By Chris Tsakonas
New York City’s winless streak now stands at five matches after a 4-4 draw against FC Cincinnati at Yankee Stadium tonight. The Pigeons led 4-2 after 90 minutes, but Cincinnati scored two goals in the final eight minutes to split the points.
Here are three observations from tonight’s match.
Pigeons capitalize on strong early push
New York City wasted no time pushing into the final third early. The Pigeons had created 5 shots inside the opening 12 minutes of the match, with two of those shots forcing Roman Celentano into saves.
The best of those opportunities came in the 12th minute, when an initial ball from Tayvon Gray led to a point-blank chance for Hannes Wolf in the middle of the box. Celentano came out of his goal to make the stop from close range, but New York City clearly established the upper hand and set the tone for the match.
In the 20th minute, the Pigeons finally took off. After an initial ball into the box was mishandled by Roman Celentano, Nico Fernandez Mercau was right on the doorstep to bury the rebound and give New York City the 1-0 lead.
Counter attacks lead to goals for New York City
Despite giving up an equalizer from Kevin Denkey in the 32nd minute, New York City effectively responded by generating quality chances on counter attacks. In the 35th minute, Maxi Moralez played a one-time pass into the right flank to set up a one-on-one chance that Fernandez Mercau finished to give the Pigeons a 2-1 lead at the halftime break. It was Fernandez Mercau’s eighth goal of the season.
In the 53rd minute, Aiden O’Neill played a through ball down the right side to find Ojeda with space on the flank. From a sharp angle, Ojeda beat Roman Celentano to make it 3-1.
Stoppage time miscues cost New York City two points
After Talles Magno curled a shot past Roman Celentano to put the Pigeons ahead 4-2 in the 78th minute, New York City was in prime position to snap a four-match winless streak with seven minutes of stoppage time given.
That changed in the second added minute, when a long-range effort from substitute Andrei Chirila beat Matt Freese to make it a 4-3 game. Three minutes later, Kevin O’Toole fouled Evander on the right side of the area to give Cincinnati an opportunity from the penalty spot.
Evander stepped up to take it himself, and Matt Freese guessed the wrong way as Cincinnati leveled the match in the fifth added minute.
Next Up
It’s another short turnaround for New York City, who will head north of the border to take on CF Montreal at Stade Saputo on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Montreal did not play tonight, but snapped a four-match winless streak by beating the New York Red Bulls 4-1 last Saturday. Live radio commentary with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence will get underway at 2:15 p.m. at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.
