New York City FC II hosted Atlanta United 2 in the much-anticipated first match at Icahn Stadium on a beautiful Friday night. The two sides drew 2-2 after the Baby Blues conceded a stoppage-time equalizer and lost the subsequent penalty shootout.
Luis Barraza was the surprise starter for NYCFC II, and the sole First Team player on the squad. His only other MLS NEXT Pro game this season was in a 0-2 away victory in Chicago. It made this selection notable, especially with Matt Freese possibly sidelined with an injury after leaving New York City FC’s game last week against Columbus Crew in the 12th minute.
Did club give Barraza in-game minutes to boost his match fitness in preparation for a lengthy Freese injury? We’ll find out when Head Coach Nick Cushing holds his pregame press conference next week before the team travels to the nation’s capital to face DC United on September 14th.
2-2, again
Tonight’s scoreline was history repeating itself not just once, but twice. First, when the Baby Blues played their inaugural match at Belson Stadium in 2022, the game ended in a 2-2 draw and NYCFC II lost on penalties. Then last year, the First Team drew Atlanta United 2-2 after New York City conceded an equalizer in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Barraza was the goalkeeper for both of those games.
The other notable change to the lineup was the absence of the three youngsters: Máximo Carrizo, Johnny Shore, and Andrew Baiera are on international duty with the US U-17 and U-18 teams respectively. Instead, 17-year-old Jonathan Lopez and 16-year-old Julien Lacher received starts tonight.
The Atlanta United 2 squad was heavy with players who regularly play for the First Team, including 21-year-old striker Tyler Wolff (15 appearances), 23-year-old forward Nicolas Firmino (13 appearances), and 23-year-old forward Edwin Mosquera (18 appearances), and it showed. The Atlanta attack was fast, physical, and aggressive from the opening whistle.
They were also the first to strike at Icahn Stadium, as a poor giveaway from NYCFC II midfielder Piero Elias led to the opening goal in the 18th minute. Atlanta’s Luke Brennan dispossessed Elias before playing Firmino out wide, who in turn found Brennan again in the box for an open header past Barraza. New York City fans will remember that it was Firmino who scored the 90+5’ equalizer on Barraza in the United game last year.
In typical NYCFC II fashion, they only stayed down for five minutes. The equalizer came courtesy of Elias playing Camil Azam Ruiz into the penalty box. His shot was partially saved, but the ball bounced around before Ronald Arevalo eventually found enough to get into the back of the net. The goal was not pretty, but the scoreboard at Icahn read 1-1.
OUR FIRST EVER GOAL AT ICAHN STADIUM ‼️ pic.twitter.com/81w3pGjrBn
— New York City FC II (@newyorkcityfcii) September 6, 2024
Baby Blues give away equalizing goal
Following the halftime break, the visitors had two great opportunities to take the lead. The first was a breakaway that saw Barraza snuff out Atlanta’s Edwin Mosquera one-on-one. The second saw Firmino’s header rattle the crossbar and fall to Alan Carleton, whose shot was expertly blocked by Rio Hope-Gund.
In the 67th minute, it was the Baby Blues turn to take the lead, this time through a much prettier goal. Jake Rozhansky found Azam Ruiz just inside the box, who then bent a beautiful strike with his right foot into the top left corner to give the Baby Blues the lead. It's the seventh goal of the season for the 23-year-old Ruiz.
The home team looked poised to take all three points and jump into third place in the Eastern Conference, but an extremely unfortunate Hope-Gund own goal off a corner in the 94th minute drew the visitors even.
Another Homegrown 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎 🔥
— ATL UTD 2 (@atlutd2) September 6, 2024
Efrain saves the match in the final minute and we’re off to a penalty shootout 🔜 pic.twitter.com/6JZNUkGH39
This is the second consecutive penalty shootout loss in a row for the Baby Blues. Last week, Calheira failed to convert in Columbus. Tonight, he missed twice: His attempt was saved then called off because the Atlanta goalkeeper moved too soon, but when Calheira retook his penalty the goalkeeper saved it again.
Atlanta converted all of their penalties, and now led the Baby Blues 4-2. Barraza stepped up to take the team’s fourth penalty, but he sent his kick over the bar, handing the additional point to the visitors.
It was a disappointing start to a new era at Icahn Stadium.
Hudson River Blue Staff
