Alonso Martinez pushes New York City FC past FC Cincinnati in 1-0 win
By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC came away with a pivotal 1-0 road win against FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium tonight. Alonso Martinez scored the decisive goal in the 54th minute to clinch the three points for New York City.
Quiet attack in first half
The first half action was defined by a lack of activity in the final third. While New York City held the upper hand in controlling the run of play, both New York City and Cincinnati struggled to consistently generate quality scoring chances. Martinez came the closest to scoring in the 31st minute, as he struck the post from distance to come within inches of drawing first blood.
At the halftime break, New York City held a razor-thin expected goal margin of 0.09 to 0.06 as neither side particularly threatened to score.
The most important development in the first half came in the 39th minute, when Andres Perea was forced to leave the match due to a knee injury.
“There's a ligament that was bothering him for the past few weeks already, and it looks like he got a knock or a moment there again,” head coach Pascal Jansen said about Perea’s injury after the match. “We'll just have to wait and see and get him ready to play as soon as possible again.”
Martinez breaks through for New York City
In the 54th minute, New York City finally broke the deadlock. Off a quick counterattack that was started by Aidan O’Neill, Maxi Moralez delivered a through ball into space to set up a one-on-one chance for Martinez to slot it past Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano.
It was Martinez’s 14th goal of the season, and it proved to be the decisive moment in the match.
“You could see that we were controlling like we want to control every game and get those moments like we did today, and Alonso got one in,” Jansen said.
New York City backline limits Cincinnati
Entering tonight’s match, FC Cincinnati boasted one of MLS’ most prolific attacks with 42 goals scored in 27 matches. That offense has been led by Evander, who has 16 goals and nine assists on the season.
Tonight, New York City effectively neutralized Cincinnati’s attack - particularly in the first half, when Cincinnati mustered only one shot on goal for an expected goal value of 0.06. When Cincinnati’s tempo picked up in a last-minute push for an equalizer, Matt Freese came to the rescue by denying a close-range header from Gerardo Valenzuela in the 90th minute. Freese finished with five saves in the win.
Next Up
New York City FC will return to the Bronx next Saturday night for an Eastern Conference matchup against D.C. United. The two sides battled to a 0-0 draw in the first meeting on May 14. Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence will have the call from Yankee Stadium at 7:15 p.m. on newyorkcityfc.com/radio and the Apple TV home radio feature.