NEW YORK — Going down a man in a derby match is never a good thing. Down two is usually a death sentence, but that’s not how New York City FC saw it Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
“What’s kind of crazy and what symbolizes our team is that even down two men, I think every guy on the pitch was still pushing for a winner,” goalkeeper Sean Johnson said. “In a game like that, we understood what it meant and everybody was just hungry to win.”
That winner didn’t come, but neither did the expected onslaught from the New York Red Bulls in the Heineken Rivalry Week clash and the loud ovation from most of the 30,139 in attendance after the final whistle spoke to the pleasure taken from a hard-fought 1-1 draw.
“The first people believing we can do it was the people in the crowd, 30,000 people,” NYCFC captain David Villa said. “They don’t go down when [Bradley] Wright-Phillips scored a goal, when [the referee gave] the first red card. After, we followed them and we had a great final result for us. We are very happy for the effort.”
That 90-minute effort was lacking in the last three games and coach Dome Torrent had complained about the drop in intensity in the second half recently. That wasn’t the case against the Red Bulls.
“The last couple of games we were missing the so-called trait we have had all season,” midfielder Alex Ring said. “I told the guys if we don’t bring that on the pitch, if we don’t come out and give it all we’re going to get losses in this league because the quality of the other teams is good enough to punish us like we saw. This was a great response from us as a team.”
Three minutes after Wright-Phillips scored, Eloi Amagat was sent off for a rash challenge on Marc Rzatkowski in the 40th minute.
Torrent knew he had to change tactically, but instead of opting for a defensive shape and bunkering down for the final 45 minutes, he went with a 4-3-2 formation, partnering Jo Inge Berget with Villa.
The move paid dividends when Berget laid the ball off to Villa, who smashed the equalizer past Luis Robles in the 52nd minute.
And even after Ebenezer Ofori was sent off following Video Review for a cleat to Wright-Phillips’ Achilles, NYCFC continued to fight, continue to push.
“This is the reaction we needed from everyone and I think that’s what Dome is pleased about,” defender Sebastien Ibeagha said. “It’s a big result, down two men against Red Bulls. We’re happy we’re able to grind it out, for sure.”
NYCFC doesn’t play another league game until Sept. 1 when they head to Columbus. But they believe this performance is one that can power them forward and put their slump behind them.
“Finally a really good game for us. … Probably we need that,” Villa said. “Sometimes you need a game like that when you are in a bad moment because right now we are in a bad moment, not in the table, but many injuries, red cards, a lot of players out, you need something like that.”
