Talles Magno scored the tying goal in the 72nd minute as New York City FC kept alive a pair of unbeaten streaks in a 1-1 draw against the visiting Colorado Rapids on Sunday at Yankee Stadium in the coaching debut of Nick Cushing.
Cushing took over when Ronny Deila took a coaching job in Belgium last week and watched NYCFC (8-3-3, 27 points) extend its unbeaten streak to nine games (7-0-2) and its home unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1) since a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union on March 19.
Magno netted the tying goal after Maximiliano Moralez sent a cross over Colorado’s defense. He slipped past multiple defenders and leveled the game when he lifted a right-footed shot from the center of the box into the high center of the net.
Before Magno scored his third goal of the season, Michael Barrios opened the scoring in the 68th with a creative individual move around NYCFC’s defense.
Barrios ended NYCFC’s shutout streak at 608 minutes when he got a pass from Mark-Anthony Kaye on a fast break. He slipped past NYCFC defender Alexander Callens, eluded NYCFC defender Thiago Martins, and finished the play by sending a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner.
NYCFC controlled most of the play and maintained possession for 66.3 percent of the match and attempted 14 shots. It nearly scored the go-ahead goal after Magno struck, but Valentin Castellanos missed the corner of the net in the 79th minute and Colorado goalkeeper William Yarbrough made a diving stop on Keaton Parks in the 87th minute.
NYCFC’s final chance occurred in the waning moments of stoppage time when Callens saw his header sail over the crossbar.
NYCFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson did not face another shot beyond Barrios’ goal and was unable to post his seventh straight shutout.
Yarbrough made three saves as Colorado (5-6-4, 19 points) dropped to 0-5-2 on the road this season.
The only shot of the first half occurred in the eighth minute when Moralez’s header from the center of the box was saved by Yarbrough. NYCFC nearly scored in the latter portion of the opening half when Castellanos hit the right post in the 35th minute and fired wide on a header in the 44th.
–Field Level Media
