It was pride night at Yankee stadium Thursday night and the boys in blue had something to prove. They needed to show home fans that the nine game winning streak was not a fluke and they needed to show that they could win convincingly at home after a series of lack luster draws. They showed all that and more with a dominant performance, even spotting Cincinnati two own goals in the process.
With several players missing for international call ups and injuries, Domenec Torrent put a offensive minded starting eleven on the pitch, starting Heber, Maxi Moralez, Alexandru Mitrita, Taty Castellanos, and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi up top. It was a high powered, speedy attack that blossomed from the get go. Those players put on a clinic in front of the eighteen thousand fans in attendance and for the eyes of Pep Guardiola, who made his way across the pond to watch from the box seats.
Goal followed goal and in no time Mitrita, Heber and Tajouri-Shradi were on the score board. Maxi and Anton Tinnerholm were assist masters and all was beautiful for the pigeons. Then disaster struck for a brief second as, back up keeper, Brad Stuver, miss read a corner cross and the ball bounced off Heber’s head into his own goal. Heber would soon make up for the mistake, scoring a beautiful goal off a pin perfect pass from Maxi.
In the second half disaster struck again when Sebastian Ibeagha came on when James Sands had to leave with a broken arm. Soon after entering the pitch Ibeagha inadvertently hit a rebound from a Stuver save back into his own net. NYCFC would go on to set a new MLS record being the only team in history to score two own goals and still win. And win they did in dominant fashion. Maxi tallied 3 assists on the night but would not be denied his goal in the 90th minute. Tinnerholm completed 80% of his passes and logged two assists of his own. One would be hard pressed to choose a man of the match for the night because the team played that well. The passing was largely crisp and one or two touches. The movement was dynamic and Cincinnati looked shell shocked at times. The night was all NYCFC.
Joseph Parks and Justin Haak logged significant minutes in the second half and each played well. Parks showed a real flare for the attack and will doubtless see more minutes in Wednesday’s US Open clash with North Carolina FC. For now the team can bask in the glory of their most dominant performance to date and the now ten game winning streak. NYCFC are the only team left in the Eastern Conference with only one loss and have games in hand on every team currently ranked above them. The Fans can believe again. This team is finding itself and proving that it is a force to be reckoned with. The goals are coming and now the question is if the team can continue like this against better competition.
