New York Cosmos Draw 1-1 with Indy Eleven to Remain

Published on May 24, 2014 under North American Soccer League (NASL)
New York Cosmos News Release


NEW YORK - It was a little too much, a little too soon for the New York Cosmos in a disappointing 1-1 draw with winless Indy Eleven at Shuart Stadium Saturday night.

Sebastian Guenzatti's stupendous fourth minute goal might have energized the crowd, but it actually had the opposite effect on the team, according to Cosmos coach Giovanni Savarese.

"I think the fact that we were too early successful allowed the players to relax a little bit," Savarese said. "That didn't allow us to be as compact as we were last week."

The tie further complicated the Cosmos chances of capturing the Spring title. New York (4-2=2D1) is tied with San Antonio three points behind leaders Minnesota United with two games to play.

"We're very upset because we had high hopes of winning the game," Ayoze said. "We wanted to win this game to stay high ranked for the season. Unfortunately it wasn't possible, but we just have to keep working and trying hard."

Guenzatti's goal was remarkable. He played a fast one-two with Mads Stokkelien before nailing a blast inside the far post from 24 yards out that actually stuck in the netting.

"I told him before the game we have to connect more and the first ball we got we connected and it went in," Guenzatti said.

It was the quickest goal of the Spring campaign for the Cosmos, who had numerous chances in the first half to tack on a second goal.

Ten minutes after Guenzatti's second of the year, Paulo Mendes put a far post cross by Ayoze off the outside netting.

On the half hour, Stokkelien made contact with an Ayoze free kick, but his header went into the arms of Indy goalkeeper Kristian Nicht.

Four minutes later, Joseph Nane hit an Ayoze cross wide. Marcos Senna followed a minute later with a go from distance that was saved by Nicht.

In the 39th minute, Guenzatti played Paulo Mendes through on goal, but Nicht did well to come off his line to challenge.

"It's disappointing because I think the tie was on us," Savarese said. "We said at halftime that this was a team if we allowed them to grow and we give them space eventually they were going to find a way to score a goal."

Brad Ring did just that in the 76th minute, stripping Senna of the ball and sprinting down the right wing before getting a low shot past Cosmos goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer from 20 yards for his first professional goal.

"I was incredibly happy for Brad to get the goal because he really helped set the tone with the work he put in all over the field," Indy Eleven head coach Juergen Sommer said. "He got stuck in on a great tackle, showed the initiative to push forward and got rewarded for it."

"From the very beginning they were trying to achieve a goal," said Senna, who left the match in the 87th minute with an apparent groin injury. "It was our fault. They had really good fortune tonight to get a goal, to get through our goalie. It's really unfortunate bad luck for us."

The Cosmos low intensity in the second half proved costly with Ring's equalizer.

Indy (0-4-3) nearly escaped with their first win when Walter Ramirez took a cross from Don Smart and had space in the box, but Guenzatti tracked back to steal the ball five minutes from full time.

"We did keep possession, but it wasn't enough. We should have put the balls away that we had to," Guenzatti said. "In the first half we had a lot of chances and they came back to us in the second half."

After facing the Brooklyn Italians in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, the Cosmos head to Fort Lauderdale to take on the Strikers next Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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