By Chris Tsakonas
New York City snapped a seven-match winless streak with a 2-0 road win over Real Salt Lake tonight. Nico Fernandez Mercau opened the scoring for New York City in the 41st minute, with Luighi doubling the Pigeons’ lead in the 62nd minute.
Here are three observations from tonight’s win,
Freese leads the defense
From the opening whistle, Real Salt Lake dictated the run of play and regularly threatened in the final third.
Nevertheless, New York City managed to keep RSL off the scoring sheet entirely, which was largely thanks to Matt Freese.
Freese was particularly impactful early in the match, with three saves in the first 20 minutes of play. The most impressive sequence came in the 14th minute, when Freese dove at full extension to deny a long-range strike from Luca Moisa and quickly recovered to deny the second effort from Saba Lobjanidze.
Freese finished with six saves to earn his fifth shutout of the season for New York City.
Unconventional free kick flips the script
Despite holding most of the possession in the first half, New York City struggled to create many quality chances from open play. Through the first 40 minutes of play, the Pigeons had just one total shot.
New York City’s fortunes would change in the 41st minute after winning a free kick on the left flank. Agustin Ojeda played the free kick across the top of the box, where the ball found Fernandez Mercau’s foot for a one-time shot that was finished into the top left corner.
It was Fernandez Mercau’s 15th goal of the season, and it ended up flipping a match that RSL had dominated up to that point.
Luighi finishes off the counter
With a 1-0 lead and a half hour left to go, New York City faced growing pressure from Real Salt Lake in the final third.
In the 62nd minute, the Pigeons got another breakthrough. A long ball out of the back set up Ojeda with space on the right side, and he cut it back across the middle. Luighi got on the end of the cross and finished to put New York City in the driver’s seat with a 2-0 lead.
It continued a strong run of form for Luighi, who has now scored four goals across his last seven matches with the Pigeons.
Next Up
New York City return to the five boroughs on Friday night for the third and final Hudson River Derby against the New York Red Bulls at Yankee Stadium. Live radio commentary with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence will get underway at 7:15 p.m. at newyorkcityfc.com/radio and the Apple TV Home Radio feature.
