Not surprisingly, Mehdi Ballouchy's goal -- his first in three years -- and celebration earned much of the ink following New York City FC's 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union on Thursday night.
The midfielder had a lovely first touch to create space from a defender then powered a left-footed shot to the far post past goal John McCarthy in the 57th minute to give the Club a one-goal advantage. Unfortunately, the points were split as C.J. Sapong equalized for the visiting team in the match's waning minutes.
Despite the result, the 32-year-old journeyman's story was a highlight.
Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post wrote:
"He peeled off his jersey and went ballistic in celebration with his teammates and drew a yellow caution card — an automatic infraction for removing the jersey.
Had the referee been more familiar with Ballouchy’s story, though, maybe he would have cut him some slack. Ballouchy, after all, had not scored a goal since March 31, 2012 when he was playing with the Red Bulls. That was two torn ACL injuries, two surgeries and two arduous rehabs ago.
Asked what he recalls about the last goal he scored (which came in a 5-2 Red Bulls’ win over Montreal), Ballouchy said, 'I don’t remember much.'
'It’s been a long time coming — two ACLs and [37] months ago,' he said. 'I’m happy I scored, because it’s been awhile. But at the same time, it’s disappointing to end up tying this game. We should have won.'
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer featured the Moroccan's journey as well.
"Except for perhaps the Philadelphia Union faithful who followed their team to the Big Apple and referee Baldomero Toledo, how could you not be happy for someone like Mehdi Ballouchy? A Major League Soccer trooper playing with his sixth team, Ballouchy scored an important goal and a personal victory for himself in New York City's 1-1 draw with Philly at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night."
New York City FC was forced into two substitutions to open the second half, replacing captain David Villa (hamstring) and defender Jason Hernandez (calf). Kwadwo Poku and Kwame Watson-Siriboe were their respective replacements.
Empire of Soccer's Dave Martinez wrote:
"Surprisingly, the change brought life to the attack — and NYCFC found their breakthrough. A clever touch into space from Ballouchy was enough for the Moroccan midfielder to launch a curling left footed shot past McCarthy to give NYCFC the lead in the 57th minute.
'I had the ball, started driving on the back four and it opened up,' Ballouchy recounted. 'McCarthy saw me as I went to my left. Fortunately, I made a good connection and it ended up going in.'
Teammate Andrew Jacobson, who played with Ballouchy at Gunn High School in northern California, according to Cannizzaro "knows Ballouchy better than anyone on the team."
He writes: 'He’s a guy you root for,' Jacobson said. 'He’s a guy you want on your team. When you look over and you see him when the game gets tough, that’s the guy you want next to you. To see the struggles he went through and how hard he battled to get out of it … and to score a goal like that, you can’t feel anything but happy.'
