In the most highly anticipated Hudson River Derby to date, New York City FC allowed Citi Field to become a burial ground for arguments that New York is Blue by dropping the first derby meeting with New York Red Bulls in the playoffs in disappointing fashion.
After an energizing penalty shootout win against FC Cincinnati to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinal, the Boys in Blue produced nothing close to a clinical performance after the Red Bulls snatched an early two-goal lead to suck the air out of Citi Field, or at least, the side of Citi Field not wearing red.
NYCFC looked to have the momentum in the opening minutes of the first half, before Felipe Caballo unleashed an absolute rocket in the top-left corner of the 16th minute. Followed by a poor showing of defending on a corner kick less than ten minutes later, NYCFC could just not find their footing in this game.
While FotMob may have been more generous with rating head coach Nick Cushing's squad, your ratings were more judgemental. Just five players received a number higher than 5.0, and Justin Haak topped out the ratings at 6.0.
Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.
Alonso Martínez, off 86' (6.4) – 4.7
Santiago Rodríguez (7.4) – 5.0
Hannes Wolf, off 74' (7.0) – 3.7
Maxi Moralez (7.4) – 4.9
Keaton Parks (7.3) – 4.6
James Sands (6.6) – 5.3
Mitja Ilenič, off 82' (6.1) – 4.6
Kevin O'Toole, off 90' (6.3) – 4.5
Thiago Martins (7.3) – 5.1
Justin Haak (7.0) – 6.0
Matt Freese (5.3) – 5.8
