It’s the business end of the MLS season once again, and NYCFC will take on Charlotte FC in the first round of the playoffs.
In a best-of-three series, NYCFC travels to the Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina for Game 1 on Tuesday night before coming back to New York for the second leg of the tie on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Yankee Stadium. If needed, the Boys in Blue will head back to Charlotte for the third game, which is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 6.
“It’s the period that everybody has been working so hard to get to,” NYCFC head coach Pascal Jansen said. “Obviously, finishing fifth with 56 points is an okay achievement itself, but now that’s a big difference compared to the league, obviously, because it’s a competition of its own.”
City finished the regular season in fifth place, three points behind the Crown in fourth. The winner of the two will face the winner of the series between the Philadelphia Union and Chicago Fire. If NYCFC advances, the Eastern Conference semifinal will be played in either Philadelphia, if the Union wins, or New York, if Chicago advances due to the seedings.
However, City is on a run of two losses — falling 1-0 to the Union in their penultimate game and conceding a Jackson Regan header three minutes from time against the Seattle Sounders at home in their final regular-season match. However, Jansen is not concerned about the dip in form despite losing three of their last four matches.
“We will prepare the team as good as we can going into the first game, going to Charlotte to try to do our business, do our job, and make sure we have a good result going into the second game,” Jansen said. “Hopefully, we will not have to use the third game. That’s the approach we always take into our games.”
Jansen’s record against the Crown stands at 1-1 this season, having lost 2-0 at the Bank of America Stadium in July. That match was the first in a four-game away stretch for the Boys in Blue, and they rebounded with two wins and a draw, picking up their second road win of the season in Orlando and ending an 82-day and 13-match-long winless streak away from the Big Apple.
However, NYCFC had dominated the match in possession, shots, and passes. Jansen said he had reviewed the footage earlier and attributed the loss to Charlotte exposing NYCFC’s right side before the goal and to his team’s inability to capitalize on their domination.
When Charlotte came to visit two months later, two Alonso Martínez penalties, either side of halftime, were able to see off the Crown.
“I think we showed good quality in both games — game one without scoring the goals that we should have, and in game two, we had two penalties, obviously, to go ahead, but we also created lots more moments to create more difference between us,” Jansen noted.
Charlotte FC will be without its biggest star, Wilfried Zaha, as the former Manchester United and Crystal Palace winger was sent off for a second yellow in Charlotte’s Decision Day matchup against the Union. Zaha had scored to break the deadlock in the 24th minute, but was booked twice for arguing with the match officials.
The Ivorian has contributed to 15 goals in the league this season, but Pep Biel — the midfield loanee from Greek side Olympiaco FC — leads the Crown’s goal contributions chart with 21 — 10 goals and 11 assists.
“It’s more their problem than our problem,” Jansen said. “We just have to prepare ourselves for a different scenario, because somebody else is going to play. It’s something we’ve done throughout the season many times.”
