By Niall McCusker

I talked to a couple of freshly minted New York City FC supporters on the subway on the way to Yankee stadium, they’d never been to Red Bull arena in New Jersey, but were giving the new team a go because “it’s easy to get there”. Fair enough, it was very easy, leave Jack Dempsey’s pub on 33rd street right by the Empire State Building, descend to the ‘D’ train and emerge in the Bronx 26 minutes later.

When you can buy a homemade empanada and a bottle of Magner’s Irish cider at the same place and enjoy them outside as the elevated train rattles overhead – you’re in New York. (and yes those two items do pair very nicely)

A late arriving Portland fan in his green jersey was greeted with “Portland? Get the f$%k outta here Portland!”. These weren’t football hipsters, these were unreconstructed New York sports fans – this could be fun.

The great cathedrals of world soccer are not in exurbs like Frisco, or even downtown in nice, friendly cities like Portland or Seattle – they’re in places a lot like this. There was a genuine buzz outside the ground and an apparent authenticity that belied the fact that this was just the fourth MLS game at the location.

But then you have to go inside.

NYCFC had a respectably full supporters’ section behind one goal and the Timbers Army had brought 450 people. But in the cavernous baseball stadium they chanted at each other with a geographical futility matched only by Sarah Palin serenading Vladimir Putin from her house. The acoustics are not there, the angles are weird and the sight-lines are just as strange as they look on television. The demand for the game in New York city proper appears to be there, the club would do well to capture it in an actual soccer stadium sooner rather than later.

But still, there was a pitch marked out down there somewhere – so on to the game itself.

Following the failure of the 442 formation against Orlando last week, Portland changed back to their more familiar 4231 set-up. Dairon Asprilla returned to the starting line-up and Ishmael Yartey made his debut in a pacy looking midfield. But things were still disjointed for Portland, they couldn’t get their foot on the ball and for the first thirty minutes it seemed back-to-back defeats to expansion teams was a real possibility.

As one would expect from a Jason Kreis team, New York moved the ball well and made the visitors work extremely hard in defense. Mullins and Shelton looked good up top, but without the cutting edge of Villa they could not get the breakthrough.

Portland played better in the second half and had the better chances as the game changed into an open, end-to-end affair. Even after getting the goal the visitors failed to slow things down, but managed to hold on for the win. If there is one area the players and coaches will be looking at the this week it should be their game management after taking the lead.

Here are the individual ratings:

Adam Larsen Kwarasey 8: his busiest game so far in a Timbers uniform and he came up big at the end, advancing quickly on Shelton to save with his feet in the 89th minute. He also made a smart save from Mullins after a mistake from Powell in the 15th minute. One could quibble about the rebound he gave up from another Mullins effort, but in preserving the win he earned Portland two vital points.

Alvas Powell 6: looked very shaky at the start of the game, a couple of loose touches, including one that let Mullins in for a shot on goal. He improved as the first half went on getting some good blocks and tackles on Taylor and Shelton. In the second half he got forward slightly more, but really shouldn’t have been looking to rampage down the middle of the field in the 93rd minute.

Nat Borchers 7: a third clean sheet in 7 games, a consistent starting back four – these guys are clearly doing something right. But they still make a few mistakes in most games that more ruthless forward lines would punish. NYCFC’s best first-half chance came from a poor Borchers clearance, but in fairness to him he did block the resulting goal bound shot. This came from another situation were the two center backs waited for each other to play the ball – they should stop that.

Won an awesome but risky tackle in the penalty box in injury time, it was the defense’s day but they have a few things to review.

Liam Ridgewell 6.5: Mullins and Shelton look good young players, but the two experienced center backs should have been able to handle them without giving up as many looks at goal. Mullins had a free header in the 78th from a second phase ball at a set-piece, the defense didn’t get reorganized – that’s Ridgewell’s job. Having watched the replay of Shelton’s last minute chance a few times I’m still not sure what Ridgewell was trying to do, he stepped up, letting the youngster in behind him, was he trying to play him offside or trying to get to the ball first? Either way it didn’t work, they have been protecting Kwarasey well all season so he did owe them that save.

Jorge Villafana 7.5: most of NYC’s attacking came down Powell’s side in the first half, so he was able to get forward and get a few crosses into the box. He had to defend more in the second half as the game completely opened up – which he did very well, with some good tackles on Shelton and Velasquez. A composed and error free performance.

Diego Chara 6.5: worked hard in the first half to try to keep New York’s attack at bay, the play was compressed both by the tight field and New York’s tendency to come inside – this suited Chara who won plenty of sneaky tackles. He got in one great block in the second half, the only notable blemish was a lazy foul in the last minute of injury time to give up a dangerous last-chance set-piece.

Jack Jewsbury 6: stays solidly in front of his back four all game and was part of the reason that all New York’s good passing in the first thirty minutes did not generate more good chances. The second half was much more end to end, this didn’t particular suit Jewsbury who was chasing the game at times. He and Chara should have worked more on calming the match down after Portland took the lead.

They could have perhaps used Fochive coming off the bench in the last ten minutes to help them out.

Ishmael Yartey (off in 74′) 6: got his debut in place of an injured Wallace, he looks a tidy player cutting in from the right onto his left foot. He and Asprilla switched wings after about thirty minutes and both looked better for it. On the left Yartey combined well with Villafana in the second half and kept working hard until he was subbed out, his performance should become cleaner as he gets to know his team-mates.

Darlington Nagbe 7: after a very quiet first half he got very busy at the start of the second half, his runs have been there all season and one of them set-up Asprilla’s goal. But perhaps the most noteworthy thing was a couple of heads-up passes to try to find Yartey – those offer the kind of variation he will need to really play the central attacking position well.

Dairon Asprilla (off in 93′) 6.5: Nagbe had the ball tackled away from him, it fell to Fernandez who also got tackled and it fell again for Asprilla whose shot took a deflection on the way to the net – so not exactly the most pretty move and finish, but he got his goal and that should do his confidence no harm at all.

It was a little disappointing that his celebration did not involve removing his shirt and waving it using the corner flag in the manner of his legendary namesake Faustino. But if he turns out to be half as talented and twice as sane as Tino, he will be a player.

Fanendo Adi (off in 84′) 6: hardly saw the ball in the first half hour, but came into the game well on either side of halftime. As the second half progressed he had a few good looks at goal and really should have made one of them count.

Substitutes:

Gaston Fernandez (on in 74′) 6: in limited minutes has shown he can work quite well with Nagbe in the middle – the two combined immediately to send Adi in on goal in the 75th minute. A dive in the 92nd minute and a lack of aimless and constant high velocity running (hustle baby!) will ensure he remains a polarizing figure among fans. But there are some who appreciate his languid artistry.

Maxi Urruti (on in 84′) 5: a couple of shots in injury time when he would have been better to hold possession or release better placed colleagues. Still he wasn’t the only player to forget they were winning the game at the end.

Jeanderson (on in 93′): probably should have been on earlier and perhaps should have been named Fochive as the team holding the lead failed to slow the game in the last ten minutes.