MATCH REPORT
The New York Cosmos fell 2-1 to Sarasota Paradise at Hinchliffe Stadium despite controlling much of the match and generating the majority of the attacking opportunities.
The Cosmos pushed forward throughout a scoreless first half, with Sebastián Guenzatti, Lamin Jawneh, Ajmeer Spengler and Frankie Ljucovic involved in the attack. New York saw more of the ball and created opportunities but was unable to find the breakthrough. Sarasota remained compact defensively and the two sides went into halftime level at 0-0.
Sarasota opened the scoring six minutes after the restart. Brendan Krueger found the back of the net in the 51st minute to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage. The Cosmos responded by increasing the pressure, continuing to create chances as they searched for an equalizer. New York ultimately finished the match with 20 shots, including eight on target, while Sarasota goalkeeper Alexander Sutton made seven saves.
Despite the Cosmos pressure, Sarasota doubled its advantage in the 77th minute through Anderson Rosa, putting the visitors ahead 2-0. New York responded six minutes later when Jawneh scored in the 83rd minute to cut the deficit to 2-1 and give the Cosmos a way back into the match. The Cosmos continued to push forward in the closing stages, but Sarasota held on through stoppage time to secure the three points.
MATCH DETAILS
NEW YORK COSMOS 1-2 SARASOTA PARADISE
NEW YORK COSMOS (4-4-2): Garcia; Cabrera, Chavez, Chilaka, Milovanov; Jawneh, Shome, Ramos, Ljucovic; Spengler, Guenzatti. Subs: Sidoel (73′ Ramos), Tino Puentes (79′ Cabrera), Zielonka (79′ Shome). Unused Subs: Del Valle, Galazzini, Mendonca, Holt. Coach: Davide Corti.
SARASOTA PARADISE (4-1-4-1): Sutton; Rosa, Sögaard, Watters, Burlew; Rodriguez; Bolanos, Walker, O’Dwyer, Krueger; Terzaghi. Subs: Bryant (66′ O’Dwyer), Gall (66′ Bolanos), Kiingi (79′ Burlew), McLaughlin (79′ Terzaghi), Valentine (88′ Sögaard). Unused Subs: Brulinski, Spengler, Tainio, Fredrickson.
Goals: 51′ Krueger (SAR), 77′ Rosa (SAR), 83′ Jawneh (COS).
Booked: 14′ Walker (SAR), 33′ Bolanos (SAR), 39′ Chavez (COS), 73′ Garcia (COS), 89′ Ljucovic (COS), 90’+6 Bryant (SAR).
MATCH STATS
Possession: Cosmos 53% – Sarasota 47%
Shots on Target: Cosmos 8 – Sarasota 2
Shots Off Target: Cosmos 12 – Sarasota 4
Passes: Cosmos 403 – Sarasota 370
Accurate Passes: Cosmos 342 – Sarasota 304
Corners: Cosmos 7 – Sarasota 3
Clearances: Cosmos 7 – Sarasota 38
Saves: Cosmos 0 – Sarasota 7
Fouls: Cosmos 14 – Sarasota 16
QUOTES
Head Coach Davide Corti:
On Shamit Shome’s home debut…
I guess it was good. Unfortunately, around the 70th minute, we had to take him out because he was tired. Hopefully, he’ll be conditioned soon and will be able to last longer. It was a good game overall. I’m happy about it.
On tonight’s performance…
The second goal was a counterattack, and Milovano was late making a run. On the first goal, I guess we were supposed to come out better. We will watch the clips and address those things. Unfortunately, two mistakes again, and we had four or five chances plus the two crossbars. Unfortunately, this time we didn’t score the tying goal.
On attacking Sarasota through the wings…
We prepared the game to go on the wings, and I guess most of the dangerous balls came from the wings. In the middle, we knew that they were very congested, so we decided to go wide. The goal came from the wing, and a couple of the chances we created, including the two crossbars and a couple of amazing saves from their goalkeeper, came from crosses. We need, of course, to get better in the middle as well because we are close to the goal. But today, I guess we had five clear chances and three shots off the crossbar. That’s the story of the game.”
