Dating back to his days in charge of the New York Cosmos, Portland Timbers head coach Gio Savarese seems to have New York City FC's number.
With the Timbers' 1-0 win at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Savarese is now 2-0-0 against the club in MLS play, and knocked them out twice in U.S. Open Cup play during his time with the Cosmos.
"I'm very proud of the sacrifice of the players the way they battled united, how we found the goal, how we created some chances, but we also had to deal with a lot," Savarese said after the game. "They moved the ball well, New York City, and they were looking for spaces. We made sure we worked as a unit and we were able to get a very important result for us, but it wasn’t easy."
The loss snaps NYCFC's 12-game unbeaten run, but head coach Dome Torrent didn't think the result was a fair one.
“I think the team deserved more. I am very proud of them," Torrent said. "It is not easy to play so many games without rest. We are missing some players but is not an excuse, it is a reality, but I am very proud of them. They deserved more. In the first half we made one mistake, and when you make a mistake in soccer it punishes you. But we have to keep working … I am very proud of them. They played very well, especially the second half we deserved at least one goal, but sometimes that happens in soccer you are just unable to score a goal.”
NYCFC had 68% of the possession as the Timbers worked hard to protect their clean sheet. The defensive work was a team effort, highlighted by Sebastian Blanco's second-half block in front of goal. The winger scored the game's lone goal, though also earned plaudits for his steller defensive work rate.
“I thought Seba had a great game, not only the things he created offensively with the goal, but also what he did defensively," Savarese said. "He committed to making sure we had the result, not only him, but everyone on the field worked very hard to make sure we got what we needed, three points from this game."
