By Chris Tsakonas
HARRISON, N.J. – The second Hudson River Derby of the year ended in a 1-1 draw, as New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls split the points at Sports Illustrated Stadium tonight.
Here are three observations from tonight’s match.
Red Bulls dominate early
New York City struggled to gain a foothold in the first half, as the Red Bulls took only a few minutes to gain the upper hand. The first chance came eight minutes in, as a shot from Emil Forsberg at the middle of the box was denied by a sliding block from Thiago Martins.
While the possession was more or less a 50-50 split throughout the first half, the Red Bulls regularly threatened in the final third with 4 of the first 6 shots of the match. By contrast, New York City FC only mustered two half-chances that combined for 0.07 expected goals.
To make matters worse, New York City suffered a major injury setback in the 36th minute when Maxi Moralez went down with an apparent knee injury after a challenge against Justin Che. Moralez was stretchered off, with Andres Perea coming on to replace him at central midfield.
Both sides trade goals
Both goals came on opposite ends of the first half. As one would expect from the run of play, the Red Bulls opened the scoring in the 44th minute. Cade Cowell played in a cross from the right side that was deflected by the defending Raul Gustavo and fell to the back post. Jorge Ruvalcaba was waiting on the doorstep to tap it into an empty goal to give the Red Bulls the lead heading into the halftime break.
Seven minutes into the second half, New York City answered. After earning a free kick on the right flank, Nico Fernadnez Mercau stepped up to take it and delivered a cross to the edge of the six. It was narrowly glanced on by a header from Andres Perea, who deflected it past Ethan Horvath to level the match at 1-1.
Jones leads Pigeon second half resurgence
Perea’s equalizer came as New York City flipped the script and dominated the run of play after the halftime break. After only creating two shots in the entire first half, the Pigeons regularly created chances with a total of 12 shots.
A critical turning point came when Malachi Jones was brought on to replace Hannes Wolf on the left side of the attack to start the second half. Jones ended up being the focal point of New York City’s attack with six of the Pigeons’ 12 shots for an individual total of 1.46 expected goals.
The best of Jones’ chances came in the 82nd minute as New York City made a late push for a match-winner. Nico Cavallo set it up by cutting it back on the left side and taking it into the box before squaring it for Jones – only for him to miss wide left from five yards out.
Next Up
New York City will travel to Columbus on Wednesday night for an Open Cup quarterfinal match against the Columbus Crew. After that, the Pigeons will fly south to the Music City to take on Nashville SC in the final match before the World Cup break.
Live radio commentary of the match will get underway at 8:15 p.m. with the pregame show featuring head coach Pascal Jansen. Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence will have the call from Geodis Park at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.
