ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC left back Anthony Markanich loves to look at game film, reviewing his performances to see what he did well, what he didn’t and how the team did as a whole.
His favorite film is a fairly new release: City SC’s game with New York City FC on March 2.
“Before every game,†he said, “I watch that New York City game because just from the collective, like everybody, just from the first whistle, everybody was just switched on, everyone’s on the front foot. And that’s what we just need to get to is that game. I think we just look back to that game again and just focus like what we did right from the first whistle.â€
That game, a 2-0 win for City SC, is pertinent not just because it’s the prototype for how the team wants to look, but for another reason: It came on the heels of City SC’s first loss of the season, a 1-0 defeat by the Houston Dynamo that knocked City SC out of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It was a loss that hit the team hard, a game where City SC wasn’t very competitive. There wasn’t a whole lot of time for soul-searching after the Houston loss on a Tuesday before facing NYCFC on Saturday, but the messages got across and the team posted its only shutout so far in eight games against NYCFC.
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“Not even like from a shutout point,†Markanich said, “just from like, the whole from the first minute to the 90th minute, it’s just unbelievable.â€
City SC suffered its second loss of the season, and first in Major League Soccer play, last week in a 3-1 defeat at Real Salt Lake and will be looking for the bounce back at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when it faces FC Dallas at CityPark (streamed on Apple TV Season Pass).
“I think I maybe said (it was the best) in the previous 14 months or something,†City SC coach Bradley Carnell said of the NYCFC game. “For every time you lose a game, you want a response, and that what’s makes the job worthwhile.â€
“It’s all about the reaction this weekend,†midfielder Celio Pompeu said.
The team had one of its longest film sessions of the season Tuesday, as Carnell and his staff went over the highlights and lowlights of the Real Salt Lake loss. “Reflective, honest, open,†Carnell said. Now City SC needs to translate those on to the field as it looks to snap a four-game winless streak and get its first win in over a month.
Despite the talk of missed opportunities, City SC is third in the league in goals with 11 and fifth in shots with 91, about 15 per game. But on the other end is a defense that has allowed 11 goals overall, 10 in the past four games. That’s the third most goals allowed in MLS this season; City SC had only one four-game stretch last season when it allowed more goals, and that included allowing four to Club America in Leagues Cup and then a 6-3 win over Austin in the first game back after the break.
“It is a lot,†said midfielder Njabulo Blom, who made his first start in over a month against Real Salt Lake as he returned from a knee injury. “Of course, it is a lot, compared to how we did last season, when we managed not to concede a lot in the first games. It’s something we’re always talking about in the meetings and try to improve.â€
“We talk about a lot defensively in group meetings,†Markanich said. “I think a lot of it is from like, can we switch it on? Like from set pieces or dead balls, just switch it on. That’s really it, to be honest. I think we have a good back group, but just switch it on from everybody from dead balls.â€
There certainly have been times the team wasn’t switched on, like the two times it allowed goals immediately after scoring, or Real Salt Lake’s go-ahead penalty kick Saturday, which came immediately after a throw-in.
The backline will be without center Joakim Nilsson, who is still progressing back from a broken rib. City SC also will be without midfielder Eduard Lowen for the fourth game in a row, but his absence this week is for something beyond a hamstring. Lowen had been training separately from the team, though at the same time as practice, the previous week, but this week he was nowhere to be seen. Carnell said “we’ve given him a bit of space, he needs to deal with some things away from the field right now and that’s where we’d like to leave that discussion.â€
But the absence of Lowen is nothing compared to what Dallas is going through. Dallas is, as NYCFC was, a perfect team to make an opponent feel better. The team is 1-4 and has been hit by injuries, with U.S internationals Jesus Ferreira (the team’s leading scorer last season) and Paxton Pomykal and Spaniard Asier Illarramendi all out. (Pomykal is out for the season.) Also out is Alan Velasco, a young designated player. Winger Paul Arriola posted an apology to the team’s fans on Twitter after the team lost 2-1 to Austin on Saturday.
Carnell stressed the importance of looking inside before looking out.
“Too often, we get focused too much on the opponent,†Carnell said, “and we have to now buckle down and focus on ourselves and make sure that we’re getting the little things, the details, right within our four walls and make sure of that, and then we can start now expanding a little bit the other way.â€