By Keira Smith // @keiramunsmith
New York City FC has a tight schedule this week and faced the second of its three opponents on July 11th at home versus Impact Montréal. The game was a snooze fest in the scoreless first half, with very little happening offensively besides some fruitless crosses by NYCFC wing Rodney Wallace and some relentless verbal tormenting of Montréal goalkeeper Evan Bush.
Something happened during half time though, (besides this wedding proposal, ripe with a “Marry Me” NYCFC jersey!)
💍😍💙 pic.twitter.com/EjfrlgTdGF
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) July 12, 2018
The Boys in Grey came out with fire in their bellies and under their feet opening up the scoring flood gates with three beautiful and very different styled goals by Jesús Medina at the 60th minute:
Our ⭐️ of the Match breaks down his golazo and another 3️⃣ #ForTheCity
🎥 MEDINA REACTION ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/DKGpVyVuBA
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) July 12, 2018
Ronald Matarrita at 65′:
Inverted winger Ronald Matarrita whipping out a 60-degree lob wedge here #NYCFC pic.twitter.com/yayujMzHZ2
— Kyle Schnitzer (@Kyle_Schnitzer) July 12, 2018
Jonathan Lewis at 76′:
Fixed it for you, @Jon_lewis710 😉 pic.twitter.com/iYQcjqDcIU
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) July 12, 2018
After the second goal, Montréal seemed to lose all their energy, barely pressing forward. Recently lethal striker Ignacio Piatti did his best to make runs, looking for something magical to come his way but City defenders Alexander Callens and Sebastien Ibeagha easily shut him down. Montréal’s lack of high (or even medium) press, allowed NYCFC to play out of the back for much of the game, which thankfully gave goalkeeper Sean Johnson something to do as he didn’t need to make a single save.
Some intel I learned postgame:
- Jonathan Lewis, despite being “half English” is rooting for France, admires the playing style of Kylian Mbappe and Raheem Sterling and “said [a while back] that Croatia would go to the [World Cup] finals.”
- In a week with three tightly scheduled games, Sean Johnson spoke of the importance of rest to stay sharp and the team’s focus on tactics. Interestingly, Johnson regularly incorporates yoga and pilates into his training year-round.
- Ronald Matarrita is “always trying to score goals” and hopes that we all get to know him a bit better as a player.
NYCFC faces the Columbus Crew on Saturday July 14th at home. Remember when we had to play them at “home” at Citifield? Related to that, a New York Times article was released during the Montreal game about another possible stadium site.
BREAKING: Developers say they have an agreement to buy the GAL Manufacturing factory on East 153rd Street, and lease the land to NYCFC to build a stadium. (via NY Times)https://t.co/pWcu9bb9dx
— NYCFC Nation (@NYCFCNation) July 11, 2018
Someday we will have our own home…
Images by Tisha Gale and Keira Smith
Follow and chat with me on Twitter // @keiramunsmith
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