New York City FC blanks Inter Miami CF 2-0 in Castellanos’ reported farewell match
Courtesy: NYCFC
By Eddie Kalegi
On a hot night at Yankee Stadium, New York City Football Club took care of business in front of the home fans, dominating Inter Miami CF 2-0 in what could have been Valentin “Taty” Castellanos’ final game donning the blue and white before departing for La Liga side Girona FC.
With a passionate Bronx crowd of 23,277 on hand, NYCFC was aggressive from the onset. Maxi Moralez missed high with the game’s first shot at the 11th minute, but made up for it just sixty seconds later. A failed Inter Miami clearance and subsequent Taty Castellanos through ball set up Moralez for a tightly angled delivery past keeper Drake Callender, finding the right corner of the net for his first goal of the season to put City on the board.
New York City’s seemingly unrelenting attack kept Miami shotless for the match’s first eighteen minutes, but the latter stages of the first half saw more scoring chances for the visitors, which were repeatedly averted by Sean Johnson and City’s defense.
It looked like Castellanos would get his moment in the sun early in the contest, but had a 33rd minute goal waved off on an offside call. Ten minutes later, Santi Rodriguez split through the defense and connected with Castellanos, who missed wide left with a sidewinding snipe, as NYCFC closed the opening frame with a 1-0 lead.
In the 61st minute, Taty Castellanos was subbed out and left the Yankee Stadium pitch to a standing ovation, potentially concluding his five season, fifty goal NYCFC career. “I’m not here to say whether this was Taty’s last game,” interim head coach Nick Cushing said, “[but] if this was his last game, I’m really proud of our fans for giving him that ovation when he came off; he’ll remember that.”
Three minutes later, City had their best opportunity to break through since the first half, as Maxi Moralez narrowly missed out on his second tally of the night.
Castellanos’ replacement Héber put the icing on the cake for New York City, cashing in with his sixth goal in his last 11 games played.
But the story of the night was NYCFC’s defense, holding Miami to just nine shots and three on goal, thwarting several late attempts to break up the shutout. City closed the evening with a decisive 2-0 victory, their thirteenth of 2022 and their third clean sheet over the last four matches.