On the second-half adjustments…
We probably pushed Shamit Shome higher on the field to give more pressure, and that allowed us to move the defensive line a little bit higher and bring the possession onto their side. Sometimes it comes down to moments. Lamin was a little bit in the dark in the first half, and in the second half he scored this amazing goal and was much more dangerous. We switched him from side to side, and he was more effective on the right side, coming inside onto his left foot, which is his strong foot.
On the team’s recent form and needing to turn chances into goals…
We are coming from a positive moment. I guess the team is definitely playing better, so the good vibes were there even tonight. Unfortunately, the chances that we had didn’t turn into goals. That’s something we need to get better at. It depends on how, during the game, we can turn those good plays into goals, and that’s going to make a lot of difference. They had two chances and scored two goals. We had six chances, and we scored only one.
Midfielder Shamit Shome
On the overall performance against Sarasota…
We had a couple of blips in transition, and that’s kind of how they had everything. We’ve got to learn from that and improve. But I think what says a lot about this team is that we got into halftime feeling like we were the better team, but we knew we weren’t good enough and knew we could do more. I think that sets the standard that we can build on. I never want to lose at home, never want to lose in general. We take that on the chest. There were a couple of mistakes from myself and a couple from us that we can improve on, but we move on to the next one. We’re still showing that we can do positive things. It’s just about putting together a complete performance now and figuring out how to win games.
On building chemistry with his new teammates…
The boys have been great welcoming me in. I’m pretty comfortable with everybody, feel pretty good with everybody and get along well with everybody. The chemistry and the gelling have been good. It’s only my second match with the team, so the more we play together, the more we’ll feel each other out. But we don’t have time. We’re not at the beginning of the season. We’ve got to figure it out, put it together and start getting results cohesively as a team, get those three points and keep moving up the table.
On how he feels physically after playing two matches in a short period…
I feel pretty good. Today the weather was great for us, football wise, so I felt really good, better than I might have thought I would. That’s credit to the way we’ve been training and the work we’ve been doing in the gym with the team. We’re pushing hard every day. I’m just trying to improve, get my legs with me and keep improving the level.
On Lamin Jawneh’s late goal…
It was a special goal. Lamin can do that. You can see with his pace, he can unlock something out of nothing. What a great finish. It’s that kind of game where we had so many other chances that we could have buried, and instead we score a banger like that. Football is difficult like that. It punishes you when you’re on the front foot and creating chances. We can’t score the easy ones, but then we score a beautiful goal like that. It’s huge for Lamin. He’s starting to warm up and get hot, so that’s what we need down the home stretch.
On the Bangladeshi supporters who came to see him…
Thank you to all the Bangladesh fans that came. I saw the flags, which was great. Keep supporting us. Hopefully, we can win for you next time. Hopefully, I can do more for you next time and more for the team. We’ll get there, so keep supporting us. I appreciate everybody coming out, not just Bangladeshis, everybody, but especially the Bangladeshis too.
Winger Lamin Jawneh
On the frustrating result and the team’s chances…
It was unfortunate because we came to win this game. We came to give everything, and it was just unlucky. They had two quick chances and capitalized on them. We had a lot of chances, but unfortunately today it didn’t go our way. We keep fighting, we keep going and we can turn this thing around. It’s still not too late. We can get better results.
On the team continuing to improve despite outside doubt…
Everybody doubted us. People think we’re not that good, but actually we’re better than people think. The collectiveness and togetherness are coming. We started pretty late, but we’re getting there. The way the team is playing together and the way we’re becoming more collective is improving. We’re improving every game, and it’s coming.
On Sarasota’s defensive game plan…
They did their homework on us. They knew we could break them through my speed and my pace going in behind them, so the first thing they did was avoid us playing the ball in behind. They were very collective at the back. Any time I held the ball, one player covered and another came, and they would double-team me. They knew where we could hurt them, so they defended it. They had a pretty good game plan.
On how the Cosmos need to adjust when opponents know their tendencies…
We have to be more cautious about switching up the play because every team now knows how we’re going to play, so they’re preparing for it. We’re going to work on switching the game in the middle of the match, coming up with different options and finding different ways to hurt them.
On facing Fort Wayne next…
First thing, our games are not easy. They’re pretty hard. Sometimes it’s a long travel, but when we go, we make it worth it. With Fort Wayne, we know their players. Some of their players we played against and played with last season, so we know them pretty well. Even their midfield, we know pretty well. So we must get three points, for sure.
