After mustering just four points on a tough four-game road trip, New York City FC had hoped finally playing at home for the first time in nearly a month would help lift them to victory.
It didn’t. What they got instead was a tie that felt like a loss, conceding a late equalizer to one of the league’s worst teams. They got held at home to a 2-2 draw by New England in front of 20,193 disappointed fans at the Stadium.
In the end they coughed up an 86th-minute goal to flush two points, giving up a header to 5-foot-8 Xavier Kouassi that had coach Patrick Vieira in the locker room telling his team in no uncertain terms how disappointed he was.
“We can talk about conceding the goal late, we can talk about the number of chances or opportunities that we create. But we just have to be more. … We can talk about concentration, we can talk about focus,’’ said Vieira. “If you score the chances you create, then the game would be different. On the other side, we’ve been really naive with the way we’ve been defending.”
Or the way NYCFC (6-5-3, 21 points) didn’t defend. They saw Kelyn Rowe bring a ball down, control it and send in a perfect cross that the diminutive Kouassi headed home.
“Obviously it was a very frustrating game. [Vieira] was disappointed with the result. We wanted the win and being in a situation where we could’ve gotten it, he’s even more disappointed. But we have to get our heads back up,’’ said Jack Harrison, adding “It’s a disappointing game. We wanted the three points and we didn’t get it.”
They earned it, then gave it away. Harrison scored his sixth goal of the year off a brilliant feed from David Villa, but they gave up Kei Kamara’s equalizing header off a Lee Nguyen corner seven minutes later. Miguel Camargo came on as a sub and scored his first MLS goal three minutes later in the 64th.
But they couldn’t make the lead hold up, even against a Revolution team that’s 4-5-5 and on a seven-game road winless skid.
“I agree [with Vieira]. In the moment, we switch off and don’t do what’s necessary, and we end up conceding a late goal. We’ve got to stay tuned in for 90-plus minutes. It’s a game that takes seconds to change. That was the case,’’ said keeper Sean Johnson, who turned 28 Wednesday. “When the game’s on the line it’s being more sharp mentally.
“In games where we have to find a way to get a result, it’s not going to be pretty at times. It’s going to take us doing what’s necessary in the moment. … We’ve got to take advantage, especially games that we have the upper hand. We’ve got to close out games and make the games matter. You look at the game you control for the most part. … It’s a matter of really, really wanting to come away with the result.”
According to RMC Sport, Vieira was contacted by Saint-Etienne team chairmen Bernard Caiazzo and Roland Romeyer to gauge his interest in taking over the French side.
