New York Citywith goalkeeper Matt Freese as a figure, removed this Saturday Cincinnati in the first round of the ‘playoffs’ of MLS by winning the penalty shootout 5-6 after drawing 0-0 in regulation time, and will meet in the Eastern semifinals with the New York Red Bulls in a New York derby. In this MLS ‘playoff’ with many surprises, New York City (sixth in the East) joined the list of unexpected results by sending home Cincinnati (third) in this best series.
Cincinnati, last year’s MLS Supporters’ Shield champion and with Argentine Luciano Acosta at the helm (MLS MVP in 2023), won its first home game 1-0. But New York City, whose numbers include Uruguayan Santiago Rodríguez and Costa Rican Alonso Martínez, responded in the Big Apple 3-1 and on Saturday fought back to win the series on penalties.
The Eastern semifinals will feature the New York duel between New York City and New York Red Bulls (seventh in the East), who made a splash by leaving Columbus Crew’s Colombian Juan Camilo ‘Cucho’ Hernández in their series 2-0 (second in the East and current champions of the MLS Cup and Leagues Cup).
The Red Bulls will come into this match with a thirst for revenge since they were crushed by New York City in their last meeting by a massive 1-5 on September 28. Unlike the first round, the rest of the MLS Cup qualifiers are played in one game and has home-court advantage for the best-placed team in the regular season (in this case, New York City).
Cincinnati carried the brunt of the game in the first half and had two clear chances on the boot of Argentine Luca Orellano, who first met a save from Freese and then failed to hit the shot after a spectacular drive. The siege on the venue continued after the restart. A shot by DeAndre Yedlin crashed into the side netting.
New York City was clear about its plan: take cover in the back and counterattack when the door opens. And the bet almost fell through when Martínez scored in the 81st minute but the goal was disallowed for offside.
The stats made clear the dominance during 90 minutes of Cincinnati, which took 16 shots (7 from New York City) with 4 on goal (only one from the visitors) and finished with a 1.8 expected goals against to just 0.3 of New Yorkers. But none of that mattered when it came time to play the ticket from the eleven meters.
Both teams scored on their first three shots, but Freese tipped Czech Pavel Bucha’s shot to put New York City ahead. At 4-4, the responsibility of sealing the pass for the visitors fell to captain Thiago Martins, but the Brazilian center back collided with Roman Celentano and Cincinnati regained their breath.
New York City had another chance in the seventh shot when Freese blocked Gerardo Valenzuela’s attempt, but Celentano saved Cincinnati again by stopping Kevin O’Toole’s shot. Neither team seemed to want to qualify and the shootout took almost comical touches, so in the eighth penalty both Chidozie Awaziem for Cincinnati and Andrés Perea for New York City sent their shots to roof.
In the ninth, the resolution finally came: Freese was huge again, blocking the goal of Teenage Hadebe and New York City qualified with the goal of Slovenian Mitja Ilenic.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
