New York City FC earn road point with 1-1 draw against Inter Miami

Courtesy: NYCFC

By Chris Tsakonas

New York City FC earned a point on the road with a 1-1 draw against Inter Miami in Fort Lauderdale tonight. Miami opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a go-ahead goal off a set piece from Luis Suarez, with New York City’s equalizer coming in the 34th minute from Alonso Martinez.

Here are three observations from the draw.

Matt Freese shines again
After recording five saves in a 1-0 road loss to FC Cincinnati last Saturday, New York City goalkeeper Matt Freese recorded another five-save performance to limit Miami to just one goal despite conceding 1.6 expected goals. Freese did a particularly good job containing Suarez, who he denied three times after conceding the early free kick goal.
“In those moments where you know you're gonna give chances away against Luis Suarez - he is one of the best to ever play the game in that position - you need your players to do their job and I thought Matt tonight was 10 out of 10 in his performance,” head coach Nick Cushing said after the match.

Counter-attack turns into first New York City goal for Martinez
The moment that earned New York City a road point came in the 33rd minute - and it started when Keaton Parks intercepted the ball in the final third on the right flank and set up Martinez in the box for the equalizer. The goal was particularly notable for Martinez as it was his first since joining the club in the middle of last season.

“The one thing is he's really clinical. It doesn't surprise me that he scored tonight,” Cushing said. “I mean, I think he should have had two, but we knew we would get looks with him because of his pace and he is really clinical on the break. We're really happy for him. He deserves it. He's worked incredibly hard.”

Finishing makes difference
While New York City finished the match with a total of 10 shots, only three of those were on target despite having an expected goals value of 1.7. Santi Rodriguez had a clean look from the edge of the area in the 23rd minute, but he missed high to the right. Mounsef Bakrar had three high-quality chances to score in the second half. The first two came in the 50th minute, when he missed a shot off a corner kick off the post before pulling the follow-through wide of the right post. Bakrar missed his highest-percentage chance (with an expected goal value of 0.5) came in the 63rd minute, when his shot from close range in the middle was fired off target.

“I think to come away to Miami against this team and to have unexpected goals of [1.7] and to have four big chances, five big chances - I think we've got to be clinical,” Cushing said. “I think the [attack] clicking is not the problem. I think it's being clinical in the moment to take the chances.”

Next Match
New York City FC will return to the five boroughs next Saturday with a match against Atlanta United at Yankee Stadium at 7:30 P.M. The match will begin a stretch of five straight matches that will be played at home for New York City. Live radio coverage will begin at 7:15 P.M. with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence providing live commentary.