Over the weekend, the New York City Football Club got off to a soft start in the 2023 season opener on the road against Nashville, falling 2-0 and managing only two shots on goal for the entire match. This is a season of transition for the club as a whole, with several key members (many of whom being leaders on the club) departing for the four corners of the globe.
Frankly I see some parallels between the start of this season and the middle of last, when both Golden Boot winner Taty Castellanos & Head Coach Ronny Deila went to Europe in the middle of the season. In both cases the team had to make massive adjustments and learn on the pitch how well those adjustments are going. I believe this time around will be faster than the last due to preseason but it’s still adjustments just the same.
As the club travels to Chicago for a Saturday night matchup in game 2 of the season, here are 5 things to keep an eye out for:
1) Can the offense rebound? The team laid an egg on the road last week and need to find the net Saturday. Going down 0-2 or even 0-1-1 won’t cut it going into the home opener next weekend and as mentioned only had 2 shots on goal against Nashville. Rumors abound that Santi Rodriguez has resolved his Visa issue and is expected to join the club; as the team’s leader last year in assists he’s return is key.
2) How will Chicago come out of the gate? The Fire are the only team in the East that didn’t get their first game under their belt last week, having played one final friendly. This being their own home opener expect the club to come out with a Fire (pun partially intended) under them. Lastly, the addition of Kei Kamara from Montreal has the potential of adding a little extra punch to an offense that was second worst in the league last year with only 39 goals. Kamara is 38 but is also 3rd in MLS history in goals scored. At the end of his career? Sadly yes. Veteran presence and still a threat? Absolutely.
3) How will the weather affect performance? As of this writing 3 days prior the weather is expected to be 29 degrees with a 7MPH wind. For guys at 160ish lbs and wearing shorts expect possible cramping to occur which may require more and even sooner substitutions than planned. This is also a concern I have with the playoffs going into December this year, but a topic for another time definitely.
4) Is it still going to be Luis Barraza’s job for much longer? I talked in another article about how it’s his time to shine, but in bringing in Matt Freese, he’s not a lock for the job. He did what he could last week despite the defensive breakdowns but if he were to allow a couple soft goals and worse the team loses in the process, he might once again be relegated to being backup.
5) How much of an impact with James Sands have upon his return? Word just broke that fan favorite James Sands has returned from his time with Rangers FC in Scotland and just signed an extension with NYCFC all the way through 2027. Obviously, this is big news, but how quickly can he get acclimated with his old club? Personally, I missed the hell out of that guy.
Even though it’s game 2 of the season, teams can set a tone quickly. Falling 0-2 right out the gate can plant the seeds of fear and doubt into a club. Not going to say this is a must win game, but it’s definitely a can’t lose either. We’ll see Saturday.
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