Revenge is best served cold: NYCFC pours on the goals against Atlanta United | OneFootball

Revenge was certainly on the mind of New York City FC when the team welcomed Atlanta United FC to Yankee Stadium.  The Thursday game was already celebratory since the team was celebrating Pride, but the Pigeons wanted three points.  They should have won in the opposite fixture, but the Five Stripes had other ideas in their comeback win.

This time, NYCFC was victorious and served their revenge so cold that the plate that held the revenge shattered upon delivery to Atlanta.  The Boys in Blue won 4-0, with three of their goals coming from the 55th minute through the 59th.  Plus, they not only achieved their revenge but also welcomed their former head coach, Ronny Deila, back in style.

Before the match, there were some concerns with some of NYCFC’s missing players.  Keaton Parks was out injured, and Aiden O’Neill was either not back yet from international duty or not able to play.  Then, Matt Freese, Mitja Ilenič, and Alonso Martínez were out and could miss the next game due to their participation in continental tournaments with their national teams.

Doubt was at a high, but Atlanta, similar to the Bronx side, struggles on the road.  As such, a mix of the visitors’ issues, NYCFC’s decent play, and finding the back of the net led to the 4-0 win.

NYCFC’s four goals against Atlanta were fantastic

There were some concerns early on in the match.  In the 13th minute, Tomás Romero appeared to have gotten away with a foul in the box.  Despite VAR, his intervention was ruled to be clean, and no penalty kick was awarded.  However, he clearly made enough contact on Jamal Thiaré, so it was shocking that the NYCFC goalkeeper escaped.

Meanwhile, it felt like this game would be another one where the Pigeons would struggle to score.  They were controlling the pace of play, but lacking the clinical finish.  Everything changed, though, in the 44th minute.

Atlanta gave the ball away, and NYCFC took their chance.  Hannes Wolf received the ball, and sent it to Maxi Moralez, who was on the left side of the box, heading toward the goal.  With ease, he swept the ball past Brad Guzan to put his team in front.

But the Boys in Blue were hungry for more.  In fact, they scored their next three goals in a period of five minutes, which began in the 55th.  Mounsef Bakrar, who is often criticized by fans, scored his second goal in four games.  The Algerian sweeping-golazo-like goal might have been the goal of the night since it was so unexpected.  It is always nice to see him find the back of the net, so seeing him happy and celebrating with his teammates was a wonderful moment.  Plus, Andrés Perea had a beautiful pass to the forward.

Then, it was Wolf who scored another brace after his 57th and 59th minute goals.  He was the player to watch entering the game, and the question was whether he could be consistent.  Thankfully, the Austrian played incredibly well for a second match in a row.  He might have had another reason for playing the way he did.  His home country, Austria, had an awful school shooting in the city of Graz this week.  So, when he scored his first goal, he lifted his jersey to reveal a shirt that paid tribute to the victims.

That first goal also showed determination.  Wolf had one defender directly in front of him, so he sidestepped him and curled the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.  His second was not as exciting, but he still kicked the ball right at Guzan, who failed to make the stop, allowing Wolf to watch the ball roll into the back of the net.

This was the first time that NYCFC scored four times this season and was exactly what the team needed.  They obtained revenge in style, and in front of former star Valentín Castellanos, too.  The beloved striker was back in the Bronx to take in the match and was hopefully very entertained by the Pigeons.