CCL - February 15 - Santos de Guapiles (Away)

[canchon]

Glad that Taty is in form and got some luck with the early penalty. Finishing was brutal, should have had 4 at the half. Santos being dreadful going forward made it easy because they were giving the ball away way too cheaply.

They were cruising until the red card, a little bit of panicking but then settled down and saw it out.

Santos now needs to basically score 3 goals in the return leg to advance. Should get to the next round.

 

[GratefulDawg]

Glad we got the win down in Costa Rica. It puts us in a good place for the return leg in LA.

The good:

Taty looks hungry.

We came out pretty sharp and dominated possession until the harsh red on Santi.

Talles looks a little bit more confident.

The bad:

It could have been 0-6 before the red card. We've got to improve on burying the chances we create.

The passing out from the back was SLOPPY. Even Johnson had several poor passes that would have been punished of we were playing a stronger team.

Zelalem needs to work on staying focused and being more physical, even with his skinny frame.

I was getting MLS Cup vibes in that sequence in our box in the 91st minute.

Let's take care of business in LA.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

I’ll take the win here. Coming off a preseason where we couldn’t see any game time I’m happy with how we played. Sloppy is expected. Taty coming out in MVP form is great to see. If he does leave this year at least he’s getting his price up.

 

[Keith Putnam]

Solid win on the road despite a lot of sloppy giveaways. Maybe playing this round of matches prior to the MLS season will let us start off marginally sharper than average?

I... just can't look at the new sleeve sponsor.

 

[KevinJRogers]

Solid win on the road despite a lot of sloppy giveaways. Maybe playing this round of matches prior to the MLS season will let us start off marginally sharper than average?

I... just can't look at the new sleeve sponsor.

LOL It's not ideal. Cheeky (har har), but not ideal. Considering where we're from it would have been better were it, I dunno, Goldman Sachs or something.

[Embrace the Dark Side ... ]

For sure this competition will allow us to tighten up a little, though. It's worth it just for that. Some things you can only really discover in live competition, and now we know a few of them and get to iron them out.

 

[LionNYC]

How the Santi red card stood with VAR is a sin for Concacaf.

 

[Shwafta]

How the Santi red card stood with VAR is a sin for Concacaf.

It was definitely a red, though it was harsh. I think VAR not overturning it was the correct decision.

(Nice to see Lion back with a ref complaint first thing in the season )

 

[ZYanksRule]

How the Santi red card stood with VAR is a sin for Concacaf.

It was soft, but it kind of reminds me of the Ebenezer Ofori red card against the Red Bulls a few years ago -- it's usually never called a red on the field, but it usually is a red after VAR. He stepped on the guy's ankle. I don't like it because there's no intent and it's clearly not on purpose, but in today's definition of the call, it's a red.

 

[Kjbert]

Taty finished his two chances. Thiught he looked a little unhappy to be here but whatever. He was fine today.
Thought Maxi was terrific. Man of the match for me.
Santi played very well.
Talles Magno shows flashes. Great in a highlight But I’m not sold.
Our central midfield pivot was atrocious. Haak will be the primary backup to our pivot by mid season. Those two were overmatched tonight.
Callens and Chanot very good
Gray was brutal. Lowest rated player on the pitch for me, just behind Zelalem
Malte wasn’t all that much better. 6/10 for Malte. Our fullbacks and midfielders just weren’t good today.

Happy to see Parks back on the field

 

[JayH]

I... just can't look at the new sleeve sponsor.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1493801816542388226

 

[mgarbowski]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1493801816542388226

Does that mean SDG was constipated?
We can just keep doing this.

 

[GratefulDawg]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1493801816542388226

The only good thing about that logo is the font is so futuristic looking that it is difficult to ascertain what it is unless you REALLY look at it.

Surprisingly, no one took a swipe at us in the r/MLS match thread. I'm ready for the Ass-wipe FC comments.

 

[mgarbowski]

I'm ready for the Ass-wipe FC comments.

