ATLANTA, GA – Gudmundur Thórarinsson saved a crucial point on Wednesday night with a 90-minute free-kick which saw NYCFC break their scoreless drought of 509-minute and helped salvage a 1-1 scoreline against Atlanta United. The draw keeps New York City tied with seventh place DC United on points who they’ll take on this Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
NYCFC break scoreless drought in 1-1 draw against Atlanta United FC
Off the back of their 1-0 loss in the Hudson River Derby at Red Bull Arena, NYCFC travelled to Atlanta missing a few key players. This included Anton Tinnerholm with his torn ACL, Nicolás Acevedo who has now missed two games with a lower-body injury, and Maxime Chanot on yellow card accumulation. Ronny Deila thus opted for some rotation with Thiago Andrade on the wing over Santiago Rodríguez, Malte Amundsen at left-back over Thórarinsson, and lastly replacing Maxime Chanot with Alfredo Morales by moving James Sands into defense.
Under the direction of recently acquired head coach Gonzalo Pineda, the only Atlanta player unavailable for this match was Ezequiel Barco as the midfielder/winger received a red card in the team’s win over Toronto. Forward Érick Torres moved off the bench and into the starting XI with Barco out and the rest of Pineda’s lineup stayed fairly consistent.
NYCFC Lineup (4-2-3-1): (C) Sean Johnson; Malte Amundsen, Alexander Callens, James Sands, Tayvon Gray; Keaton Parks, Alfredo Morales; Thiago Andrade, Maxi Moralez, Jesús Medina; Taty Castellanos
Atlanta Lineup (3-4-3): (C) Brad Guzan; Miles Robinson, Alan Franco, Anton Walkes; George Bello, Santiago Sosa, Matheus Rossetto, Brooks Lennon; Marcelino Moreno, Érick Torres, Luiz Araújo
NYCFC fall behind early in the first half
No. 🔟 back at it again 🤩 pic.twitter.com/TgdIPJVUMn
— x – Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) October 21, 2021
Despite creating multiple opportunities in the opening fifteen minutes it was Atlanta who would striker first, counter-attacking after dispossessing Medina in the midfield. A quick ball found Atlanta midfielder Marcelino Moreno on the wing who slotted it home behind Sean Johnson to put NYCFC down 1-0 in the 17-minute.
The goal was followed by a yellow card for Maxi Moralez in the 24-minute while Atlanta continued to dominate the rest of the half offensivly as NYCFC struggled for possession and chances after the opening fifteen. They’d go into halftime down 1-0 as they continued to struggle against a resurged Atlanta side who seemed to just be overpowering NYCFC with good passing and fast movement.
Second half free-kick saves a point for New York City
The second half started with the return of Josef Martínez for Atlanta who subbed in for Torres in the 59-minute which then saw Alan Franco pick up a yellow card in the 60-minute.
With the 61-minute substitutions of Thórarinsson for Amundson and Santiago Rodríguez for Medina, NYCFC found the spark they’d been missing since the first goal of this matchup and managed some attacking prowess. This only continued with the additions of Gedion Zelalem for Morales and Talles Magno for Andrade in the 74-minute, who both showed strongly in helping the team play forward.
Atlanta also opted to bring on Franco Ibarra in the 69-minute and following NYCFC’s substitution brought on Amar Sejdič for Araújo in the 81-minute. The final substitution of the game came in the 86-minute when Deila moved Héber in for Keaton Parks to try and secure the draw.
While still down 1-0, NYCFC we’re finally showing some attacking ability again given the subs and found some decent opportunities in the box including a header from Taty Castellanos which floated across goal and over the bar in the 86-minute.
During the dying moments of the game with NYCFC still down, it was a foul just outside the box which saw Maxi Moralez and Thórarinsson standing over the ball. With heavy playoff implications and the game on the line, Thórarinsson stuck an absolutely perfect free-kick into the top right corner, just out of the reach of Brad Guzan to tie the game at 1-1.
CLUTCH 🥶🏹🎯 pic.twitter.com/Tqu2Pvi61l
— New York City Football Club (@NYCFC) October 21, 2021
Thórarinsson’s goal helped NYCFC break their scoreless drought which lasted a team record of 509-minutes and spanned across the team’s previous four Eastern Conference matchups, dropping the team from third all the way to eighth in the standings in just over three weeks.
Playoff fate remains in NYCFC’s hands
Thanks to the late salvation of a 1-1 draw with Atlanta, NYCFC still sits outside the playoff picture but has given themselves an opportunity to control their own destiny. Currently, in eighth place, New York City will take on DC United at Yankee Stadium this Saturday who they are tied in the standings with at 41 points.
The last four games of the season for NYCFC; three of which will be played at Yankee Stadium — will all be massive matchups for Ronny Deila and his squads’ playoff hopes. With the level of talent on the field, this year including Taty Castellanos who has thirteen goals, Maxi Moralez with nine assists as well as players like Keaton Parks and James Sands who have stepped up this year, questions of Deila will start to be asked if these final games go poorly.
NYCFC’s playoff fate is in their own hands and it starts with picking up a victory over DC at home this weekend. This team has dug themselves into quite a hole and now have to get themselves out but they’ve got the offensive firepower to do so and need to start finding the net.
