(Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports)
On Monday evening soccer fans throughout the nation went into an uproar when the United States Men’s National team defeated arch nemesis Ghana in a 2-1 thriller. Two evenings prior the uproar was comparable, just in a vacuum that was Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, Long Island. In front of nearly ten thousand fans on a balmy Saturday evening, the New York Cosmos defeated city rivals, the New York Red Bulls 3-0, in what was nothing short of a dominant performance.
In what is now being called the Gotham Derby the Cosmos looked like the class of the city, displaying what may have been the squad’s best performance of the season. Lead by two goals from Mads Stokkelien and a third from Alessandro Noselli the Cosmos shut out their MLS big brother and will advance to the fifth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open to face an opponent that is still yet to be determined.
“Unbelievable, 3-0 against the Red Bulls is unbelievable,” Noselli said. “ I don’t know the future but today we are the best team in New York.
The Cosmos were utterly dominant from whistle-to-whistle Saturday evening, controlling possession and outnumbering the Red Bulls in total shots: 21-3.
“Today was one of our best performnaces,” Cosmos Head Coach Giovani Savarese said. “ I think today was a complete performance and that was very, very good to see from the team.”
Mads Stokkelien set the tone for the Cosmos early. In just the eighth-minute the Norwegian forward took a long-ball from captain Carlos Mendes, hammering it into the top-left corner of the net with a finish that was nothing short of world class.
“I think they were a little bit shocked of our start,” said Stokkelien. “We had a lot of chances in the first half, I think we could have scored two or three goals.”
In the second half the Cosmos continued their exclamatory performance with another goal by Stokkelien in the 73rd minute and a third and final goal by striker Alessandro Noselli just five minutes later.
The defensive effort was not to be upstaged by the attack. In what has been almost expected throughout the Spring Season, goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer earned another clean sheet, hardly being challenged the entire match. Midfielder Johnny Steele was the only Red Bull to put the ball on net, only to be parried away by Maurer in the 32nd minute.
“I think it is because we’re 11 players that work great defensively when the opponent has the ball,” said Man of the Match, Stokkelien. “Of course we have the best defense in the league and the best goalkeeper as well.
After the game the celebration was on in the Cosmos locker room. History was made Saturday night. For the first time in over 80 years two New York soccer clubs faced-off against one another, making the Cosmos the current kings of Gotham.
The journey is not over. The road ahead will only get more and more tough for the Cosmos as they advance through the tournament. The next challenge will be a fifth round matchup on June 24th or 25th against either the Philadelphia Union or the Harrisburg City Islanders, who play each other Tuesday, June 17th.
The post Cosmos Make History, Defeat Red Bulls 3-0 in U.S. Open Cup appeared first on Double G Sports.