2022 Campeones Cup: NYCFC vs Atlas: Yankee Stadium: Highlights, goals and prize money
NYCFC, the MLS Cup Winner from last season, faced Atlas, the Liga MX’s No. 1 club, in the Campeones Cup at Yankees Stadium Wednesday night.
In the fourth edition of the Campeones Cup, New York City Football Club came out victorious and took home an estimated $340,000 in prize money and the trophy. The victory will hopefully help NYCFC get out of its recent slump in which they have only won 5 points in 10 league games.
Atlas came into the Campeones Cup with a similar poor run that puts them in second-to-last place in the Liga MX with only 10 points in 15 games. Their loss Wednesday night won’t help turn things around when they return to league play this weekend.
The short but intense history of the Campeones Cup
The first edition of the Campeones Cup was played in 2018 at BMO field in Toronto. The home team Toronto FC lost to UNAL 1-3 in front of nearly 15,000 fans. The Cup final is always hosted by the MLS team and in 2019 Atlanta United played Club América in its Mercedes Benz Stadium. The final score was 3-2 in favor of the home team, who celebrated the victory with 40,000 supporters.
The 2020 edition was canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but in 2021 Columbus Crew continued the winning ways for the MLS side and beat Cruz Azul 2-´0 at Lower.com field in Ohio’s capital city.
The 2022 Campeones Cup game summary
The game started at 7:30 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium as both teams put out their best players to try to bring home the coveted trophy. Atlas and NYCFC had huge support from their fan bases as they took field to get things underway.
Nearly four minutes after kickoff NYCFC scored the first goal when Alexander Callens knocked in a weak header by Nicolás Acevedo delivered by Gabriel Pereira’s free kick. Atlas defenders thought it was offsides, but the goal stood as the Mexican goalkeeper protested the play.
Shortly after the goal Atlas dominated possession as it tried to equalize, but they couldn’t take advantage of their opportunities. NYCFC gradually took back control and had some other chances with free kicks and corners that were defended correctly by Atlas.
Brazilian striker Heber had to come off the field in the 29th minute due to injury. His NYCFC teammate and Brazilian counterpart Talles Magno came in to substitute him.
Tayvon Gray was shown a yellow card in the 41st minute for taking a dive in the area and trying to fool the referee. Time ran out and the first half ended 1-0 in favor of NYCFC, who had a slight advantage in possession during the first 45 minutes (58%) and had more chances than Atlas.
Second half frustration for Atlas
The second half got underway and NYCFC picked up where they left off and surprised Atlas with another quick goal before the Mexican side had even broken a sweat. At the four minute mark NYCFC worked the ball nicely up the field and Maximiliano Moralez right footed a screamer into the bottom left corner to make it 2-0.
A lot of the credit of that goal has to go to the American 20-year-old Tyvon Gray who made the last pass to assist his veteran Argentinian teammate Maxi Morález with a beautiful goal.
Atlas didn’t give up after being two down with 40 minutes still to play and Quiñones had a chance in the 53rd minute, but couldn’t find the back of the net. One minute later Atlas scored, but the goal was called back because of an offside infraction.
The Mexican forward Jonathan Herrera came on for his Ecuadorian teammate Anibal Chalá in the 55th minute to try to make something happen for Atlas. The substitution was a bold move, but it seemed to work as Atlas had several chances during the next ten minutes, but couldn’t knock the ball past Luis Barraza, NYCFC’s goalkeeper.
Ángel Márquez came on for Christopher Trejo in the 69th minute. Another substitution, this time for NYCFC in the 73rd minute saw Santiago Rodriguez come off and the Brazilian forward Thiago Andrade take his place. Callens was booked for wasting time in the 79th minute and his teammate Moralez also saw a yellow card four minutes later for a foul on Santamaria.
Minute 85: Double substitution for the New York City FC: Maxi Moralez and Nicolás Acevedo came off the field and were replaced by Keaton Parks and Justin Haak. In the final minutes Atlas brought on Rodriguez for Flores and shortly after Reyes was shown a yellow card. Four extra minutes were added but NYCFC were able to move the ball around and keep it away for the Atlas players.
The game ended 2-0 in favor of the team for New York City Football Club as the MLS celebrates another victory for one of its teams.