51黑料

Having three NYCFC players in front of him didn鈥檛 bother Pompeu. He went at them, slicing among them till he found himself in the penalty area, at which point he shot and scored, tucking the ball inside the left post.

鈥淚 want to take them on, like one v. ones, if you want,鈥� Pompeu said after City SC鈥檚 2-0 win over NYCFC before a sellout crowd at CityPark. 鈥淪o that's my thing. That's what I like to do. When I see a rival player in front of me, I like to go then dribble and I could score a nice goal today. That's what I like to do.鈥�

But then in the 72nd minute, there was Pompeu streaking down the left side, grabbing a pass from Lowen, touching it twice at full speed and then passing the ball ahead to Samuel Adeniran, who one-timed it in for the insurance goal.

鈥淚 like to have assists, too,鈥� Pompeu said.

There is little that Pompeu, who came to America from Brazil to go to college and made his way from City2 to City SC's first team, doesn鈥檛 like and on Saturday he figured prominently in both his team鈥檚 goals as the squad put Tuesday鈥檚 painful 1-0 loss to Houston that eliminated it from the CONCACAF Champions Cup behind it with its most dominating performance of the season.

Because if there鈥檚 one thing Pompeu doesn鈥檛 like, it was the game on Tuesday. The other two games this season, a 2-1 win over Houston in the first leg of the Champions Cup series and a 1-1 tie with Real Salt Lake in the MLS opener, weren鈥檛 exactly works of art. But the NYCFC game showed what City SC can do.

鈥淰ery big, very big step,鈥� Pompeu said. 鈥淏ecause Tuesday we didn't show principles, we didn't play the way we want to be playing the whole season. The way we like to play. This whole week, we talked about it. We said if we want to go far this year, we got to play like we want to play, so this is a great example how we want to play this year.鈥�

It was a speedy turnaround, especially considering how little time the team had to do it. The club got back to 51黑料 at about 3 a.m. Wednesday after the late game in Houston, took Wednesday off and then had a limited practice on Thursday with most of the team doing regeneration work. Friday鈥檚 practice session was the only one the team had to work on all the things coach Bradley Carnell didn鈥檛 like about Tuesday.

鈥淎 lot of it was internal,鈥� Carnell said. 鈥淲e committed a lot of time to off-the-field training in terms of video scouting, reflecting about some past performances and just trying to set things straight and make a case for who we are and who we are not.

鈥淐redit to the guys, though. Being totally accountable, responsible, and know that there's something about this team that's special. And I see the amount of work these guys put in, when you don't quite get to see everything. I see the enjoyment as a group. I see the commitment and togetherness as a group. It was good to see the chip on the display tonight, similar to some performances of last season.鈥�

鈥淲e did a lot of analysis on that game,鈥� added midfielder Chris Durkin, who with Njabulo Blom having a possible knee injury made his third start in the first four games. 鈥淎 lot of breakdown between groups, defensive groups and offensive groups, and we looked ourselves in the mirror, questioning what we're doing wrong, and I think it just came down to energy. When we create that energy that creates that momentum, and then I think you saw we started to fly. So, really proud of the group for turning it around. And I think that's the standard.鈥�

Energy never is a problem with Pompeu, and it鈥檚 one of the things that has helped him climb the ladder to being not quite a regular in MLS but someone who plays a lot. His goal was his first of the season after having two last season, one in the regular season and one in the playoffs.

鈥淚 think Celio, with certain opponents, he comes to life,鈥� Carnell said. 鈥淵ou can see the attitude he plays with, the fire in his belly, and if you let New York City take control of the game like that, then it's going to be a tough evening for us. So we need the characters on the team that bring a lot of fire, not just the technical ability, not just the pressing but we needed somebody, especially on that frontline, who has a bit of fire in their belly and you can hear when he wins a duel, he's so emotional about it, and he really intimidates the opponent sometimes. It was good to see, and then he gets rewarded and he gets to reward his teammates as well.鈥�

Adeniran got the reward with his second goal in as many MLS games this season, another left-footed blast, this time catching NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese cheating off his post 鈥� perhaps with a mind toward Klauss who was making a run down the center of the box. Adeniran has 10 goals in his past 16 MLS games and that total matches Klauss and Niko Gioacchini for the most in the club鈥檚 brief history.

鈥淚聽thought I had an angle there,鈥� said Adeniran, wearing a vintage Nigeria Football Federation warmup suit that belonged to his father. 鈥淚 think in those situations, you just kind of hit it as hard as you can and hope for the best. I mean, I know hearing from a professional you might think that we have like this super special tactic that we use, but sometimes it's just hit it as hard as you can and hope for the best.鈥�

City SC was outshot 13-5 on Tuesday, but on Saturday it outshot NYCFC 16-8. The team filled lanes and stole passes, while completing plenty of its own, often in tight spaces. Twice in the first half, City SC players put shots off the goalposts. Meanwhile, at the other end, Roman Burki had to make only one save but it was a big one, getting his body in front of a close-range shot by Hannes Wolf late in the first half to protect the 1-0 lead.

Another big thing was Tim Parker and Joakim Nilsson playing 90 minutes without incident at center back. Both players had left their previous game before halftime with injuries, Parker against RSL the previous Saturday and Nilsson on Tuesday against Houston. The team called up Michael Wentzel again from City2 for the game, because no other center back was available. But he wasn鈥檛 needed. Twice Nilsson had to make long recovery runs as NYCFC had scoring chances but he got where ne needed to go and broke up plays, showing no signs of any leg issue after feeling tension in his glute on Tuesday.

鈥淚 really had to fight through it,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut today, I felt fresh again. In the second half, I felt stronger than in the first half.鈥�

City SC got through four games in 12 days with two wins, a tie and a loss, though the loss did not knock it out of a tournament.

鈥淥ne of the things that we were not happy about (Tuesday) was the mental performance,鈥� Nilsson said. 鈥淲e didn't show it out on the field. I think that we wanted to show that for the city and for ourselves and we know that we have those qualities. We kind of missed in those last two games, but tonight from minute one was fantastic.鈥