NEW YORK – The Orlando City fell to the New York City FC in their Friday night matchup after Santiago Rodríguez, Hannes Wolf, and Agustín Ojeda each scored in the first half, ending the game 4-2 and scrapping the NYCFC’s three-game losing streak.
New York City (10-8-2) won for the first time since a 5-1 victory over San Jose on May 31. Orlando (5-9-6) dropped to 0-6-1 in New York since 2018.
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There was a violent collision in the 18th minute when Orlando goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar came out of his area to stop a ball and collided with NYCFC forward Malachi Jones. Stajduhar was carted off the field, while giving a thumbs up to the crowd, and Jones was helped off by team personnel.
Orlando announced Stajduhar was taken to a local hospital and was in stable condition. NYCFC coach Nick Cushing confirmed after the game that Jones was also taken to a local hospital for further assessment.
Thirteen minutes were added to the first half and NYCFC took advantage with two stoppage-time goals against backup goalkeeper Javier Otero, who was making his MLS debut.
Rodríguez opened the scoring for NYCFC in the 15th minute with his eighth goal of the season.
Then came two goals in eight minutes. Tayvon Gray raced to get to a through ball at the endline and sent it back to find Wolf for a deflected shot into the back of the net to make it 2-0. Gray ran past the defense again and sent a pass across the goal for Ojeda’s easy tap in.
Orlando midfielder Dagur Thorhallsson scored in the 72nd and Duncan McGuire added a close-range shot in second-half stoppage time to get within 3-2.
Mounsef Bakrar capped the scoring when he cut back his defender and curled a shot past Otero.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer