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NYCFC Drops First Game Of MLS Is Back Tournament To Philly Union, Group Schedule Changes Following Nashville's Drop Out

(CBSNewYork)- The first game of the MLS Is Back tournament did not go the way that Ronny Deila's squad hoped as the team fell to the Philadelphia Union 1-0 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

The match saw both teams take a knee prior to kickoff to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. NYCFC dominated play throughout much of the first half, but were unable to capitalize on any of the chances they created. The second half presented much of the same in the opening minutes before Philadelphia capitalized on an odd angle shot from Alejandro Bedoya in the 63rd minute.

NYCFC continued the pressure on the Union following Bedoya's strike with the best opportunity coming in the 86th minute off the foot of Heber Araujo. Unfortunately, Union keeper Andre Blake was equal to the task, deflecting the attempt just wide.

Despite the close loss, Deila was encouraged by several aspects of the performance afterwards and said that he was a bit sad to see the players hard work not rewarded with a tally.

"Today we had quite a bit more chances than the opponent and we didn't score and they got the chance and put it in. We were not effective enough in what we were doing," said Deila. "I'm a little bit sad for the hard work that the players and everybody put in that we didn't get any points today. But, there are a lot of good things to take from the performance."

After the match, there was more news affecting NYCFC as fellow Group A member Nashville S.C. dropped out of the tournament due to a number of positive COVID-19 test results. With Nashville dropping out, Chicago Fire moved to Group B. As such, NYCFC's final two group matches are now as follows:

July 14 vs. Orlando City S.C. at 8:00 p.m. EST.

July 20 vs. Inter Miami C.F. at 9:00 a.m. EST.

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