Match Recap

Mark Booth

NYCFC Goals: Mitriță 1' & 43', Tinnerholm 25', Medina 88'

FC Cincinnati Goals:

Quick Read

Alexandru Mitriță set a new record for fastest-ever goal for New York City FC as the Boys in Blue got back to winning ways with a 4-0 win over FC Cincinnati.

The Romanian international scored his first two goals of the regular season after 30 seconds and 43 minutes, while Anton Tinnerholm and Jesus Medina also weighed in with goals in a convincing victory at Red Bull Arena.

Head Coach Ronny Deila made a handful of changes to his lineup for this match, bringing back Ronald Matarrita, Alexandru Mitriță and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi.

Taty Castellanos held his spot up front following the unfortunate news that Héber will miss the rest of the season with a torn acl sustained vs. Toronto FC last time out.

Mitriță lined up as the no.10 in the continued absence of Maxi Moralez as the Boys in Blue sought a big response to the heartbreaking last minute defeat on Wednesday night.

FC Cincinnati had visited Red Bull Arena only two weeks prior for a match edged by NYC to the tune of a 2-1 scoreline.

On that occasion, City had to wait until the 39th minute to open the scoring but this time it was just 30 seconds in when Mitriță took a sublime first touch to put him through on goal where he smashed the ball into the bottom corner for the perfect start.

That put Mitri into the record books for NYCFC’s fastest-ever goal, outpacing Taty’s strike vs. FC Dallas in 2019 by nine seconds.

That early strike set the tone for a lightning start which continued and Deila’s side deservedly doubled their advantage on 25’ when Tinnerholm scored his third goal off the season off an assist from Tajouri-Shradi.

Tinnerholm cut inside from the byline and sidefooted past the goalkeeper to put him up next to Alex Ring on the top scorers list, making it 2-0 to the home team in the process.

There was a blow for NYCFC as halftime approached when Alex Ring was forced off with an injury on 39’, with Jesus Medina on to replace him and in the same minute Jurgen Locadia forced Sean Johnson into a top save with a vicious dipping free-kick.

However, NYC would not be denied another goal before halftime and it was Mitri who doubled his tally with another drill into the bottom corner, this time from a brilliant first MLS assist from James Sands, who drove at the Cincinnati defense and picked out his Romanian teammate for the finish.

With the points all but secured at halftime and after three games in a week, it was unsurprising that the intensity dipped a little after the interval but there was still time for a fourth goal to put the cherry on top.

Jesus Medina got it late on with a deflected free-kick to make it 4-0 and give his side the kind of scoreline their dominance warranted.