New York City FC (NYCFC) exacted some revenge over the New York Red Bulls for their Eastern Conference playoff semifinal defeat last November with a comfortable 2-0 win over their cross-town rivals in a one-sided Hudson River Derby at Citi Field on Saturday evening.
A first-half thunderbolt from Alonso Martinez and a second-half strike from Maxi Moralez after a calamitous mistake from Red Bulls ‘keeper Carlos Coronel sealed a deserved victory for Pascal Jansen’s side on Saturday.
Jansen’s side bounced back from a run of three games without a win in all competitions to claim their third consecutive regular-season victory over the Red Bulls. It also marks the first time that NYCFC has won a game by more than a single goal this season.
The hosts were comfortable throughout against a disappointing Red Bulls outfit, constantly exploiting space behind the away defense to create a hatful of goalscoring opportunities. The Red Bulls, on the other hand, were a far cry from the side that demolished LA Galaxy 7-0 just last week, mustering just one shot on target in a toothless display.
Martinez once again underlined his importance to the NYCFC side, scoring his seventh of the season and teeing up Martinez for City’s second of the evening. The striker has scored vital goals in five of NYCFC’s six MLS victories this season, directly contributing nine of their 21 points.
Jansen praised the Costa Rican striker for rediscovering his goalscoring touch after missing several chances in City’s goalless draw at DC and home defeat against Montréal in the past week
“I’m really happy for Alonso (after) missing a few chances in the previous games that he got it in the back of the net,” Jansen said.
Victory moves NYCFC up to sixth in the Eastern Conference, while the Red Bulls fall to ninth.
Both sides shadowboxed in a cagey opening 10 minutes before NYCFC struck for the lead out of nowhere when Martinez collected a short pass from Justin Haak before firing a rasping drive beyond Coronel and into the top corner from 25 yards.
Goals have been a problem for NYCFC this season and so it proved again on Saturday afternoon, with Jansen’s side spurning several gilt-edged chances to double their advantage.
Time after time, the hosts exploited the considerable space in behind the Red Bulls defense, but time after time, they failed to take advantage.
Martinez should have doubled his and NYCFC’s tally on 18 minutes when he latched onto a Julian Fernandez long ball and raced clear of the despair Sean Nealis, only to see his close-range effort thwarted by Coronel’s outstretched leg.
Hannes Wolf spurned two promising opportunities in the space of 30 seconds as the half drew to a close, twice meeting a Fernandez cutback from close range but twice saw his efforts blocked by crucial last-ditch interventions.
Jansen acknowledged his side’s failings in the final third, stating that City should have been two or three goals up by the half-time break.
“If you look at the first half, I think we should have already scored two or three goals, but that’s somewhat of a habit of us in our games… that we don’t take all the chances that we get,” Jansen said.
The Red Bulls, however, offered little by way of riposte despite dominating possession in the opening period, failing to register a shot on target in a lackluster first-half display.
