New York City FC earn first win under Cushing in 4-2 victory over New England
By Chris Tsakonas
Courtesy: NYCFC
New York City FC snapped a four match winless streak and finally got their first win under interim manager Nick Cushing in a 4-2 win over the New England Revolution at Yankee Stadium. Taty Castellanos led the scoring with a brace, retaking the lead in the Golden Boot race.
The story of the first half came at the penalty spot, as New York City were awarded an MLS record three penalty kicks. The first came in the 9th minute, as Talles Magno was brought down from behind by a sliding Andrew Farrell. Magno stepped up to take the penalty, and converted to give NYCFC an early 1-0 lead.
New England didn’t take long to find an equalizer. In a similar sequence to Dom Dwyer’s equalizer in the last match, Sebastian Lletget cut it back for Gustavo Bou, who tied the match at 1 in the 18th minute.
New York City earned their second penalty in the 31st minute, as Henry Kessler made contact with Castellanos while defending a cross. Castellanos took the penalty, but his effort was stopped by a diving Djordje Petrovic. It was the first penalty attempt this season that Castellanos didn’t finish.
It only took a few minutes for Castellanos to get another chance, as he drew another penalty off Andrew Farrell in the 41st minute. Farrell was sent off for the challenge, and Castellanos converted to put NYCFC back in front heading into halftime.
Cushing made one change at halftime, as Gabriel Pereira came on for Maxi Moralez. Five minutes later, he doubled New York City’s advantage, finishing on a rebound after Castellanos’ initial effort was stopped by Petrovic.
Despite being down a man, New England kept pushing in the final third to get back into the match. In the 60th minute, Lletget fired a bending shot from the edge of the area that ricocheted off the crossbar.
The Revolution finally put one back in the 77th minute, as Bou got on the end of a through ball from DeJuan Jones and slotted it past Johnson to make it 3-2.
NYCFC put the match away in the 82nd minute on the counterattack. Thiago Andrade was one on one with Petrovic, and his diving stop fell right to Castellanos for the easy tap in.
The brace put Castellanos back atop Jesus Ferreira in the Golden Boot race with 12 goals on the season. After the match, he raised the possibility of an imminent transfer.
“There’s a lot to figure out, but my future could be decided the next few days, maybe this week,” Castellanos said in a post match interview on TUDN.
The win puts New York City just one point behind the East-leading Philadelphia Union ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup with FC Dallas.