So, overshadowed by the USMNT loss, on Saturday Montreal beat Colorado off a fantastic Didier Drogba goal from a free kick (seriously, go watch it if you haven't seen it) not only almost guarantees a playoff spot for Montreal, but it is also kicked NYCFC out of the playoff race. NYCFC is MLS's ugly baby, a team that nobody but the commissioner's office and a handful of die-hard fans really loved, let's look at how they did.
Why does this matter to the USMNT?
One of the USMNT"s best attacking midfielders, Mix Diskerud, is a regular starter for New York City, also the 2nd pick in the MLS draft, Khiry Shelton, is a great up and coming striker (if he can stay healthy).
How are they out?
With two games left, NYCFC need 8 points.
What went wrong?
In a certain sense, nothing, my theory as an expansion is that if you aren't last, you had a good season. But NYCFC came in with bigger expectations, they talked some smack they couldn't back up and like a lot of cross-branded teams (Chivas USA, for example) management arrogantly thought that simply by being affiliated with a successful foreign club this MLS club would dominate. In a lot of ways, it's hard to really say it was all that arrogant though, Jason Kreis was (and still is, really) one of the best "young" coaches in MLS, he took bottom dwelling RSL to an MLS Cup and kept them in the running every single season while he was in charge; surely giving him coaching tips in Manchester and then giving him a bigger roster (in terms of salary) was all that was necessary to create a juggernaut.
Unfortunately, the juggernaut did not materialize, and even Jason Kreis admitted that this was a lot harder than he thought it would be. The biggest money on the team, mega stars Lampard and Pirlo, perhaps exhausted and beaten up after playing a full year of European football, have generally looked slow and anemic. But the age issue goes beyond Lampard and Pirlo, in the expansion draft Jason Kreis reached almost exclusively for veteran talents, many of them players that once played for him such as Chris Wingert and Ned Grabavoy; overall 15 of 23 first team players were over 25 years old, most of them in their thirties, making NYCFC the oldest team in MLS. Age showed when NYCFC played against swift, young talent and not in a good way.
What went right?
Despite his age, David Villa played excellent football all year, if Khiry Shelton can avoid injuries he's shown he can be one of the deadliest young strikers in MLS; given a full year of play he may have beaten the old rookie goal scoring record alongside Cyle Larin. Josh Saunders showed he can still do well between the sticks.
What do they need to do improve?
For starters, ideally, NYCFC should use that big Yankee money to cryogenically freeze Pirlo, Villa and Lampard; if that's not feasible, instead they need to make sure none of them go on a European loan. Buy them all expenses paid vacation to somewhere sunny and warm for two months if you have to. More than that, this team needs to pick up some young talent, because a lot of their current talent is getting to the age where things just to start to fail and retirement becomes more and more attractive. Fortunately, NYCFC should have some a good SuperDraft pick to help speed that process up. Possibly a couple of trades could be in order as well.