USL Feature
Friday, July 1, 2011
By NICHOLAS MURRAY
There have been ups and downs in F.C. New York’s first season, but the club is on the up both on and off the field as it prepares to face Antigua Barracuda FC tonight in the USL PRO Game of the Week on FOX Soccer at 8 p.m.
On the field, the club narrowly fell to its more illustrious counterparts the New York Red Bulls, 2-1 in the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday night, Owen Morrison’s brilliant strike from 30 yards briefly silencing the crowd at Red Bull Arena before the home side rallied for victory. New York has also been playing well in USL PRO, going 2-1-3 in its past six outings including a pair of draws against Richmond and victory against Rochester in that span.
That has helped the team off the field, with Tuesday night’s game putting the local, and national, spotlight on the team for the first time. With outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times delving into the team ahead of its game with the Red Bulls, the side was then able to back up the publicity with some good play, which the club hopes will translate into added exposure for the club and its players.
“Nights like Tuesday are important for us because we get some more exposure and we get the players some more exposure, which from my point of view is good, and the club as a whole,” interim coach Paul Shaw said by phone recently. “We had a good evening, we did well on the pitch and obviously did well out of it off the pitch with the exposure we got and that’s the sort of thing the club needs. I think there’s still a lot of people who don’t know about us, or don’t know enough about us, and nights like Tuesday will help.”
Shaw is currently leading the squad after one of the season’s early downs that saw Coach Matt Weston leave the team. For the players, though, the attitude has been to let the past be the past, and that’s been reflected in their recent form that has them sitting in the final playoff place in USL PRO’s National Division.
“We’ve just gone forward, we haven’t really gone back, and the results have been pretty good,” Morrison said. “We’re just trying to keep moving forward and hopefully continue with the results and not have too many defeats and hopefully make the playoffs. Then next season we can come back and hopefully do much better and continue to progress.”
There is a lot of thought about the future around the club. While Shaw and Morrison are experienced veterans of English soccer, Shaw playing for Arsenal and scoring more than 20 goals for Millwall, Gillingham and Ferencvaros in his career and Morrison playing for Sheffield Wednesday among other clubs, the bulk of New York’s squad are either rookies or young professionals who are still finding their feet at this level of the game. Shaw, though, has been pleased with the way those youngsters have progressed during the season.
“For everybody concerned with the club, on the pitch and off the pitch it’s a big learning curve,” Shaw said. “For us on the pitch the players have done great, to be honest, they’re learning every week, every day it seems like they’re learning in training, picking up things, getting used to the league, getting used to the players they play against, and you can definitely see the improvement in the players week-in and week-out. We need to keep doing that and keep doing it for the rest of season.”
New York will be without one of its key performers tonight in Graciano Brito, who had a good run of form before suffering a knee injury against Richmond on June 11. The side has adapted in his absence, though, playing a more patient style as it tries to unlock opposing defenses. Against an Antigua side that is coming off a pair of defeats to American Division leader Orlando City, New York is hoping to put on a positive display for the national audience.
“We’re getting good things at the moment,” Morrison said. We played against the Red Bulls which was a good experience, now we’re on national TV which is good for the guys and it’s just more experience. Getting things like this, it’s a good chance for players to shine if people are watching from other teams, bigger teams and it’s good for the club to be on TV so hopefully we can all do well, get a good result and play some nice soccer.”