Hempstead, NY- The New York Cosmos continued their perfect home record at home in 2015 with a win over the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers.
The Cosmos opened the scoring off a beautiful and maybe accidental goal. Hunter Freeman seemed to kick a cross, but it went over Josh Ford and into the back of the net for a spectacular goal. Intentional or not, it was definitely a beautiful way to get his first goal of the year.
New York doubled their lead in the 43rd minute, when Raul González Blanco’s through ball reached Leonardo Fernandes, and his shot just beat the diving Ford to the right side and into the back of the net. The goal sequence began with a turnover in the midfield, where a nice passing from Careers and Raul led to the ball getting up the pitch for the goal.
For a good 15 minute span of the half, the Strikers seemed to be close to getting goal of their own. Yet Ft. Lauderdale could not execute well in the final third, and failed to create much with their large time of possession.
The Strikers continued their inability to finish in the second half. On a few occasions, the team would get everything correct until they got to the box, where many through balls where bad or they failed to make the right run.
A minute after entering the match, Danny Szetela hit the post and almost made it 3-0 for the Cosmos. Lucky Mkosana’s rebound goal was ruled offside. Moments later, the Strikers seemed to get on the board but that goal was also ruled offside.
The Cosmos will have a busy schedule coming up, with two matches in the next seven days.
These two clubs face off in South Florida next weekend, and the Cosmos host a midweek match against Minnesota United on Wednesday.