James Nalton
New York City FC’s unbeaten run in Major League Soccer stretched to six games following a 1-1 draw in Fort Lauderdale against Inter Miami, but coach Nick Cushing and his team believed they deserved more.
Santi Rodriguez gave New York City the lead with around 15 minutes remaining, blasting the ball in at the near post, but Inter Miami defender Tomas Avilés equalised in the fifth of seven added minutes at the end of the game.
Cushing felt this amount of time added on was too much, and that they haven’t been the only team to struggle when facing this new look Inter Miami side.
“I think ultimately, we knew coming in that we were going to be walking down the MLS red carpet, and we probably weren’t going to be invited guests,” said the NYCFC head coach after the game.
“There are many moments in the game, but I’ve watched the [other] games. I watched the game when [Sporting KC head coach] Peter Vermes spoke after the game. I watched the game when [Orlando City head coach] Óscar Pareja spoke after the game.
“We’ve all been in these moments, and unfortunately, we get seven minutes at the end that, in my opinion, isn’t seven minutes, but those guys have got to do their job, and they’ve got a job to do today, so they did it.”
This was a key matchup in the challenge to scrape into the playoff places in the Eastern Conference of MLS.
There are two places up for grabs for the teams in and around those 8th and 9th positions in the table, one of which New York City currently occupies.
Inter Miami has been revived thanks to its summer transfer activity, going from the bottom of the overall table to being in with a chance of reaching the playoffs.
New York City has struggled for much of the season and was expected to be much more comfortably in a playoff position at the top end of the table at this point.
The unbeaten run has given NYCFC a good chance of qualification, and this was another promising result.
“I feel sorry for our boys tonight because we feel a little bit unfairly treated,” added Cushing.
“There are big moments in the game that never went our way. There’s a red card [not given], there’s seven minutes.
“There are many, many, so many fouls in the game, and I just thought we experienced what other teams have experienced when they came here.”
