By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC remains unbeaten out of the World Cup break after splitting the points with Toronto FC in a 1-1 draw at Yankee Stadium earlier tonight. Nico Fernandez Mercau scored the only goal for the Pigeons in the ninth minute, while Djordje Mihailovic equalized for Toronto FC in the seventh added minute of the first half.
Here are three thoughts from tonight’s draw.
Deja vu all over again: Fernandez Mercau converts from the penalty spot
For the third time in the last four matches, New York City’s leading scorer converted from the penalty spot.
After Agustin Ojeda drew the penalty kick by being dragged down by Richie Laryea with a yellow card challenge in the box, Fernandez Mercau once again took his place as the Pigeons’ spot kick taker. He capitalized again, narrowly beating the outstretched arms of Luka Gavran to open the scoring early for New York City.
The goal brings Fernandez Mercau into a tie with FC Dallas’ Petar Musa for the Golden Boot lead with 13 goals on the season.
Toronto capitalize on defensive error
Even after the Pigeons’ opening goal, Toronto FC struggled to turn their possession into regular, high-quality chances. Despite controlling much of the play hrough the opening 45 minutes of play, the Reds created only four shots for a total of 0.18 expected goals.
“I thought we slowed things down [after taking the lead],” head coach Pascal Jansen said after the match. “We gave Toronto way too big of a piece of the game after we scored.”
That changed in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time. A routine backpass from Tayvon Gray skipped past the foot of Thiago Martins, which sent Josh Sargent through on goal. After a pair of shots failed to find hte back of the net, a save from Matt Freese fell to Mihailovic for the one-time finish.
New York City attack struggle to convert
After Toronto equalized against the run of play, New York City created a high volume of chances in a push to retake the lead. Although the Pigeons finished with 13 total shots in the second half, only three of them were on target.
The best run of chances came off a goal line scramble in the 54th minute off a corner kick. The initial header from Talles Magno and the first follow through from Andres Perea were both saved by Gavran, who pushed the ball in the direction of Ojeda who missed. The fourth and final shot of the sequence was fired wide by Magno.
Next Up
New York City will take a two-week hiatus from regular season play for the first round of Leagues Cup. The tournament will kick off on Thursday night against Santos Laguna at Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey.
Live radio commentary with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence will get underway at 7:15 p.m. at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.
