New York City FC (NYCFC) scored two goals in the first 45 minutes to see off Club León at the Sports Illustrated Stadium on Friday night.
An early Alonso Martínez goal put the Boys in Blue in command, and Agustin Ojeda finished off a flowing City move to seal the win.
NYCFC looked a vastly different side to the one that whimpered to a 3-0 loss against Puebla in their first match of the Leagues Cup. Unlike Tuesday night, City did not rush play and instead found openings by forcing León out of position.
City also kept its sixth clean sheet of the season, and its first since the 4-0 win against Atlanta United in early June.
“It all starts with being competitive — that was the conversation going into this game because the first half in the previous game,” head coach Pascal Jansen said. “We were nowhere near being competitive, and that’s a mentality. So if you see how Tayvon [Gray] defended today, see how [Strahinja] Tana[sejević] defended, how determined they are, this clean sheet helps that.”
Despite los Panzas Verdes having 57% of the possession in the first half, New York created the more dangerous chances, and they made it count.
The Boys in Blue scored at the first opportunity in Club León’s half, and it was Martínez who scored his fifth goal in five matches to put NYCFC ahead.
Nicolás Fernández Mercau received the ball with his back to goal, spun his marker brilliantly and drove to the byline. Óscar Jiménez covered his near post, and the resulting cross deflected out for a corner.
Justin Haak met the resulting setpiece at the front post and touched the ball on for Martínez to tap it in from two yards out at the backpost.
Fernández Mercau and Martínez have struck up a partnership since the former transferred from La Liga side Elche CF last month. The Argentine has assisted Martínez’s last two goals and could be a fruitful partnership for Jansen and his men for the rest of the season.
“When you bring creative minds, brilliant minds together, they understand each other within no time, and that understanding was there for the first second,” Jansen said. “So it’s up to us as a technical staff to make sure that these brilliant minds work together in and out of possessions to show good things.”
Martínez turned provider for the second goal. NYCFC’s patient buildup play found an opening in the 32nd minute, when Fernández Mercau found Martínez with the reverse pass, playing him in behind León’s defensive line.
The Costa Rican swiped the ball across with his first touch and the oncoming Agustin Ojeda blasted it into the roof of the net for New York’s two-goal cushion.
The Boys in Blue almost found a third seven minutes later, with Fernández Mercau and Martínez finding themselves two-on-three. However, the flag went up after Martínez couldn’t reach Fernández Mercau’s cross.
The confidence oozed out of City, and it showed when center-back Stranhinja Tanasejević found himself well inside the opposite 18-yard-box in open play towards the end of the first half.
NYCFC were happy to soak up some more León pressure in the second half, but it almost cost them a goal as Tanasejevič handled the ball in his own area while attempting to clear a León cross.
Captain James Rodríguez stepped up to take the penalty in the 58th minute, but put his shot at a good height to Matthew Freese’s left, and the USMNT goalkeeper came up with yet another penalty save, pushing out the Colombian’s effort. It was Club León’s first shot on target all night.
The penalty save looked to have given NYCFC the confidence and momentum for the rest of the match, as City kept flooding forward to look for their third goal of the night.
A scramble in front of Jiménez’s goal in the 67th minute gave the Boys in Blue three opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net, but they could not put any of them away.
17-year-old Seymour Garfield-Reid was substituted on in the 80th minute, and the youngster was played in twice by Maxi Moralez to go one-on-one with Jiménez. However, the Mexican was equal to both chances, getting down low as late as possible to save Garfield-Reid’s shots.
The Boys in Blue could not play out of their own half for the final five minutes, but it mattered little as the two first-half strikes were enough to send NYCFC up to 10th in the MLS Leagues Cup standings.
They will need multiple results to go their way on the final matchday to qualify for the knockout rounds. NYCFC faces Deportivo Toluca at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night to conclude Phase One of Leagues Cup play.
