Red Wolves and Cosmos tie 3-3 thriller
- Philip Farrell
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
EAST RIDGE, Tn. — The eleven-hundred or so fans at CHI Memorial Stadium were treated to a goal fest on Saturday evening, as the visiting New York Cosmos twice came from behind to tie a high scoring and competitive game.
The Chattanooga Red Wolves, playing a typical Scott Mackenzie game of counterattacking brilliance, thought they’d done enough to win the battle when Spanish fullback Yanis Lelin put them 3-2 ahead on the hour mark, sending a right-footed rocket from the edge of the box past Cosmos keeper Tristan Stephani.
But Davide Corti’s resilient side who came into the game off a two-match winning bounce continued to press and got their reward when midfielder Ajmeer Spengler netted his eighth goal of the season to tie up the game for a second time. Spengler brushed the ball into goal, capping off an excellent cross from Justin Milovanov. 3-3 and a deserved point for the visitors from Patterson, NJ.
It was a beautiful, late August evening in East Ridge and a jovial atmosphere abounded at CHI Memorial, driven by Family Night festivities. This was helped by stand-in captain Pedro Hernández netting inside the first minute. An early Red Wolves break started from a long-ball by goalkeeper Jason Smith found Lelin with plenty of space entering the final third. Lelin took two touches before launching a wormburner that was spilled by Stephani.
Hernández was there ahead of Anderson Holt to smash it in from close-range. A costly error from Stephanie and Holt will have been kicking himself too.
Another fine breakaway led to their second goal, just after the half-hour mark. Center-back Eric Kinzner, in an advanced position after a corner-kick, brilliantly controlled a pass and fed the ball across the front of goal. Hernández missed it before Tobi Adewole swooped down to slam the ball into the back of the net.
Legendary captain Sebastián Guenzatti began the comeback for New York. His strike on the cusp of halftime came after a delicious throughball from Spengler that found Christian Koffi running into the box. The French winger darted a quick ball on the floor to Guenzatti who had time and space to control it before bending a curved shot that left Smith with no chance.
A glimmer of hope for the visitors, and that glimmer became reality ten minutes into the second half when Nestor Cabrera grabbed the game’s first equalizer. He received the ball outside the box and, once again, had time and space to control and send in a shot. It deflected wickedly off a diving Adewole to trick Smith and fly high into the goal.
Mackenzie’s men executed a perfect gameplan, nearly winning despite trailing in possession, shots, and xG. New York deserves a lot of credit for staying in the game and extending their unbeaten streak to three games.
Box Score
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC v New York Cosmos
USL League One
Venue: CHI Memorial Stadium | East Ridge, TN
Attendance: 1,152
Final Score: Red Wolves 3-3 Cosmos
Referee: Jake Larson (IA)
Scoring summary:
1’: P. Hernández (CRW)
32’: T. Adewole (CRW)
45+2’: S. Guenzatti (NYC)
56’: N. Cabrera (NYC)
60’: Y. Lelin (CRW)
77’: A. Spengler (NYC)
Discipline:
49’: D. Galazzini (NYC) - yellow, foul
86’: M. Knapp (CRW) - yellow, foul
90+1’: R. Apolinar (CRW) - yellow, foul
90+8’: P. Bohui (NYC) - yellow, foul
Man of the Match: Yanis Lelin (CRW)
Line-ups
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC (4-4-2): Jason Smith; Jordan Ayimbila (Roberto Apolinar 60’), Eric Kinzner, Tobi Adewole, Josh Ramos; Yanis Lelin, Wynand Wessels (Greyson Mercer 60’), Angelo Kelly-Rosales (James Vaughan 60’), Pedro Hernández (C) (Michael Knapp 60’); Omar Hernández, Matt Bentley (Nathan Donoho 90+4’)
Substitutes not used: Ricardo Jérez, Christian Engmann
Head Coach: Scott Mackenzie
New York Cosmos (4-3-3): Tristan Stephani; Nestor Cabrera, Anderson Holt, Michael Chilaka, Massimo Morabito (Davide Galazzini 45’, Justin Milovanov 76’); Ozzie Ramos (Darren Sidoel 76’), Frankie Ljucovic, Ajmeer Spengler; Christian Koffi (Patrick Bohui 76’), Lamin Jawneh (Nick Zielonka 82’), Sebastián Guenzatti (C)
Substitutes not used: Javier Garcia Jr., Stalyn Acosta, Jordan Chavez
Head Coach: Davide Corti
Next Games
• Saturday 29 August, 19:00 (ET): Chattanooga Red Wolves SC v Athletic Club Boise, CHI Memorial Stadium, East Ridge, TN (USL League One)
• Saturday 29 August, 19:00 (CT): Union Omaha SC v New York Cosmos, Morrison, Stadium, Omaha, NE (USL League One)
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