.”

On Wednesday, the club plays another game with huge playoff implications. Inter Miami FC come to the Bronx in hopes of enlarging their playoff resume and climbing above NYCFC into the fourth spot, each team hoping to earn that final first round hosting opportunity. It will be a hard test for a team riding high off the Charlotte win and another brutal game in a season ending stretch, but if NYCFC can play like they played Saturday again they could see their playoff stock rise even higher.