NYCFC fall 1-0 to New York Red Bulls in Leagues Cup Round of 32
By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC are out of the Leagues Cup after falling 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls tonight at Red Bull Arena. For the second derby in a row, Omir Fernandez scored the winning goal for the Red Bulls.
While New York City held the ball for 61.3 percent of the time in the opening 20 minutes of play, neither side recorded a shot during that span.
The first shot came for NYCFC in the 23rd minute, when Braian Cufre got on the end of a through ball from Santi Rodriguez - but the shot was blocked before it could reach Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel.
The Red Bulls drew a penalty kick in the 28th minute when James Sands committed a foul against Luquinhas in the area. Fernandez stepped up to take the penalty, and he slotted it home on the right side to give the Red Bulls a 1-0 lead.
New York City found themselves on the back foot after that goal, with the Red Bulls recording three shots in the final six minutes of the first half. When both teams headed into the locker room, NYCFC had 63.2 percent of the possession, but the Red Bulls had all three shots on goal.
“We were turning the ball over too much, we played a game that Red Bull want in the first half - so I changed the system to try and give us the opportunity to have more of the ball, and I wanted the team in the moments when we brought them to be more direct,” NYCFC head coach Nick Cushing said after the match.
Cushing made two changes at the half, bringing on Matias Pellegrini for Richy Ledezma and Justin Haak for Andres Jasson.
"I went three in the back, just to try and overload the first line to try and take away that first line of pressure, or to bring another one of the Red Bulls' guys so that we could open spaces for Mounsef [Bakrar] and open spaces for Santi,” Cushing said.
It nearly became a 2-0 Red Bull lead in the 52nd minute, when Andres Reyes missed a free header at the back post off a corner kick from John Tolkin.
Rodriguez played the setup role again in the 60th minute - setting a through ball in toward Bakrar for a shot that went right into the arms of Carlos Coronel.
NYCFC’s next chance came in the 77th minute, when Keaton Parks set up a through ball for Tayvon Gray in the box. Gray’s initial shot was saved by Coronel, and the follow-up shot from James Sands was blocked by Sean Nealis.
New York City got one more look at goal in the fifth minute of second half stoppage time. Talles Magno dribbled in traffic before cutting it back for Parks - only for his shot to be stopped by Coronel.
With the defeat, New York City are now on a 17-day layoff before returning to MLS regular season action against Minnesota United in Queens. Cushing feels that the time off could be beneficial for the team.
“I think the long layoff will be really positive for us, purely based on the amount of players we're adding to the group,” Cushing said. “We said all along that we were going to strengthen the group, and hopefully we can work for Birk [Risa] really quickly.”