A dominating second half effort fell just short, as the Union fell 3-2 to New York City FC, snapping a franchise-high eight-game unbeaten streak.
Trailing 3-0, the Union controlled possession in the second half, 65-35, and scored a pair of goals to create a hectic final 10 minutes, but the comeback ultimately fell short.
“I would like to apologize to our fans who traveled here. Also our fans watching at home for the first half. That was not us, that was not what we are about,” Union head coach Jim Curtin said during the post-game press conference. “Disappointed from that regard. I take responsibility for it. I did not have them ready to play.”
But, whatever Curtin said at halftime worked – even if it took 10 minutes. It started in the 55th minute with Roland Alberg converting a penalty kick for his first career MLS goal.
The Union then crawled to within one following an own goal in the 88th minute that started from a corner kick. Tranquillo Barnetta perfectly found Brian Carroll inside the box, who headed it on target. It went off NYCFC’s Frederic Brillant and into the back of the net to cut the lead to one.
But that’s as close as the Union would get. A last-ditch effort in the final minute came from another corner kick (the Union had six to City’s 0) that Alberg controlled before a possible foul inside of the box. The penalty shout was denied and the game was over.
“Yes in my opinion it is a PK, 100 percent,” Alberg said. “But that’s my opinion.”
New York City opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Frank Lampard tapped a loose ball past a helpless Andre Blake. Thomas McNamara and R.J. Allen picked up assists on the play, as McNamara’s attempted shot trickled into the box where Lampard was stationed.
A few minutes later, Lampard almost had another goal as David Villa attempted a shot from midfield that had beaten Blake, who was off his line. Villa’s shot drilled off the bar and fell back to Lampard about 15 yards away. But Blake was able to recover in time to stop the ensuing rebound.
Still, Villa got his goal shortly thereafter in the 21st minute. On a counterattack, rookie Jack Harrison raced down the middle of the field before laying the ball off for the Spaniard who easily beat Blake for a 2-0 lead.
Andre Pirlo made it 3-0 with his first-ever MLS goal from a free kick in the 50th minute. But thanks to Fabian Herbers – who drew the foul in the box – and Alberg who converted, the Union were back in it just five minutes later.
With the Union starting to pile on the pressure late in the second half, NYCFC’s Jason Hernandez picked up his second yellow card in the 85th minute. The Union pressure continued, leading to a corner kick in 88th minute. With the ball played in by Barnetta, Carroll headed a ball off an NYC defender and past Saunders to cut the lead to one.
“We have been a team that has been pretty resilient,” Curtin said. “We have scored a lot of goals late in games. We were just disappointed on how we started. It took us a while to create chances, but I am not surprised that we stuck with it and created a couple goals in the end. On a different day it could have been a PK at the end.”
But it was for naught on Saturday. The loss is the first for the Union in more than two months (April 16 vs. Seattle). They’ll return to action Wednesday against Chicago Fire.
“It was a difficult first half, I think second half we deserved a draw,” Alberg said. “It was difficult today – it was a little bit unlucky. They scored three, and maybe they thought it was finished, but we made the run for 3-2 and almost a 3-3. It’s unlucky, we have to keep moving, and look forward to the next game.”
