New York City FC edged a wild one 3-2 in Fort Lauderdale last night.
Here’s Five Points from a dramatic win over Inter Miami, presented by Etihad…
Back-to-Back
The question going into Saturday night’s showdown in Florida was whether NYCFC could follow up their morale-boosting 4-0 win vs. FC Cincinnati last weekend. The answer was an emphatic yes.
The two halves of play could hardly have been much different, with each requiring a different side of this NYCFC side to come to the fore.
In the first 45’ it was all about being creative and incisive in the final third to come out of the half ahead after being pegged back by Miami twice in a crazy period of play.
After the interval, it was all about standing up to what Gonzalo Higuain and company could throw at us and the boys came through with flying colors, limiting their hosts to half chances and carrying a threat of their own on the break.
All in all, a good one to come through with all three points to fully work that luckless TFC defeat out of the system.
A Massive Win
This was a win made all the more impressive by the circumstances in which NYCFC came through.
With same day travel required to follow MLS COVID-19 protocol, City left their homes while it was still dark in the am and didn’t return home until almost exactly 24 hours later.
Add on top the missing players through injury and suspension, as well as the humid conditions in Florida, and you can reflect on a high pleasing road trip.
In Ronny’s words: “It was a tough game… The conditions with the heat and traveling on the same day made it hard for us but again, I’m unbelievably proud of this team. Not every game we can outplay the opponent and have full control, sometimes you have to dig out the results, and how we did that tonight was amazing… This is massive for us.”
More Mitri Magic
Just as he did vs. FCC, our Romanian flyer got us off to the perfect start as Alexandru Mitriță continues to deputize for Maxi Moralez in the no.10 role with distinction.
It took four minutes for Mitri to get on the scoresheet this time as he raced onto a stunning long pass from Alex Ring to dink over the goalkeeper and he scored a second first half goal following a half-pitch dribble and shot which took a deflection and found the net.
Another dream outing for Alexandru who is finding form at a key point in the season, helping City to come through even without some of their other key attacking talents.
Ok Boomer
Anton Tinnerholm is good at soccer.
What more do we need to say?
Back to the BX
It’s back to the BX for NYCFC now, with D.C. United up next on Wednesday night in the first match at Yankee Stadium in more than a year.
It won’t be the same without supporters, but with just four defeats in their last 57 matches at Yankee Stadium, we have a strong home advantage and every reason to believe we can carry this form on to continue our ascent up the MLS Eastern Conference standings.
Following that, we’re in the BX again on Sunday afternoon for another match vs. the New England Revolution which you can watch on the Yes Network.
Let’s keep it going.
