– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — New York City FC delivered the result it needed in its effort to extend their season past Saturday night. Unfortunately for the Cityzens, the long-range effort that propelled them to victory was symbolic of the long odds that they had of making the postseason, and results elsewhere ensured that they had to be content with only a win in their regular season finale as a reward.
Midfielder Julián Fernández curled in a wonderful left-footed effort from outside the box in the 64th minute as New York City FC ended its season with a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire inside Citi Field, a hollow victory given that both the New York Red Bulls’ victory in Nashville and Charlotte FC’s win in Miami officially eliminated NYC from playoff contention. New York’s victory ws its third in the last five games, and it ended up picking up a point in seven of its last eight games to end the season.
Although NYCFC did accumulate points during that eight-game stretch, three of those seven games in which it earned at least a point were draws, and New York ended up finishing two points behind Charlotte for the ninth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. New York City FC came into the game off a 2-0 defeat at the hands of DC United right before the international break on October 7, a loss that officially put the Blues in a position where they would have to rely on results elsewhere to try and clinch a postseason spot.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s contest, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Roberto Carlo. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 20 pictures in total.
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