… and we’re back!
NYCFC return to Yankee Stadium on Saturday going in search of a second MLS win of the season.
San Jose Earthquakes stand in the way, so let’s find out what’s changed since we last met our Western Conference rivals…
Key Stats
- This will be just the third meeting all-time between the two clubs. NYCFC earned a 3-2 home win and a scoreless 0-0 draw at San Jose in the first two games.
- Dating back to last season, NYCFC is 9W-0L-1D in their last 10 regular season games at Yankee Stadium, outscoring opponents 29-10 and keeping three clean sheets. They had kept three clean sheets in their previous 26 home games.
- San Jose has lost 12 of their last 20 away games (1W-7D), conceding an average of 1.8 goals per contest over those contests.
- Midfielder Alexander Ring has won 15 tackles this season, six more than any other NYCFC player. Only two MLS players have more entering this weekend.
- Defender Alexander Callens is completing 90.0% of his passes this season, the second-highest completion percentage of any MLS player who has attempted at least 200 passes.
- Chris Wondolowski scored against NYCFC in the 3-2 City victory on September 19th, 2015. Since the start of the 2010 MLS regular season, Wondolowski has scored against all 20 teams that he has made an appearance against.
- San Jose has faced only six shots on target so far this season, the fewest of any team in MLS.
- Anibal Godoy has 37 ball recoveries so far this year, tied for the second most of any MLS field player. Godoy already has two goals this year, matching his single season MLS high (he had two in 2015 and one in 2016).
- NYCFC had 26.7% shooting accuracy against Montreal in their last game, their lowest shooting accuracy over the course of their last eight regular season MLS games (only one other accuracy lower than 50%).
- Rodney Wallace has scored in back-to-back MLS games. He had only scored one goal in his previous 35 MLS appearances.
The Last Time
Last time the two teams faced off on Etihad Pitch in September 2015, NYCFC edged an entertaining five-goal thriller, thanks to a Ned Grabavoy brace and a 65th minute strike which turned out to be the winner by David Villa.
What’s Changed?
San Jose retooled their defensive and attacking departments following an underwhelming 2016 season.
Head coach Dominic Kinnear added Panamanian international Harold Cummings, Florian Jungwirth and Nick Lima at the back, while Marcos Urena, and Danny Hoesen have been added to the frontline and will hope to partner up with main man, Chris Wondolowski.
Last Match
San Jose went down to their first defeat of the season last time out when they travelling to Sporting KC.
Kansas bested Kinnear’s men 2-1 following Earthquakes’ two wins which had commenced their campaign.
Last Season
San Jose finished ninth in the Western Conference (8-12-14), missing the playoffs. Their poor record on the road proved decisive as they managed just one win away from Avaya Stadium all year.
