By Sam Beresford
New York City FC went into their fixture with the Colorado Rapids full of confidence after their historic win over New England Revolution 6 days earlier. Colorado on the other hand, were hoping for their first win in 15 games (going back to 2014) and a goal after not having scored in over 300 minutes. The sunshine shone on the Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park field, as the players finished the national anthem and got ready for kick-off.
The first half an hour was slow with both sides lacking rhythm and not able to take any of their chances. New York’s passing was less than accurate, finding it hard to string many passes together. Colorado dominated the middle of the field with slick one touch passing, however, when they got close they got crowded out by a determined NYCFC defense. The Rapids did create a few half chances mostly not troubling Josh Saunders in the New York goal. It was New York City who had the only clear cut chance with David Villa having his neat first time goal disallowed for offside after 5 minutes. Nemec also went close in the 32nd minute after he went past the on-rushing keeper he was unable to scramble the ball into the net.
The first half ended with neither team really testing either sides goalkeeper. Most of Colorado’s chances were from outside the area, coming mainly from tricky winger Gabi Torres and Dillon Powers who was not afraid to have a shot. Torres looked the most impressive player during the first half, always wanting to go forward and looking to cut back inside and fire a shot. New York went into the dressing room only having one shot that was not even on target compared to Colorado’s seven. Jason Kreis would have been happy that they managed to not concede but the midfield needed sorting out if they were going to challenge the Rapids.
The second half started a lot brighter with chances for both sides in the space of eight minutes. Marc Burch’s fizzing free-kick was smartly tipped over the bar by Josh Saunders. Not too soon after, New York broke on the counter attack which led to David Villa’s low shot that was saved well by Rapid’s keeper Clint Irwin. Jason Kreis made a change in the 60th minute bringing on Khiry Shelton for Nemec who had struggled throughout the game, he looked like a player who was struggling with the heat and was never able to get going properly.
Josh Saunders was once again NYCFC’s saviour as Powers broke free he played a neat ball to Torres, who fired a strong shot towards goal only to be denied by the fingertips of Saunders. Another chance came from the resulting corner as Sjberg’s goal bound effort was blocked by a NYCFC defender. New York were also starting to knock the ball around well, Villa went close with a curling effort after a crisp passing play.
New York created another chance when Villa’s cross had to be palmed away by Irvin otherwise it would of been a certain goal with Shelton ready to tap into the open net. Controversy came in the 81st minute when Colorado substitute Ramirez was taken down close to the box by Facey, the Rapids players were certain it was penalty however, the referee rightly gave a free kick before giving the English full back his marching orders, as he was shown a second yellow card.
The man advantage gave Colorado more space to exploit, with New York not wanting to go forward and leave themselves exposed at the back. Mike Harrington’s toe poke whistled just wide of the left post in the 87th minute as Colorado were still trying to find that goal to break the deadlock.
The five minutes of added time passed by without the Rapids being able to find that all important winning goal. They will look back on this game as one they should of won, dominating the game in the most part. Colorado finished the game with 21 shots compared to NYCFC’s 9 personifying their dominance.
Overall, New York should be content with the point their defense held strong getting the clean sheet in tough conditions. This results means that New York City are still unbeaten in their first 3 games of the season, which is very impressive due to it being their first season.
Next Saturday Jason Kreis’ men are back at Yankee stadium to face Sporting Kansas City, they will be hoping to carry on this unbeaten start and really stamp their authority on the league.
New York City FC went into their fixture with the Colorado Rapids full of confidence after their historic win over New England Revolution 6 days earlier. Colorado on the other hand, were hoping for their first win in 15 games (going back to 2014) and a goal after not having scored in over 300 minutes. The sunshine shone on the Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park field, as the players finished the national anthem and got ready for kick-off.
The first half an hour was slow with both sides lacking rhythm and not able to take any of their chances. New York’s passing was less than accurate, finding it hard to string many passes together. Colorado dominated the middle of the field with slick one touch passing, however, when they got close they got crowded out by a determined NYCFC defense. The Rapids did create a few half chances mostly not troubling Josh Saunders in the New York goal. It was New York City who had the only clear cut chance with David Villa having his neat first time goal disallowed for offside after 5 minutes. Nemec also went close in the 32nd minute after he went past the on-rushing keeper he was unable to scramble the ball into the net.
The first half ended with neither team really testing either sides goalkeeper. Most of Colorado’s chances were from outside the area, coming mainly from tricky winger Gabi Torres and Dillon Powers who was not afraid to have a shot. Torres looked the most impressive player during the first half, always wanting to go forward and looking to cut back inside and fire a shot. New York went into the dressing room only having one shot that was not even on target compared to Colorado’s seven. Jason Kreis would have been happy that they managed to not concede but the midfield needed sorting out if they were going to challenge the Rapids.
The second half started a lot brighter with chances for both sides in the space of eight minutes. Marc Burch’s fizzing free-kick was smartly tipped over the bar by Josh Saunders. Not too soon after, New York broke on the counter attack which led to David Villa’s low shot that was saved well by Rapid’s keeper Clint Irwin. Jason Kreis made a change in the 60th minute bringing on Khiry Shelton for Nemec who had struggled throughout the game, he looked like a player who was struggling with the heat and was never able to get going properly.
Josh Saunders was once again NYCFC’s saviour as Powers broke free he played a neat ball to Torres, who fired a strong shot towards goal only to be denied by the fingertips of Saunders. Another chance came from the resulting corner as Sjberg’s goal bound effort was blocked by a NYCFC defender. New York were also starting to knock the ball around well, Villa went close with a curling effort after a crisp passing play.
New York created another chance when Villa’s cross had to be palmed away by Irvin otherwise it would of been a certain goal with Shelton ready to tap into the open net. Controversy came in the 81st minute when Colorado substitute Ramirez was taken down close to the box by Facey, the Rapids players were certain it was penalty however, the referee rightly gave a free kick before giving the English full back his marching orders, as he was shown a second yellow card.
The man advantage gave Colorado more space to exploit, with New York not wanting to go forward and leave themselves exposed at the back. Mike Harrington’s toe poke whistled just wide of the left post in the 87th minute as Colorado were still trying to find that goal to break the deadlock.
The five minutes of added time passed by without the Rapids being able to find that all important winning goal. They will look back on this game as one they should of won, dominating the game in the most part. Colorado finished the game with 21 shots compared to NYCFC’s 9 personifying their dominance.
Overall, New York should be content with the point their defense held strong getting the clean sheet in tough conditions. This results means that New York City are still unbeaten in their first 3 games of the season, which is very impressive due to it being their first season.
Next Saturday Jason Kreis’ men are back at Yankee stadium to face Sporting Kansas City, they will be hoping to carry on this unbeaten start and really stamp their authority on the league.