Published by Scott Churchson of Stream Punk Entertainment – New York City Football Club With Crushing Win over RBNY in Road Derby, Clinch Playoff Berth (Plus 10 Stats for NYCFC Fans)
HARRISON, NJ — Sometimes the chips fall your way from the get go. Not always, but on nights like the New York City Football Club had in their annual Hudson River Road Derby, this was one of those nights as the club put up five on their New York rivals, coming away from Harrison with a 5-1 win on a drizzy night in NJ.
NYCFC celebrates after their one of their five goals in Saturday’s win over the Red Bulls – Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
So the match was tied for a bit, five minutes in fact until Maxi Moralez scored his first of the year from the center of the box for the quick 1-0 score. Then, while I was busy editing footage of that goal, just two minutes later, Alonso Martinez continued his sparkling season to the left side of the box to go up 2.
After a Red Bull score at 28 to close the lead to 2-1, Andres Perea took a header into the net just two minutes later to re-up the lead to two. Closing out the half was Alonso Martinez picking up his second of the match sparking this reaction from head coach Nick Cushing, the staff and the bench that I picked up from the press box immediately afterwards. (as an aside, while the RBNY press box is amazingly close to the pitch, it’s also a curious safety hazard. Yesterday was the second match in a row where I was there and nearly got clocked by a line drive that went into the press area).
Closing out scoring was Tayvon Gray picking up his first career NYCFC goal on a shot to the left corner of the net, a goal he admitted later surprised him as well, believing it would go off the pipe instead.
In the end, a massive win for the team from the Bronx over their Bridge & Tunnel rivals. A win that not only propels them into fifth in the east, but into a playoff spot, as DC, Toronto & Nashville all either drew or lost, giving NYCFC a trick back into the playoffs. Now, it’s a matter of where they’ll land.
10 STATS
1) Going into this match NYCFC is 10-2-2 when scoring at least 2. On the other hand they were 2W-9L-6D when scoring one or less.
2) Also this was the second time this season the team scored 3 in the first half. Previously it occurred on June 28 in a 4-2 win over Orlando.
With their win on Saturday, NYCFC amassed to 50 points on the year to move to fifth in the MLS Eastern Conference playoff picture – Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
3) Alonso Martinez continues to shine with his team leading 13th and 14th goal of the season. This was also the 4th time this year he scored two or more in a single match.
4) David Villa (three times), Heber, Taty and now Alonso Martinez have scored at least 14 in a season.
5) 11th time in team history the club has scored five or more
6) Also the 11th time in history they’ve won by four or more.
7) The Red Bulls had a full nine Corner Kicks in this match to NYCFC’s one. That matched the opposing team high from earlier in the season when nine were given up to Philadelphia on the road in the classic raccoon game.
8) Forward Santiago Rodriguez was out due to Yellow Card accumulation, missing his second game of the year. Curiously, the club is undefeated in the two matches he’s missed, drawing 2-2 back on July 17 against Atlanta.
9) NYCFC has reached 50 points in a season in six of it’s nine years coming into this season. They need to win two out of the next three to reach that mark again this season.
10) And lastly, NYCFC faces FC Cincinnati at “home” (aka Red Bull Arena) on Wednesday October 2. The two clubs have faced there twice before, both back in 2020 with NYCFC winning 2-1 on September 12th and 4-0 two weeks later on September 26.
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