New York City FC was not going to go its entire inaugural season undefeated.
But it would have liked to have delivered a better showing for the special guest who was in the house on Saturday.
Frank Lampard, the Manchester City star who will join NYCFC on July 1 once the English Premier League season is complete, watched Saturday’s match — a 1-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City — from a Yankee Stadium suite.
Lampard did not acquiesce to any interview requests during or after the match, because, according to a team official, he wanted the focus to be on the NYCFC players who are playing, not on him.
What Lampard, who attended Friday’s practice and has been in town searching for a place to live once he gets here, saw was what the announced crowd of 27,545 witnessed: an eventful, if uneven, performance by NYCFC.
NYCFC was without its star striker, David Villa, who was a pregame scratch with a groin injury. He was one of four starters who missed the match with injuries.
As an expansion team, virtually everything NYCFC does is a first, and Saturday represented the club’s first loss after a 1-0-2 start.
“As a brand new team,’’ NYCFC defender Jason Hernandez said, “we’re figuring it out as we go.’’
One week after NYCFC played its first home game at Yankee Stadium in front of nearly 44,000, tThe crowd on Saturday was an impressive showing for the home side considering the temperature was 38 degrees and dropping at kickoff and it snowed throughout the match.
In the end, though, this was a game NYCFC had no business winning. Kansas City, usually one of the MLS powers despite entering the day with an 0-1-2 record, was the hungrier side.
Other than some desperate flurries in front of the Kansas City net in the final minutes of the match, NYCFC did not mount a lot of scoring chances compared to those of Kansas City. This, oddly, despite NYCFC holding a significant possession advantage.
Kansas City scored the only goal of the match in the 12th minute on a powerful Ike Opara header that beat NYCFC keeper Josh Saunders to his right.
The creator of the goal was Kansas City defender Matt Besler, who made the long throw-in from the sideline to the middle of the penalty box, where Opara waited unmarked for the easy finish.
“We needed to be a little hungrier on the defensive side,’’ Saunders said.
NYCFC defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe was the culprit on the game-winner. He stood in the box with his head in his hands after the goal.
“It was designed for me to mark [Opara],’’ Watson-Siriboe said. “I was jockeying for position and they blocked me out. Either way, I’ve got to fight through it. I pride myself on not giving up goals. That’ll never happen again. You can quote me on that.’’
Watson-Siriboe said, after the goal, “I was [ticked] I gave up the goal. I think it sucks that I put my team in that position.’’
NYCFC coach Jason Kreis said the team had worked on defending the long throw-in by Besler, who is a weapon on those — particularly on the narrower pitch at Yankee Stadium.
“Matt Besler has a very long throw-in,’’ Kreis said. “Kansas City looks to take advantage of that when they can. It was not a surprise to us. It was something we looked at before the game.
“It was also very clear that Opara was the target on the throw-in. He’s tall, so we had out tallest guy [Watson-Siriboe] on him and the ball ended up in the back of out net.’’
NYCFC midfielder Mix Diskerud, who said he’s friends with Besler, praised the long throw in and the header by Opara.
“Ike has got — what do they call it?’’ Diskerud said.
“Hops,’’ he was told by a reporter.
“We call that ‘spenst’ in Norwegian,’’ he said.
Whatever language, the result was the same.
“The first loss always stings,’’ Diskerud said. “It’s not fun to lose — especially at home. I’m going to go home now and not be able to get to sleep until 3 in the morning.’’
By the time NYCFC plays its next match, April 11 at Philadelphia, Lampard will have returned to Manchester to finish out the EPL season.
But Villa and perhaps some of the other injured starters should be back on the field for NYCFC, and that could make for a different — better — result than Saturday night.