New York City FC (NYCFC) overcame a raft of missed chances to come from a goal down and claim an important 3-1 win over a Chicago Fire side that finished with nine men at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Goals from Mounsef Bakrar, Hannes Wolf, and Alonso Martinez completed a second-half comeback for the hosts after former Nottingham Forest winger Philip Zinckernagel had opened the scoring for Chicago with a smart strike midway through the first half.
Their task was made considerably easier when Chicago midfielder Brian Gutierrez was sent off after 30 minutes for an off-the-ball elbow, while substitute Djé D’Avilla was shown a second yellow card with NYCFC 2-1 up when he was adjudged to have brought down Agustin Ojeda in the penalty area.
Martinez dispatched the penalty to seal NYCFC’s second win on the bounce, with Jansen’s side now sixth in the Eastern Conference.
They made hard work of it, however, and missed a number of golden opportunities throughout Sunday’s encounter. Martinez personally missed a hatful of chances in a frustrating first half for the hosts.
Goals have proved to be a problem for Jansen’s side all season, with only five teams in the Eastern Conference scoring fewer at the 15-game mark.
That lack of composure in front of goal looked like it would prove costly against Chicago, but Bakrar’s introduction as a half-time substitute proved crucial. The striker scored one and played a crucial role in another.
Jansen said his side made it “very hard” on themselves with their wastefulness in front of goal, but praised his side’s character in coming from behind.
Initially a slow-burner, the game exploded into life on 17 minutes when Martinez latched onto a Birk Risa through ball and skipped clear of a desperate lunge from Sam Rogers to race through on goal. The Costa Rican striker’s close-range effort was thwarted by the outstretched leg of Chris Brady, however.
That chance appeared to be the catalyst that kicked the game into life, and Chicago was in front just two minutes later when Zinckernagel swept home a delicious first-time effort from outside the area that fizzed beyond Matt Freese into the bottom corner.
NYCFC responded positively and should have been level four minutes later when Tayvon Gray raced to the byline and dug out a cross. Brady could only parry as far as Martinez, who blazed over from just six yards out with the goal at his mercy. Martinez was guilty of another glaring miss just 30 seconds later when he slammed a first-time effort against the crossbar from 10 yards out after meeting a cutback from Hannes Wolf.
Chicago almost made Martinez pay dearly for those missed chances in 25 minutes when the impressive Andrew Gutman raced through on goal and clipped the ball over Freese before tapping into the empty net. The effort was correctly ruled out for a marginal offside, however.
The host’s chances of a recovery were handed a major boost on the half-hour mark when Gutierrez saw red – both literally and figuratively. The Chicago midfielder was given his marching orders for catching Aiden O’Neill with an elbow as the NYCFC midfielder played a simple pass.
Yet, even with the man advantage, NYCFC continued to struggle and looked short of ideas in front of goal for the remainder of the opening period.
The equalizer, when it did finally come, 13 minutes into the second half, came out of nothing. Finding himself in an unusual position on the left wing, Justin Haak fizzed a somewhat speculative ball across the face of the goal after City recycled possession from a corner. Bakrar was on hand to tap home from close range for his first goal of the season.
Buoyed by that equalizer, the hosts pressed for the lead and hit the front with 20 minutes remaining when Wolf capitalized on an error from Chicago substitute Leonardo Barroso and curled a powerful right-footed shot beyond Brady from just inside the penalty area. Bakrar had started the attack by breaking up a Chicago attack, setting the hosts on the attack.
Jansen described Bakrar’s intervention as a “game-changer” and said the Algerian striker emphasized everything that NYCFC was about in the second half.
Hampered by a man disadvantage, Chicago never really looked like mounting a comeback in the closing stages, but any faint hopes that they had of a comeback were snuffed out completely on 84 minutes when Freese set substitute Agustin Ojeda through on goal with a monster throw.
Ojeda cut inside and appeared to have overrun the ball, but referee Rosendo Mendoza ruled that Chicago D’Avilla had fouled the winger before making contact with the ball, issuing D’Avilla a second yellow card and awarding the hosts a spot kick. Martinez clinically dispatched the penalty after a five-minute VAR check, sealing an important win on what had threatened to be a Memorial Sunday to forget.
