MATCH REPORT
The Cosmos controlled much of the ball in the opening half at Hinchliffe Stadium, looking to dictate the rivalry matchup against Westchester SC. The Cosmos pushed forward throughout the half, while Westchester remained organized defensively and looked for opportunities on the break. The visitors eventually found the breakthrough deep into first-half stoppage time, as Koen Blommestijn scored in the 45th+2 minute to give Westchester a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime.
The Cosmos continued to push for an equalizer after the break, maintaining the majority of possession and spending extended stretches in the Westchester half. Changes followed in the 64th minute, with Christian Koffi and Darren Sidoel entering the match, before Néstor Cabrera was introduced in the 77th minute. The pressure finally paid off in the 82nd minute when Ajmeer Spengler found the back of the net to bring the Cosmos level at 1-1 and set up a dramatic finish. The Cosmos finished with 60 percent possession, 507 passes and five corners, but Westchester found the decisive goal deep into stoppage time. Conor McGlynn scored in the 90th+8 minute to give the visitors a 2-1 lead, and the Cosmos were unable to respond before the final whistle.
MATCH DETAILS
NEW YORK COSMOS 1-2 WESTCHESTER SC
NEW YORK COSMOS (4-2-3-1): Garcia; Acosta (77′ Cabrera), Holt, Chavez, Milovanov; Ramos (64′ Sidoel), Shome; Ljucovic, Spengler, Jawneh (64′ Koffi); Guenzatti. Subs: Chilaka, Mendonca, Chan, Morabito, Zielonka.
WESTCHESTER SC (5-4-1): Marinelli; Jimenez, Dickerson, Timchenko, Loura (23′ Williams, 90’+4 Powder), Burko; Evans (76′ Mackic), Bouman (75′ Armas), McGlynn, Guezen (90’+4 Powder); Blommestijn.
Goals: 45’+2 Blommestijn (WCH), 82′ Ajmeer Spengler (COS), 90’+8 McGlynn (WCH).
Booked: 10′ Chavez (COS), 85′ Koffi (COS), 90’+9 McGlynn (WCH).
Venue: Hinchliffe Stadium, Paterson, New Jersey.
Attendance: 1,310.
QUOTES
New York Cosmos Head Coach Davide Corti
On the team’s overall performance…
“We had a good reaction. We definitely played better in the second half. I think if Coffey shoots one-touch instead of trying to come inside, and Spengler shoots instead of taking the dribble, we have opportunities there. We eventually deserved to win this game, but this is the league. If you don’t pay attention, like what happened twice — a one-v-one in the box in the first half and a counterattack in the second half — it is what it is. It was a good game. We deserved at least to get one point at home. The mentality was good, and hopefully we can carry on this way and finish better.”
On the slow start and the team improving in the second half…
“The game plan was to play in behind and find the spaces. They were man-marking in the midfield. Lamine was not feeling very well, so usually when you can easily beat a man in a one-v-one situation, we were missing that in the first half. In the second half, with Coffey, we got more space, more crosses came in and there were more combinations in the middle of the field. We’re happy that Coffey is back in good shape, and we’re going to have another arrow in our bow.”
On replacing Shamit Shome while he is away on international duty…
“We have different midfielders that can play. Of course, we’re going to miss him a lot because of his experience and his technical abilities, but we will try our best to replace him and be as strong as we can for the next game that we play.”
On responding against Richmond in the next match…
“The motivation is the same motivation that we’ve been trying to have moving forward over the last seven or eight games. Of course, we had a late reaction in the way that we should approach the game today. I don’t know what the reason was, but if we play like we played in the second half, it could be a different game and it would be a different game.”
New York Cosmos Forward Ajmeer Spengler
On Westchester’s defensive shape and the difficulty breaking through the middle…
“It kind of sacrifices them getting pressure on the ball, but it also makes it pretty hard for us to break through the middle. A lot of the play was going wide, and when they would win the ball out there, it turned into a slow-moving middle-block kind of game. Unfortunately, they got the goal around the middle of the first half, so that reinforced it even more. They were able to sit back and hold onto a 1-0 lead.”
On the rivalry atmosphere against Westchester…
“It’s a good, close rivalry. We’ve had some pretty back-and-forth games in the past, so that makes it even more fiery. It raises the temperature of the game, makes the intensity higher and gives you that little bit of extra motivation to make a five or 10-yard sprint when you really don’t want to. It just adds energy to the game.”
On moving forward after conceding the late winner…
“It’s tough. We’re going to have to just eat it for this weekend, turn back up on Monday, try to flip the page and move on from this game with a blank slate. We owe Richmond a win. They beat us away at their place, so it’s an important game for us and a game where we can get some revenge from that 2-0 loss away.”
New York Cosmos Midfielder Nestor Cabrera
On the slow start and needing to play with urgency from the opening whistle…
“We did start maybe a little bit slow, but that goal lit a fire in us. For the next game, I know we’ll do better starting from the beginning and hopefully bring back the three points because we need that to climb up the standings. It has to be better. We can’t let one goal fire us up. We have to start well from the beginning.”
On Westchester’s late winning goal and the Cosmos’ performance over the final 30 minutes…
“It’s the game of soccer. We’re going for the win and we left a lot of open space. One lucky bounce fell their way, and unfortunately they scored the goal. Towards the end of the game, I thought we really expressed ourselves as a team. If we play that way for 90 minutes, I feel like we’re one of the best teams in the league. But we have to be consistent and keep that type of performance that we had in the last 30 minutes for a full 90-minute game.”
On the rivalry between the Cosmos and Westchester…
“The fans of the Cosmos chose us, and we have to try to defend the badge as much as we can. Unfortunately, we got the loss today, but hopefully in future games we’ll come out with three points and give the Cosmos fans the win that they deserve.”
On the team’s improvement throughout the season…
“We have definitely improved a lot as a team throughout the year, and I’m happy for the boys on this team, the coach and everybody because we’ve really developed into a really good squad. We’ve been putting a lot of time and effort in on the training field, and it’s been showing in games. Like I said before, we have to try to put together a 90-minute game instead of just the second half, where we start moving the ball around and trying to get an end result.”
On turning the page toward Richmond…
“Hopefully against Richmond next Saturday, we turn the page from this game and focus on our game against Richmond.”
