(NASL 2017 Spring) Miami FC 2v1 New York Cosmos

Saturday 24th June 2017
Riccardo Silva Stadium, Miami   Attendance -  6,215

Miami FC  edged closer to the Spring Championship after ending the unbeaten run on the road of the Cosmos.

New York started the game well quickly closing down Miami all over the pitch and it took just  6 minutes to bear fruit. Blake Smith was hassled out of possession in his own half and with Miami out of position the ball was slipped to Ledesma who drilled the ball past Vega with the first effort of the game.

Cosmos almost gifted Miami an equaliser soon after when after Ochieng gave Maurer a horrendous pass back which was latched onto by Pinho. The deadly striker took the ball round Maurer, but under pressure could only rifle the effort against the post.

Cosmos were next to threaten as Herrera was only inches away from connecting with a long Ayoze pass. But Cosmos survived a scare as a great flick sent Rennella through, only to be hauled down by Jakovic just outside the area, with the Cosmos man lucky to stay on the field and only receive a yellow card. Miami were looking dangerous and were back on level terms when Pinho's audacious effort from the edge of the area took a huge deflection off Jakovic, totalling wrong-footing Maurer for the equaliser. Seconds later and Miami were streaming forward again, with Mares forcing a near post save from Maurer.

Miami were well in ascendancy now as they continued to create chances, first Pinho failed to direct an unmarked header on target before Poku and Blake Smith combined well before Smith forced Maurer into a good save.

Miami took just 2 minutes of the second half to take the lead. Jakovic managed to stop Rennella getting a shot in on goal after he after he was found in the area, but from the resulting corner, Rennella was criminally left unmarked at the near post and his header crept just inside the post.

Cosmos went in search of an equaliser and a deep cross gave Ledesma a sight of goal, but the angle was tight and he could not direct the effort on goal. As the game wore on Miami dropped deep and invited pressure onto themselves, but the home side defended well and managed to repel the attacks from the away side.