Without Taty Castellanos, NYCFC prepares for the Eastern Conference Final

Taty Castellanos, NYCFC's most important player, will not be able to play in the Eastern Conference Final against Philadelphia Union and his coach is already beginning to discuss options. 

It was during the match against New England Revolution that Valentin Mariano "Taty" Castellanos was sent off for accumulation of yellow cards. 

The first one was given in the 17th minute to Andrew Farril, a player who had just recovered the ball and was on his way to orchestrate an attack on the NYCFC goal.

Taty Castellanos stretched his leg too far and with excessive force, hit Farril, who fell to the ground.  

This did not stop Castellanos from displaying all the talent he is capable of. 

And he showed it at the start of the second half, when he headed in a cross from the left side of the field. The New England Revolution goalkeeper could do nothing to prevent the goal, and so Taty Castellanos managed to give his team life to reach the penalty shootout and seek their place in the Eastern Conference Final. 

But everything the Argentine player fought for fell apart in the 18th minute of the second half.  

Right in stoppage time, the Argentine player committed a hard foul on Brandon Bye. Castellanos arrived out of time to cover Bye and hurt him, leaving him on the ground in pain.  

The match referee did not hesitate for a second and sent Taty Castellanos to the showers. Despite this, NYCFC managed to win on penalties against New England Revolution and would get their pass to the conference final. 

The problem is that now that they have made it to the final, they are without their most important player. 

Without Taty Castellanos, NYCFC prepares to meet Philadelphia Union

In the words of NYCFC coach Ronny Deila, there are players who can cover the Argentine player's position. 

"We have at least two, maybe three players who can play in that position," explained Deila, who also said, "We could also play with a false nine. So we have options." 

The coach is analyzing his options for the Eastern Conference Final

Talles Magno and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi are the players who have the possibility to play as center forwards. "It will be important to have Talles and Héber. And we will use them both in the match. I'm sure," added the Norwegian coach.

Had this happened in 2019 the natural replacement could have been Brazilian Héber, as two seasons ago he had 15 goals in 22 regular season games. But after a long recovery caused by a previous cruciate ligament injury, the striker only appeared in 7 games, totaling 95 minutes. 

"A player like Héber has shown it in this league and has shown it to me on different occasions many times, and I feel a little sad not to have used him more because Taty has been incredible," was what Deila stated.

Why Taty Castellanos will be missed so much

This is a sad way to end 2021 for Taty Castellanos after a brilliant season. 

The player not only scored 19 goals in the season. He also won the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer, beating other candidates such as Peru's Raúl Ruidíaz and Mexico's Javier Hernández. 

So his ability in attack will be greatly resented by NYCFC in today's match against Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference Final.