NYCFC earn first road win of season 2-0 over DC United
By Chris Tsakonas
It may have been their first road match in over a month, but it was the same result for New York City FC, who beat DC United 2-0 at Audi Field tonight off a pair of first half goals from Alexander Callens and Taty Castellanos.
New York City controlled the run of play for most of the match, outshooting DC 12-8l. They also controlled the possession battle, holding the ball for 55.6 percent of the match. This all translated into an expected goals edge of 1.6-0.5.
“This is a different game when you play away,” manager Ronny Deila said postgame. “Sometimes you have to dig in, you have to defend well and take your chances when they get it - today was a perfect example [of that].”
DC United created their first good look at goal in the second minute, when Brad Smith got the ball on the left side of the 18 yard box. His shot went across the face of goal before bouncing off the right goalpost.
NYCFC generated pressure on the counterattack, setting up a corner kick in the 5th minute. Santi Rodriguez played it short for Chris Gloster, who delivered a curling ball into the box that was headed into the net by Alexander Callens. It was Callens’ second goal of the year, and it was an early 1-0 lead for New York City.
“Sometimes, you have to get goals in different ways, and today we really used our opportunities in the set plays,” Deila said.
It looked as though NYCFC would head into the halftime locker room up only 1-0 – until the VAR got involved. After review, it was found that Brendan Daniel Hines-Ike handled a cross as it came in from the left side, and a penalty kick was awarded in stoppage time. Taty Castellanos stepped up to the spot, and converted to make it 2-0 for his seventh goal of the season.
The chance creation slowed down for the early part of the second half, as neither side recorded a shot on goal for the first 23 minutes out of the break.
DC United began to create more chances in the 76th minute. Off a corner kick from the left flag, Julian Gressel delivered a ball to the far post, but Johnson dove to his left to make a difficult stop on a header from Steven Birnbaum.
In the 81st minute, DC United got their best chance of the match off a counter attack. A takeaway by Drew Skundrich started the break, and Nigel Robertha sent a through ball down the right flank to set up a break for Taxi Fountas - but the DP striker couldn’t finish, playing it across the face of goal and wide.
The win put New York City just one point behind the Philadelphia Union for the Eastern Conference lead. NYCFC have been the most efficient team in the conference, earning points at a 1.82 PPG clip.
New York City FC will return home this Sunday to host the Chicago Fire. A win could give them the East, pending other results. It’s the first time that NYCFC have played Chicago this season.