New York City FC’s playoff hopes suffered another crushing blow following a disastrous 5-1 defeat against Philadelphia Union at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
NYCFC, who came into the game sixth in the Eastern Conference following a seven-game winless streak in the MLS, could not have made a worse start , finding themselves three goals down after half an hour.
Philadelphia’s Tai Baribo, Mikael Uhre and Daniél Gazdag took advantage of three defensive howlers to give the away side a seemingly unassailable three-goal cushion before Alonso Martinez provided a glimmer of hope deep into first-half stoppage time with a smart finish.
The home side did improve in the second half but could not find a way past Andrew Vincent Rick in the Philadelphia goal and conceded twice from Philadelphia’s only two attacks in the half when Jakob Glesnes powered home a header from a corner and substitute Jesús Bueno clinically finished off a counterattack late on.
NYCFC dominated the ball throughout the game on Wednesday but too often lacked a cutting edge in front of goal, spurning a number of glorious opportunities thanks to a combination of Rick’s heroics and wasteful finishing. At the other end, Philadelphia clinically took advantage of numerous defensive lapses in a textbook away performance.
The result leaves NYCFC in sixth in the Eastern Conference, three points behind local rivals New York Red Bulls in fifth. They have now failed to win any of their last eight MLS games and sit three points off the top four in the Eastern Conference, with each of the sides who finish in the top four guaranteed two games in the first round of the MLS Cup.
The result also leaves NYCFC looking over their shoulder ahead of the post-season, with seven points separating them from 10th-placed DC United ahead of a daunting three-game run against conference leaders Inter Miami, local rivals New York Red Bulls and second-placed Cincinnati.
NYCFC head coach Nick Cushing said the concession of three first-half goals made a comeback impossible on Wednesday and added that he has complete confidence in his team to arrest the downturn in form over the past eight games.
“It’s a really difficult night in the sense that we give three goals and make the game almost impossible,” Cushing said. “We created five huge chances in the game which we didn’t take and then we give them a goal from a set play. We have to look at why that is and quickly fix why those moments aren’t falling our way.
“I look around the group and see a group that wants to play the next game now because tonight is so difficult,” Cushing added. “I have complete confidence that we’ll get back to winning ways and continue to win football matches.”
Philadelphia took the lead with their first chance of the game when Kai Wagner’s outswinging corner was only half-cleared as far as Olivier Mbaizer, who sent a floating header back into the penalty area and found Baribo unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box.
The Israeli glanced a header past the despairing dive of Freese to hand Philadelphia the lead on the quarter-hour mark.
Baribo almost doubled the lead a minute later, only for Strahinja Tanasijević to make a goal-saving block to deny the Israeli from six yards.
Philadelphia did not have to wait long for a second, again taking advantage of some sloppy NYCFC defending when Thiago Martins failed to control a seemingly harmless ball to set Baribo through on goal.
The striker was momentarily held up but showed good poise to tee up Uhre, who coolly rolled a shot into the bottom corner to double Philadelphia’s lead after 25 minutes.
They had the ball in the net again six minutes later to a chorus of boos and whistles from the home crowd after yet another calamitous error. Baribo was again involved, looping what appeared to be a harmless header straight at Matt Freese, only for the ‘keeper to spill the ball to Gazdag. The Hungarian could not miss, tapping the ball home from less than a yard out.
As if to compound NYCFC’s first-half misery, Martinez then spurned the home side’s best opportunity of the match when he failed to connect with Tayvon Gray’s cross with the goal at his mercy.
He made amends with the last kick of the half, however, emphatically volleying home a whipped Kevin O’Toole cross to cut the deficit to two.
NYCFC improved after the break and almost halved the deficit when Keaton Parks was played in on goal on the hour mark following a slick move, but the midfielder saw his close-range shot come back off the post.
Rick then produced an outstanding save to deny substitute Mounsef Bakrar, scrambling back to palm the Algerian striker’s lob off the line.
NYCFC were made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal when Glesnes rose highest to power home a Wagner corner with 15 minutes remaining to extinguish any hopes of a fightback from the home side.
Bueno compounded a miserable evening for the hosts when he slammed a powerful effort past Freese from just inside the penalty area to kickstart an exodus of home fans with five minutes remaining.
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