NYCFC Goals: Castellanos 1'
FC Dallas Goals: Ondrasek 65'
Quick Summary
New York City FC made history at Toyota Stadium as Taty Castellanos put the Boys in Blue on the board in an NYCFC record-breaking 39 seconds. City maintained their lead through 65 minutes, but FC Dallas finally got one past Sean Johnson to tie up the game.
It was a hard-fought battle and NYC came away with a point in the Lone Star State to preserve top spot in the East.
Match Recap
The Boys in Blue were back in action in Frisco, Texas after a much needed week of rest and recovery to head into the final sprint of the regular season.
The night started early for City. 39 seconds into the match, Taty Castellanos stunned Dallas with the opening goal of the night.
In Maxi Moralez’s first match back after injury, the Argentine reminded us of his playmaking abilities. After gaining possession on the kickoff, our resident Spidey pummeled up the wing and passed the ball to Anton Tinnerholm. The Swede then crossed it to Taty Castellanos, who with a single touch was able to find the roof of the net and floor Jesse Gonzalez.
Castellanos’ goal was the quickest in NYCFC’s history, beating out Frank Lampard’s 2015 goal against DC United by seven seconds.
NYCFC continued to dominate through a confident opening 30', controlling possession and looking threatening every time they went forward, with Moralez typically influential.
Disrupting the flow, a nasty collision involving Anton Tinnerholm which brought the Swede's night to a premature close on 23'. Tony Rocha came in for the stricken Tinnerholm, who was unable to continue after taking a blow to his head.
That lengthy stoppage made for seven minutes of first half stoppage-time which saw FC Dallas come on strong but without seriously threatening Sean Johnson in the NYC goal.
The home side continued to press forward after the interval but NYCFC looked dangerous on the break. On 50', Alexandru Mitriță broke through the midfield and threatened the home goal but his shot was stopped by Gonzalez.
Dallas continued to come on strong and in the 65th minute, they found the equalizer. It was Zdenek Ondrasek who capitalized on a miscued clearance out of the back from City and trashed in the goal to make it 1-1.
With more heavy clashes leaving NYCFC bruised (and Keaton Parks subbed out), there were seven minutes of injury-time at the end of the second half, too, which NYCFC had to stand tall through.
Thanks to some robust defending, City saw it out and claimed a point which maintained their spot on the top of the East.
NYCFC.com Man of the Match
Maxi Moralez
After making his return the XI, Maxi took the pitch by storm. He combined with Anton Tinnerholm for the only assist of the night resulting in Castellanos' early goal.
His playmaking ability and game management abilities were vital for the road team prevailing with a point from this bruising matchup.
How We Lined Up
NYCFC XI: Johnson, Miller, Chanot, Callens, Tinnerholm, Matarrita, Ring (C), Parks, Moralez, Mitriță, Castellanos
Subs: Stuver, Ibeagha, Sweat, Rocha, Ofori, Medina, Tajouri-Shradi
What's Next
The Boys in Blue return home to take on Atlanta United on Wednesday for the final home game of the regular season. Don't miss out on Fan Appreciation Night at Yankee Stadium.
