In the first 30 minutes of Sunday night’s game against New York City FC, the team rediscovered a portion of their game that had been held for much of the season and had been played in the last two games.
The first purpose is the best example of this tenacity with midfielder Artur and striker Gyasi Zardes starting a series of quick passes and a key touch and tackle in penalty dominance that resulted in the first purpose of a 3-1 win at Mapfre. Stadium that secured the team a place in the playoffs.
When Valentin Castellanos scored for NYCFC in the 55th minute to take a 2-1 lead, the team looked at the defense but was smart enough to maintain credit until Zardes and Artur found themselves in the 90th minute to kick a penalty and convert the opportunity. . to ensure victory.
After a disgrace against FC Cincinnati, crew showed a familiar spirit in their game to end a four-game winning streak.
“We flew out, competitive,” team coach Caleb Porter said. “We are more productive when we are competitive and at the forefront and yet we have to be organized. There have been some matches where we are competitive, but we are too tense and we are opening up space for teams.
Artur scored in the 26th minute for his first regular-season goal with the crew, midfielder Pedro Santos scored his sixth goal of the season in the 50th minute and Zardes finished his 11th of the year with a penalty at the time of half in time off. .
Two days before the game, the team was evaluated in an expanded team assembly of the type that is held when a team is in crisis. Central Aboubacar Keita said that some areas for improvement that the team had discussed in the assembly were evident in the team’s performance.
“One of the most important things we discussed was not giving up the purposes at the beginning of the game, which I think we were able to handle,” Keita said. “The first purpose helped us a lot. “
While a quick start was a challenge for the team in their winning-free streak, completing a game was also a question mark, given how suspicious the team’s defense had been in the last four games.
The key to any winning team, possibly its two top players, Darlington Nagbe and Lucas Zelarayan, is to make sure that players left in the lineup act at a higher point to fill a void.
While making sure that Zardes, Artur and Santos performed at a higher point opposite the NYCFC than they had done in the last two games with Sunday’s result, there was a thorough evaluation among the coaches on how to get the most out of the organization. existing without changing. Training.
“We’ve done it as a staff in our research over the last 4 games, and it’s that our most productive way with this organization right now is to control games without the ball, be difficult and compact and grind and be comfortable doing it,” Porter says. It’s not what we have to do in every single party, but I think with the organization we have now, they joined that and it was the right thing to do. “
With five games to play this normal season and a Philadelphia Union point for the current position in the East, and perhaps with Zelarayan and Nagbe for the next game, the team returns in the right direction.
jmyers@dispatch. com
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