It's pronounced oz-WEE-pay

 

[GratefulDawg]

NYCFC win first leg in first-round CONCACAF Champions League match

Valentin Castellanos scored two first-half goals as New York City FC rolled to a 2-0 win over Santos de Guapiles FC in first-round action of the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday in San Jose, Co…

nypost.com

Two articles from a paper in San Jose:

Técnico de Santos evita las excusas tras derrota ante el New York City

El estratega Erick Rodríguez reconoce que su equipo llegó con bajas importantes al primer duelo de octavos, pero no quiso excusarse en ello para explicar la derrota de 2-0.

www.nacion.com

Santos vivió un debut amargo en la Liga de Campeones de Concacaf

El equipo de Guápiles perdió 2-0 ante el New York City, actual campeón de la MLS, en el Estadio Nacional.

www.nacion.com

 

[JayH]

Taty finished his two chances. Thiught he looked a little unhappy to be here but whatever. He was fine today.
Thought Maxi was terrific. Man of the match for me.
Santi played very well.
Talles Magno shows flashes. Great in a highlight But I’m not sold.
Our central midfield pivot was atrocious. Haak will be the primary backup to our pivot by mid season. Those two were overmatched tonight.
Callens and Chanot very good
Gray was brutal. Lowest rated player on the pitch for me, just behind Zelalem
Malte wasn’t all that much better. 6/10 for Malte. Our fullbacks and midfielders just weren’t good today.

Happy to see Parks back on the field

Agree with some/much of this, but I saw Zelalem differently and I actually thought his play was promising. He created space with his first touch and his passes were crisp and effective. He did have a couple of bad giveaways but so did most with the expected rust.

 

[Seth]

A lot of folks are going a bit negative about this or that but I'm totally OK with this game. We've had like two weeks of preseason maybe and this was essentially our first real spring training game, so yes, there's going to be a lot of rust in places with a lot of new people in new positions. I'm going to give them three matches before I'd even consider getting worried about a few bad passes or misjudgments.

But let's talk about Taty's rolled up shorts. Now *that* was an egregious error!

 

[SoupInNYC]

A lot of folks are going a bit negative about this or that but I'm totally OK with this game. We've had like two weeks of preseason maybe and this was essentially our first real spring training game, so yes, there's going to be a lot of rust in places with a lot of new people in new positions. I'm going to give them three matches before I'd even consider getting worried about a few bad passes or misjudgments.

This is why I feel bad for the Revs for advancing to the quarters without getting one match in.

I feel pretty damn confident that they would be able to get past a team from Haiti and a few games to get into form would have done them good.

We looked rusty working the ball from the back and should continue to improve on that as we go.

Nobody got hurt, we put ourselves in a great position to advance, Keaton got some decent minutes, I'm happy.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Random thoughts.

Team was definitely rusty. Almost all the players had bad giveaways and nervy moments. We should have done better beating the press they laid on after the first goal, but hopefully that will come with time.

I liked Zelalem's game. Not great, but promising. Our players were going in their first real game for 2 months. He was going in his second real game in almost 3 years - most of that lost to injury. After settling in, he had a couple of nice line splitting passes and won some balls in midfield. I saw enough to want more.

Aspects of our play were like the frustrating version of our team for most of last season. Lots of possession, lots of chances, not enough goals. Both of our goals had an element of luck, with a penalty and a botched clearance (two really). Fortunately, Santos was crap enough that we still won comfortably.

Red Card should not have been one. Santi just stepped on his ankle. That's not uncommon. He didn't lunge in with force or hit him higher on the leg. That could get carded 5 times a game.

On the broadcast, the announcer said that Santos' home stadium was not eligible because of the poor quality of the artificial surface. That's a Concacaf rule that I support.

This

But let's talk about Taty's rolled up shorts. Now *that* was an egregious error!

 

[SoupInNYC]

Red Card should not have been one. Santi just stepped on his ankle. That's not uncommon. He didn't lunge in with force or hit him higher on the leg. That could get carded 5 times a game.

Agreed, should not have been a red.

I am somewhat ok with it not being overturned by VAR. Clear and obvious errors should only be the calls overturned and not sure this fell into that category other than "this happens all the time".

 

[Shwafta]

Surprisingly, no one took a swipe ass wipe at us in the r/MLS match thread.

FIFY