New York City FC made history Saturday night, winning away from home for the first time in their history and snapping an 11-match winless streak with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union.
It’s just three points in the standings, but it means so much more for a team still learning to play together.
“It’s great to get a win away, great to finally get some points that I feel like we’ve deserved for a long time, but we need to keep our feet on the ground,” NYCFC coach Jason Kreis said. “We just look ourselves in the mirror and know that we still have a long way to go.”
Kreis was forced to juggle his lineup because of injuries and Mix Diskerud’s call-up to the US national team, and inserted Thomas McNamara and Kwadwo Poku into the starting XI. Both midfielders ended up having a major impact on the game in their first starts with the club.
The two combined for NYCFC's first goal of the night. Poku played a ball to McNamara, who had time and space to turn and run at goal before firing a blast from 30 yards out into the net for the equalizer in the 53rd minute. It was McNamara’s second career goal and first in an NYCFC uniform. His last goal came last April before a knee injury knocked him out for the season.
“I just tried to get myself inside and I think it was Poku who ended up giving me the ball,” McNamara said. “I took a touch or two and just decided to go for it and I caught it well and it just ended up in the top corner.
"You could see that they looked a little bit leggy in the first half and both of them looked really fatigued at the end of the first half,” Kreis said. “We got them in here and got them a little bit of a break, but I do think that they, like everyone else, there is a lot of room for improvement.”
Patrick Mullins, who replaced Adam Nemec in the 78th minute, scored the winning goal three minutes from full time when he took a throw-in from Jeb Brovsky and shielded off a defender before beating Philadelphia goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre with a slightly deflected left-footed shot inside the near post for his third goal of the season.
“It’s huge. Not only is it three points, but it’s three points on the road and in this league that’s not easy to do,” Mullins said. “I think it’s a big morale boost and hopefully we can put together a few nice performances and continue to get points.”
While there’s relief and elation in the locker room on Saturday night, the big question is whether NYCFC can build on this win with a home game against the Montreal Impact on the horizon in a week’s time (June 13 at 7 pm ET on MLS LIVE).
“I think we’ve been building it for a while and then going into the home game against Montreal, it’s going to be huge,” goalkeeper Josh Saunders said. “A good effort in training this week, continue to work on things and get some little plays better and maybe get some more.”
Dylan Butler covers New York City FC for MLSsoccer.com.
