NYCFC Tie with New England 1-1

IMAGE, TWITTER.COM/NYCFC

With a couple of new faces in the lineup like fan favorite Kwadwo Poku, Steven Mendoza, and Jefferson Mena in the lineup, New York City FC played New England to a 1-1 draw despite New England playing down a man for almost 30 minutes.

NYCFC were first to make the breakthrough in the tenth minute of the game, as Man of the Match Tommy McNamara reacted first to a David Villa strike that went off the crossbar, McNamara headed the ball into the back of the net to give NYCFC the early lead. Mena’s first start didn’t last long, as Vieira made the change in the 28th minute to bring in Diego Martinez for his debut with the club. Vieira noticing that NYCFC was getting beat on the left side of the field early on and wanted to make a change at the back.

New England equalized in the 38th minute with Chris Tierney hitting a free kick from the edge of the box that took a wicked deflection past Josh Saunders sending the teams in level at the break.

In the 51st minute New England midfielder Gershon Koffie made an unadvised foul against McNamara and drew a red card which reduced the Revolution to only 10 men for the rest of the match.

In the 90th Minute, Tony Taylor lofted a pass into the box which found the head of Patrick Mullins but was saved by Bobby Shuttlesworth.

Only a minute later, McNamara found himself outside the box and fired a shot on net, but the shot went wide and the final whistle blew as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

At the end of the game, Jefferson Mena commented, “It was a good game. We had opportunities to score and the other team made some great stops. They were well positioned and they were able to tie the game.  Our team is still coming together and you can see the character of our team still in development.  They played very strongly. As a team we need to get better each week to get the results that we want.” NYCFC still missing players like Frank Lampard and first round pick Jack Harrison, who could each have a big impact on the club as the season progresses. Although they didn’t get the 3 points they wanted, the defense looked better and there is still a whole season ahead for this club.

Happy Easter Everyone!