Overview:
New York City FC squandered two valuable home points as it settled for a 1-1 draw with lowly Toronto FC at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.
Nico Fernandez Mercau tallied his 13th goal of the MLS season. (NYCFC Photo)
New York City FC squandered two valuable home points as it settled for a 1-1 draw with lowly Toronto FC at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.
The tie moved the fifth-place Pigeons (26 points) to 7-6-5 in the MLS Eastern Conference. The Reds (17), who are in 12th place in the 15-team conference, moved to 3-7-8.
Nico Fernandez Mercau’s penalty kick in the ninth minute as he powered his shot into the lower right corner past goalkeeper Luka Gavran. That was Mercau’s 13th goal of the campaign, which put him into a three-way tie with FC Dallas’ Petar Musa and the Chicago Fire’s Hugo Cuypers for the league lead.
Three minutes prior, Toronto’s Richie Laryea fouled Agustin Ojeda in the box to set up the kick.
However, the visitors equalized on the very last kick of the opening half by Djordje Mihailovic.
Goalkeeper Matt Freese saved Daniel Salloi’s attempt, but could not hold onto the ball. The rebound came to Mihailovic, who slotted the ball home from close range on the right side of the area to equalize.
Toronto FC attacked so much in the second half that it looked more like the home team than City.
Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 28 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.