New York City FC entered Game 2 of their Round One Best-of-3 Series against FC Cincinnati knowing they needed a win to keep their Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs dream alive.
Mission accomplished.
Battling before a strong home crowd Saturday at Citi Field, NYCFC jumped out to a 2-0 first-half advantage behind Alonso Martínez and Thiago Martins. A trademark Luca Orellano screamer halved the deficit as Cincinnati piled on the pressure in the second half, but Santiago Rodríguez’s stoppage-time penalty put the game away and completed the 3-1 upset victory.
“In football, when you've got pressure, you’ve got to be able to bend but not break,” NYCFC head coach Nick Cushing said after the final whistle. “You’ve got to be able to take the knocks when they score to get back in the game.
“We’re a team that wants to play with the ball, but when you're under pressure against a team that is free and has nothing to lose, you’ve got to make sure that you come up with big moments.”
After the Cityzens avoided elimination, midfielder James Sands demands a similar performance in next Saturday's decisive Game 3 at Cincinnati's TQL Stadium (4 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
“We knew this match was do-or-die for us," said the homegrown standout. "The way they play, they tend to go man against man across the field. The game turns into a lot of individual battles, a lot of duels, and just being up for those was a big part of our success tonight.
"We're going to need a similar type of effort next week.”
Martins, Freese deliver
Though NYCFC’s three-goal performance offered a welcome contrast from their two previous matches, where they were shut out by CF Montréal (2-0) on Decision Day and Cincy (1-0) in Game 1, the club's defensive stalwarts were at the center of it all.
Goalkeeper Matt Freese impressed with four crucial saves, while center back Thiago Martins capped off a man-of-the-match performance with a well-timed arrival at the back post to score NYCFC's second goal.
“[Martins] has been an absolute warrior for this football club this year,” Cushing said. “It's so hard for me to say ‘best player’ or ‘most committed player’... but Martins isn't coming out of that game because he just can't. He's a warrior and a guy who wears our captain’s armband."
Freese’s big stops also caught the eye, leaving his coach stunned he wasn't among the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year finalists. In particular, the 26-year-old earned plaudits for his spectacular 80th-minute denial of Teenage Hadebe from point-blank range with Cincinnati pressing for an equalizer.
“I could say words like 'amazing' or 'fantastic,'” Cushing said. “I think we would be a lot lower [in the standings] without Matt Freese. I think between [Kristijan Kahlina] and Matt, they’re the best goalkeepers in MLS, so I think it’s crazy that he’s not in the three.”
Must-win in Cincinnati
With a decisive Game 3 looming, NYCFC will aim to do something they've failed to accomplish three times this season: win at TQL Stadium. In addition to being outplayed in Game 1, they fell 1-0 at Cincinnati in March and suffered a 4-2 defeat in Leagues Cup over the summer.
“The enthusing part that we can really hang on to is that I don’t think we played our best football last Monday,” Cushing said. “We feel that we can have more threat in that game, that if we can take those transition moments better, we can create more chances and give them more problems with the ball.
“We’ve had tight games. It’ll be a tight game again. They’ve gone from a team that has nothing to lose to now being at home and having a lot to lose," Cushing said. "But ultimately, it’ll be the same. We’ve taken it to Game 3, so now it’s just about how we can approach this one.”
Right back Mitja Ilenič believes NYCFC's Game 2 performance may be the key to breaking their negative string of results at TQL Stadium.
“It's a big confidence boost for us. Now we go back to Ohio, and we need to repeat the performance from tonight and I think we can do it better," Ilenič said. "We want to go, we want to move forward, advance, and we will do everything in our power to do that.”
