New York City FC return to their winning ways at Yankee Stadium on Friday night with dominant 4-2 win over Orlando City SC. First half goals from Santiago Rodriguez, Hannes Wolf and Agustin Ojeda put the game away before the halftime whistle, while Orlando pushed hard in the second half time make it a bit nervy in the final bit of stoppage time. Monsef Bakrar made sure the scoreline remained in City’s favor late into second half stoppage time.
Orlando wasn’t able to deal with City’s ball movement in the first half. Malachi Jones and Rodriguez connected well, splitting the the opposition defense and causing chaos in the box. It didn’t take long for Alonso Martinez to find Rodriguez in the 15th minute. The attacking forward got the ball at the top of the box and put a howler past the Orlando keeper to put City up 1-0.
Less than 10 minutes later disaster struck as Jones and the Orlando keeper Mason Stajduhar collided, leading to both being forced off the field and substituted. The long delay, silenced the crowd and also brought the game to a sluggish restart. City were still able to turn up the offense, doubling the lead before the halftime whistle from a goal by Wolf. Minutes later, Ojeda, who came on for an injured Jones, made it 3-0 which was more than enough to solidify the win for City.
The second half saw City sit back and absorb more pressure. While Orlando did little with it early in the half, they were able to pull a goal back by defender Dagur Thorhallsson. Stoppage time saw Orlando pull another goal and add some tension to what was a comfortable lead. Duncan McGuire found the back of the net but the last kick of the game went the way of City as Bakrar cut into the box and put the final goal into the net.
City’s win moves them into fourth place and stops a three-game slide. The team will remain at home and they play CF Montreal in Queens on July 3rd. It will be a busy week as after that game, they will take to the road to play Austin FC on Saturday the 6th.
STARTING XI:
New York City FC: Freese; Gray, Martins, Risa, O’Toole, Sands, Parks (69′ Perea), Wolf, Rodriguez (69′ Moralez), Jones (23′ Ojeda), Martinez (83′ Bakrar)
Orlando City SC: Stajduhar (29′ Otero); Thorhallsson, Schlegel, Jasson, Santos (64′ Smith), Angulo (64′ Muriel), Araujo, Lodeiro (46′ Kocevski), Torres, Ojeda (90′ Lynn), McGuire
SCORING SUMMARY:
15′ (NYCFC) Santiago Rodriguez assisted by Alonso Martinez and Malachi Jones
45′ (NYCFC) Hannes Wolf assisted by Tayvon Gray and Santiago Rodriguez
45′ (NYCFC) Agustin Ojeda assisted by Tayvon Gray and Thiago Martins
72′ (Orlando City SC) Dagur Thorhallsson assisted by assisted by Martin Ojeda and Kyle Smith
90′ (Orlando City SC) Duncan McGuire unassisted
90′ (NYCFC) Monsef Bakrar assisted by James Sands and Agustin Ojeda
DISCIPLINE:
78′ (NYCFC) Matt Freese – YELLOW CARD
78′ (NYCFC) Thiago Martins – YELLOW CARD
photo by Jordan Banks