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New York City holds three-point tie at Atlanta

Gillberg
New York City holds three-point tie at Atlanta

It was a story of redemption for New York City FC, who overcame a two-goal deficit to earn a 2-2 draw against Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium thanks to two unlikely goalscorers.

First, Mounsef Bakrar found the net in the 65th minute. It was just the third goal of the season for the New York City forward, whose high output and terrible finishing make him one of the most infuriating forwards in Major League Soccer.

Talles Magno then won a penalty and converted it. It was only the second appearance this season for the designated player, who was brought in as a last-minute substitute. Talles Magno has been left out of the squad this season amid rumours he would leave in the summer transfer window.

But Bakrar and Talles Magno both managed to earn what head coach Nick Cushing called a “three-point draw” in his postgame press conference. Officially, the result only earned the team one point, but it was a solid performance from a team without five starters, and on the road with short rest.

New York City remains in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 37 points, one point behind New York Red Bulls (who drew 2-2 with CF Montreal at home) and one point ahead of Charlotte FC (who drew 1-1 with Columbus Crew away).

GAME STATS

New York City: 11 shots, 5 shots on target, 58.8% possession, 513 passes, 86.0% passing accuracy, 7 fouls, 7 saves

Atlanta United: 13 shots, 9 shots on target, 42.2% possession, 335 passes, 77.3% passing accuracy, 15 fouls, 3 saves

Goals:
• Atlanta, Daniel Rios, 1′
• Atlanta, Saba Lobjanidze, 38′
• New York, Mounsef Bakrar, 65′
• New York City, Talles Magno, 82′ (park)

Presence: 42,524

The game couldn’t have started in a worse way. Just 21 seconds into the game, Atlanta forward Daniel Rios found a way to score against one of the league’s best defenses when he found himself with the ball at his feet in front of the goal.

It was the fastest goal in United’s history.

The eight-pass sequence caught the entire New York team off guard:

That gave Atlanta hope that didn’t have much in the way of expectations for the night. After all, the club fired former coach Gonzalo Pineda in early June and sold top scorer Georgios Giakoumakis to Cruz Azul 13 days later. Earlier this month, they sold playmaker Thiago Almada for an MLS record fee of $30 million.

It’s safe to say that Atlanta is in the midst of a rebuild. The expected attendance at the Benz was 42,524, but it would be hard to find 10,000 fans in the stands. Tickets for the game were selling on the secondary market for just $5.

But this diminished Atlanta team found itself facing a destitute New York City team, without five starters, including Santiago Rodriguez, James Sands and Thiago Martins. This team lacked courage.

The starting lineup included two teenagers and two 20-year-olds: the average age of the team that took the field was just 22.5. It was certainly the youngest starting lineup New York City has played in the last two years, and perhaps in the club’s entire history. That inexperience was reflected in Atlanta’s first goal.

And it came again 27 minutes later, when Saba Lobjanidze pounced on a ball knocked down by Freese, beating the keeper and three defenders to score Atlanta’s second goal of the night.

Atlanta United 2 – 2 New York City: Rate the players

Disastrous start, enjoyable second half: a much-renewed New York City FC earned a 2-2 draw at The Benz.

Key Replacements — Again

Throughout this season, Cushing has proven that he can make key changes that can change a game. Tonight was no different. Cushing brought on Maxi Moralez at halftime, and the 37-year-old brought some calm to a New York City offense that had previously looked flat.

Cushing then changed the team’s configuration by removing left back Christian McFarlane, switching from a back four to a back three, bringing in Talles Magno on the left wing and overloading an Atlanta defense that had held firm in the first half.

Courtesy of g+ GameFlow

It worked. New York City not only dominated possession, they controlled the pace of the game. Bakrar’s goal in the 65th minute ended a run that left Atlanta’s defense confused and outplayed.

Talles Magno deserves much of the credit for New York City’s dominance. The winger was authoritative on the left side: the tall, technical Brazilian brings unpredictable creativity to the attack. When he gets the ball, you never know what he’s going to do next: dribble, pass, wait for the opponent to reveal himself.

On this night, Talles Magno seemed like a different caliber of player than the others on the pitch. He was the winger who had been ranked in MLS’s “22 Under 22” class for two consecutive years, the player who was ranked fifth most valuable player in the league last year.

And now Talles Magno has kept his promises. He first committed a foul in the area, which earned him a penalty.

He then converted the penalty, wrong-footing veteran goalkeeper Brad Guzan. It was a professional’s ice-cold penalty.

It was Talles Magno’s first goal since November 10, 2023, when New York City faced Inter Miami in the ridiculous but enjoyable Noche d’Or, and his first competitive goal since September 20, 2023, when NYCFC beat Orlando City 2-0 at Citi Field.

As for the other scorer in this 2-0 victory in Queens, it was Bakrar.

Return to Talles Magno Pays Off for NYCFC in Atlanta

When most MLS teams are short on personnel like New York City FC was in Atlanta, they don’t get results. Most MLS teams don’t have the bench options that Nick Cushing has despite injuries, rotations and suspensions.

One more for the road

New York City has just one away game remaining on this four-game trip, when it takes on Orlando City next Saturday in the tropical heat of central Florida.

This will mark the end of the team’s toughest stretch of games of the season. Not only has New York City played four straight away games, but three of them have been bye games.

The results haven’t been particularly impressive. New York City is 0W-2D-1L so far, with three goals scored and three goals conceded. But a draw like this was triage — the team stopped the bleeding — and a point isn’t a bad result.

And the team’s overall away record so far isn’t too bad either. New York City has an away record of 3W-3D-6L, for 12 points in 12 games. In fact, that’s within expectations if you go by the conventional MLS wisdom that two points at home and one point away will comfortably get you into the playoffs. (In fact, that’s exactly what the 2021 team did: That team had an away record of 4W-5D-8L for 17 points in 17 games.)

Specifically, that’s an improvement over last year, when New York City had a 1W-8D-8L away record for 11 points in 17 games. It remains to be seen what this edition of the team will do with its final five away games.

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