Match Recap: NYCFC 0-2 FC Copenhagen

Mark Booth

NYCFC Goals:

FC Copenhagen Goals: Skov 77' & 79’

12-time Danish champions FC Copenhagen were the opposition for NYCFC’s first preseason test of 2019 at NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus as Preseason 2019 ratcheted up a notch.

Dome Torrent’s side have been training in the Persian Gulf for the past week and would have relished the first opportunity to pull on the uniform and get to work on the field.

There were first starts for offseason acquisitions Keaton Parks and Tony Rocha in midfield, while academy forward Veljko Petvokic also earned an opportunity to impress alongside the Club’s second Homegrown signing, Joe Scally.

Elsewhere, it was a familiar-looking NYCFC XI, with Alexander Callens, Ronald Matarrita, Maxi Moralez and Alex Ring also involved from the start.

City made a strong start to the game, almost taking the lead inside the opening 2’ through a curling free-kick from Matarrita, who tried to catch out the goalkeeper at his near post but found the sidenetting.

At the other end, Brad Stuver came up big with a sprawling save after former Hull City striker Dame N’Doye found himself through on goal from a clever ball over the top with 10 minutes played.

A neat service from Moralez gave Taty Castellanos the best chance of the first half shortly after, with the Argentine connection coming up big to give Castellanos a free header the back post but his effort just flashed past the post.

Copenhagen came on strong at the end of of the first half, almost forcing the first goal of the game on the stroke of halftime when Stuver prevented Sebastien Ibeagha from turning a cross past him with an unconventional save using his face.

The teams went in goalless at halftime and a new XI emerged after the interval as Torrent gave important minutes to the rest of the squad in Abu Dhabi.

Copenhagen had the ball in the back of the NYCFC net a few minutes after the break but the goal was ruled out for offside as the Danish outfit picked up where they left off, on the front foot.

Although it was the first preseason friendly, it was turning into a full-blooded encounter, with Anton Tinnerholm typically competitive in his early duels on the right.

For Copenhagen, this was their fourth game of 2019 and their extra match sharpness showed when they scored twice in two second half minutes through Robert Skov to edge the encounter.

First, Skov curled in a beautiful free-kick on 77’, before the same player thrashed in a loose ball in the center of the penalty area on 79’, giving Jeff Caldwell in the NYCFC goal no chance.

Those two goals meant that Copenhagen got the win but most importantly, NYCFC got valuable minutes in legs and will go again vs. AIK later in the week.