(NASL 2016 Fall) Miami FC 2v3 New York Cosmos

Saturday 9th July 2016
FIU Stadium, Miami   Attendance -  4,519

The Cosmos ran riot the last time they visited Miami, but since then the home side had spent big on bolstering their side, including the acquisition of 2 players on loan at the Cosmos, Lahoud and Farfan.

The home side made a positive start to the game by forcing a series of corners, although the first chance of the game fell to the visitors when Mkosana's pace took him on goal from a breakaway, but he got his chip wrong and Miami's keeper Vega made a comfortable save.

But Cosmos didn't take long to settle down and start to control the game and Orozco went close with an effort on goal.

But on 17mins came  a controversial moment when a flick from Ryan put Chavez in on goal for Miami. Holt came rushing out of goal, but fouled Chavez as the Miami man got to the ball first. Cosmos breathed a sigh of relief as only a yellow card was shown as Roversio was covering, with Miami only getting a free-kick as the incident took place out of the area.

Holt saved the free-kick from Cvitanich, although Cosmos did not escape totally unscathed as Roversio made an all too familiar early exit, picking up an injury from the incident.

But Cosmos were looking increasingly dangerous with Orozco in particular threatening and he forced a tremendous save from Vega, who then made another stop from the resulting corner from an Arango header.

Miami forced a moment of panic at the other end when Holt's poor punch fell to a Miami player in the area, but Cosmos saw the danger out.

Cosmos made the breakthrough in the 39th minute when Diosa drilled in a perfect low cross into the area and Mkosana was on hand to steer the ball in. The goal saw Cosmos play with a swagger for the remainder of the half and Orozco forced Vega into another save in stoppage time as New York looked to double the lead before the interval.

Slow start to the 2nd half, but in similar circumstances to the 1st half Miami threaten after Poku plays in Chavez again and Holt charges out of the area, although this time Holt does well to clear the danger. Diosa does well to stop a pass to Cvitanich as Miami enjoy a good spell.

Cosmos rode out the pressure, but failed to capture the dominance they showed in the 1st half and paid for it when a great ball sent Poku on goal after outpacing the Cosmos defence. The former NYC FC man equalised for Miami which triggered a crazy see-saw end to the game.

 Cosmos immediately went on the offensive and retook the lead after a great move involving Flores and Orozco with Orozco providing a neat finish in what looked like the game winner. But once again New York showed their inability to close the game out and a late penalty was awarded to Miami when Cosmos failed to clear a corner and Freeman was adjudged to have brought down Chavez in the area as the ball fell in the path of the Miami man.

Cvitanich scored what looked like a dramatic equaliser, but unbelievably there was still a late twist to this game. Flores had a piledriver tipped over by Vega and from the resulting corner the Miami keeper made a hash of a punch and the ball went in off a suitably named Lucky Mkosana for a last gasp winner.