James Sands equalizer saves New York City in 1-1 draw against Inter Miami

Courtesy: New York City FC

By Chris Tsakonas

NEW YORK - A last-second goal from James Sands allowed New York City to rescue a point with a 1-1 draw against Inter Miami in front of a season-high 44,738 fans at Yankee Stadium this afternoon. Sands’ equalizer brought New York City level after Miami opened the scoring in the 75th minute off of a tap-in from Leo Campana.

Here are three observations from New York City’s comeback performance.

Regular scoring chances for New York City
New York City had not trouble creating scoring chances in this match, finishing with 15 total shots, four shots on goal and 1.6 expected goals. While Miami did control 52.4 percent of the possession, New York City countered by regularly creating opportunities off of free kicks and corners.

“I thought we dominated the majority of the game. A lot of possession was in areas where we  fed off and we got goal chances,” head coach Nick Cushing said after the match.

New York City’s high-volume shooting performance today continues a recent trend, as it was the third time in the last five matches where New York City created 15 or more shots.

Late heroics from Sands
In the fifth minute of stoppage time, New York City earned a corner kick after a ball from Julian Fernandez bounced wide of the far left post. Santi Rodriguez stepped up to deliver the corner, where he connected with James Sands on the header to beat goalkeeper Drake Callender. It was Sands’ first career goal, and it came on the final shot of the match.

“He should be really proud. He's a homegrown here. He is our player. He's somebody that this year, I think he's really showing his quality,” Cushing said.

New York City backline keeps Messi off scoresheet
Despite allowing the opening goal from Campana in the 75th minute, New York City largely contained an Inter Miami attack that included both Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in the starting lineup. Miami finished the match with just seven total shots (two on goal) and 1.3 expected goals - with 0.84 of those 1.3 expected goals coming off of Campana’s tap-in finish.
Despite playing the full 90 minutes, Lionel Messi did not score as he was limited to just one total shot off of a free kick in the fifth minute. It’s only the fourth time out of 14 regular season starts in 2024 where Messi did not score a goal.

Next Up
New York City will travel to New Jersey for the second Hudson River Derby of the season against the New York Red Bulls on Sept. 28. New York City will have a chance to complete the season sweep in the Derby after coming away with a 2-1 win in the first meeting on May 18 at Citi Field.

Live radio commentary will begin at 7:15 P.M., with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence on the call at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.