New York Cosmos U23 0-1 Ocean City Nor’Easters

June 8th, 2011 – Despite having only been together for two weeks, the New York Cosmos U23′s played great attacking soccer but came up short in their first ever Premier Development League exhibition match against the Ocean City Nor’Easters. Playing at Farrell High School in Staten Island, head coach Giovanni Savarese’s young team was competitive throughout and dominated possession yet unable to find the goal.

The Cosmos U23′s maintained most of the possession yet Ocean City was the first team to really threaten. After a quarter hour the Nor’Easters forced Cosmos keeper Chad Calderone into a diving save and then had a shot strike the crossbar shortly after.

In the first half, the main threat for the home team was winger Chelsea Moriken Sangary. Playing on the left side of the front three in the Cosmos 4-3-3 formation, academy player Moriken Sangary was always looking to dribble past his man and was dangerous throughout his 45-minute appearance. After getting free on the left flank, Moriken Sangary teed up Cosmos striker Guy Kpene. However, with just the keeper to beat, Kpene was unable to get enough bend on his finish and the shot went wide.

The first half was a scrappy and even affair with the Cosmos U23′s passing the ball well especially through their tidy midfielders, Yannik Reyering and Ibrahim Diaby. Cosmos captain, Stefan Dimitrov had the best chance of the half when he was left unmarked on a corner six yards from goal, yet was not able to put his header on frame.

The second half began much the same as the first and a hour into the match, Ocean City clipped the top of the bar from long range. Dmitrov responded for the Cosmos with a diving header that the Ocean City keeper did well to turn around the post.

After coming out well to break up a 3-on-2 opportunity, Cosmos keeper Chad Calderone was finally beaten after 88 minutes when Ocean City striker, Jack Bailey took the ball off his own man and finished nicely with a low strike into the corner of the net.

Despite a series of late corners, the Cosmos U23′s were unable to find an equalizer but can be proud of their effort in their debut match. Savarese called upon eighteen different players throughout the game and each one was able to slot into the system and perform well.