A 94th-minute penalty from Chicago Fire’s Brian Gutierrez condemned New York City to a damaging 2-2 draw at Citi Field on Saturday night.
Alonso Martinez scored twice in seven first-half minutes to give NYCFC a commanding 2-0 lead at half time, but a stunning effort from Hugo Cuypers gave Chicago hope with 13 minutes remaining before Tayvon Gray was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area in stoppage time.
Gutierrez made no mistake from the spot, coolly slotting the ball down the middle to hand Chicago what seemed like an unlikely point.
NYCFC remain winless in MLS play since July 3 following a five-game winless streak in the league and a mid-season break for the Leagues Cup. The result leaves Nick Cushing’s side in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, three points and one place behind city rivals New York Red Bulls.
NYCFC dominated the game’s early stages without creating any real clear-cut chances, pinning Chicago in their own half for large portions of the opening quarter-hour.
Their opener came out of nothing after 15 minutes when Martinez latched onto the ball at the edge of the Chicago area, dropped a shoulder to evade Kellyn Acosta, and fired a delightful curling effort into the bottom corner beyond the despairing dive of Chris Brady.
He owed a debt of gratitude to Keaton Parks for his second after the NYCFC midfielder chased down an apparent lost cause and won back possession in the Chicago penalty area. Martinez took care of the rest, dropping both Carlos Teran and Maren Haile-Selassie with a delightful feint before firing an unstoppable effort to the roof of the net from close range to score his tenth MLS goal of the campaign.
That second goal seemed to briefly spark Chicago into life, with Hugo Cuypers firing narrowly wide from a corner and Allan Arigoni denied at close range by a smothering save by Matt Freese.
That was about as good as it got for the visitors, however, with New York taking a commanding two- goal lead into the half-time break.
The second half continued in a similar vein to the first, with NYCFC dominating without creating many clear-cut opportunities, going closest when Santi Rodriguez was inches away from diverting a fizzing long-range effort from Tayvon Gray into the back of the net on 55 minutes.
Martinez also came close to sealing his hattrick on the hour-mark but snatched at the chance and dragged his effort wide of the post.
The hosts were made to pay for not killing the game off when Cuypers silenced Citi Filed with a spectacular curling effort to the top corner from the edge of the area after 77 minutes, setting up a grandstand finish.
NYCFC appeared to have weathered the storm as the game entered stoppage time, but there was to be one final twist when Gray handled just inside the area, giving Gutierrez the opportunity to snatch a share of the spoils.
NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said there were “no excuses” for the second-half collapse, adding that his
side should have seen the game out.
“We’re two nil up at home, we were creating moments, Cushing said. “The mood (in the locker room) is low, because we want to win at home every time we play.”
Winger Hannes Wolf said NYCFC was made to pay for not putting the game to bed when they enjoyed a 2-0 lead in the first half and said the team lost control in the final ten minutes after Chicago pulled a goal back.
“We should learn from what happened today,” Wolf said. “If we want to be a team that goes to playoffs and plays a role in the playoffs, then we have to learn very fast.”
NYCFC now faces back-to-back away fixtures, taking on 2023 MLS Cup Champions Columbus Crew next Saturday before a trip to DC United on Sept. 14.
