Calvillo comet catapults Cosmos over Miami

The Cosmos begin their Fall season with a huge statement win against Miami FC. The match was a crazy affair throughout. In the first half, New York immediately found themselves at a disadvantage as Emmanuel Ledesma was sent off for a high boot on former Cosmo Hunter Freeman. Although I thought the red was justified, Cosmos Country disagreed overwhelming as shown in our poll below. However, ball doesn’t lie, and Freeman sent off a few minutes later for a heavy tackle on Eugene Starikov. Most of this game was played 10 on 10. Eugene Starikov, who was frankly unlucky not to find the back of the net, provided the best of the chances, but the first half ended scoreless.

In the second half, Eric Calvillo, who has been working his way into the first team with impressive preformances, stole the show. Ryan Richter earned a penalty in towards the dawn of the second half. Ayzoe hit the crossbar, but the 19 year old blasted the rebound into the back of the net. Miami was able to equalize shortly after with a goal from Poku. Both teams were dead even, until Calvillo launched a rocket into the bottom left corner to give New York their second lead of the game. Kobi Moyal and Lucky Mkosana both made the league debut, as the former went on a late solo run to score New York’s third goal of the game.

New York started this Fall season with a bang. They were able to capitalize on the momentum brought by the Valencia friendly. The Cosmos are going full steam ahead for the Fall Championship and a spot in the playoffs. Unfortunately, this game will be overshadowed by El Classico in Miami (I watched the second half after the Cosmos, and I have to say it was damn entertaining), but this has been one of the most fun games of the NASL season. Now that Miami have a playoff spot secured, will they focus their attention on US Open Cup glory? The sole NASL side left in the competition will play FC Cincinnati later in the week. The Cosmos play next August 5^th against the San Francisco Deltas.