After the lowest of lows, New York City FC experienced the highest of highs, scoring a club-record six goals in a 6-0 rout of D.C. United at Yankee Stadium Saturday night, shattering talk of that goalless streak in a New York minute.
By doing so, NYCFC moved into fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, jettisoning D.C. United to a spot below the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs line the Cityzens occupied ahead of a critical four-point week.
“It’s in our DNA, we want to attack all the time and we want to give the fans entertainment and something to remember,” NYCFC manager Ronny Deila said. “As we said before, this is the first time in club history we win by six goals so that's something we have to take with us. At our best we can do big things and at our lowest level it's too low. Today we showed our best side.”
A Gudi Thórarinsson free kick golazo broke a scoreless streak that exceeded 500 minutes and salvaged a 1-1 draw at Atlanta United last Wednesday. If that was the exhale moment, NYCFC took that confidence into Saturday's clash and flexed their scoring muscles to snap a six-match winless streak.
A team that’s been among the best in MLS in various advanced stats finished those chances with historic precision, handing D.C. United their worst-ever loss.
“They are human beings, so they know exactly what kind of situation we are in. We have to enjoy the moment now,” Deila said. “It was a great match with good individual performances and as a team. We scored a lot of goals, and we have to take that confidence with us to the game in Chicago, but everybody knows that it’s all even now, so we have to just keep on performing, and if we do that we know what we are capable of doing as you can see today.”
Taty Castellanos also shattered his own personal four-match scoring drought with a brace inside the opening 11 minutes. The young Argentine was denied a hat trick when his bicycle kick was saved by Bill Hamid. But Maxi Moralez potted the rebound to give NYCFC a 4- 0 lead at the halftime break.
It appeared to be even more evidence that as Taty goes, so too go NYCFC.
“It’s streaks that the No. 9 has, there were games that if I wasn’t scoring goals I was important to the team by making assists or helping the team out by creating spaces and we have won a lot of games,” Castellanos said. “But the No. 9 lives by scoring goals, as I have said the most important thing is the team, and I am also working hard on a personal level.”
As glorious it was for NYCFC Saturday night, they're closer to that dreaded playoff line than fourth-place Orlando City SC. It’s because of that Castellanos refers to each of his club’s final three matches, beginning at home Wednesday (7:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+) against a Chicago Fire FC side that's already been eliminated from playoff contention.
“We have to be focused on the playoffs. We need to qualify and win the games that are left, there are three finals that we have to give it our all, play how we did tonight,” Castellanos said. “The most important thing is to stick together, with the coaching staff, the club staff, and with everyone. That’s most important, that the team is united so that results come about, and we can play well to get into the playoffs.”
