BRONX | Andrew Jacobson scored his first goal in more than two years as New York City FC lost 2-1 to Columbus Crew SC in front of a sell-out crowd of 30,018 on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Justin Meram scored the match winner in the 83rd minute as New York City FC drop to 7-13-7 (28 points) and the Crew improve to 11-8-8 (41 points).
"It’s seven important games that we have left to play, but we need to take them one at a time," midfielder Andrea Pirlo said. "We need to think of them as one at a time. They’re all hard, but I’m sure that if we think of winning one at a time, then you do one, and you think of the next. That’s the way to proceed.”
"It’s about wins and losses in this league and we needed a win," forward Patrick Mullins said. "Clearly we didn’t get it. I think at the end of the day this game was decided in the two final thirds and I think they were just a little bit sharper than we were."
Trailing 1-0 in the 29th minute, New York City FC defender Jason Hernandez played a ball in the air ahead to Mullins, who showed good control by trapping it on his chest. The forward, who was making his first start since July 18, laid the ball off to his side for Jacobson. The midfielder took one touch ahead then unleashed a rocket from 25 yards out to tie the score at 1-1.
It was Jacobson’s sixth goal in Major League Soccer and his first since June 22, 2013.
Columbus took an early advantage thanks to Federico Higuain in the 10th minute. Wil Trapp served up a corner kick into the box that the Crew midfielder met with his head to put the visitors up 1-0.
New York City FC responded less than 20 minutes later, scoring for the first time in a first half since the Club’s 5-3 win over Orlando City SC on July 26.
"We needed to win this game," defender Andoni Iraola said. "Towards the end of the season, the points matter more. We started off on the wrong foot with a goal against us due to a lack of focus during a corner kick. I think we turned it around after that. We balanced the game and equalized. We had chances to score a second goal. There was a moment when Columbus had chances and so did we, but they seized them first and took the win home."
The Club had a chance to take the lead before the break on a spectacular effort by Mix Diskerud. New York City FC took a quick free kick near midfield. Captain David Villa got the ball on the left and had a nice give-and-go with Frank Lampard, who was making his first start since August 9. Mullins then got the ball and chipped it in front of the net as Mix tried a bicycle kick that went over the bar.
The score remained 1-1 at halftime.
New York City FC came out the aggressor in the second half as Jefferson Mena almost headed home Pirlo’s corner kick, but it went wide of the net.
After a back and forth half, it was Columbus that escaped with the spoils. The Crew gained possession in midfield as Higuain found Meram on the left side. The second-half substitute cut into the box and placed his shot into the low far corner to make it 2-1.
New York City FC are on a bye Labor Day Weekend and return to action on September 12 against FC Dallas. Kickoff is 8:30 p.m. ET from Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas (YES Network, WFAN, WADO).
"We have no other choice but to train harder and continue to work," Iraola said. "We know that it’s not simple and our schedule is difficult, but we have no other options than to keep going, train harder and try for things to turn out better on game days."
Added Lampard: "I’m used to playing where you need to win pretty much every game to try and win leagues. We’re in a similar spot now. We’re all aware of the math and there should be a pressure on ourselves every week. We’ll keep going. There’s enough games, enough points to play for but can’t keep saying it every week when we’re not picking it up. It’s more important what we do than what we say.”
