Cosmos Maintain Perfect Home Record, First Place

Photo credit: New York Cosmos

First-place New York completed the home portion of its Spring Season schedule at Shuart Stadium unbeaten after its 1-0 victory over Rayo OKC on Saturday night.

Yohandry Orozco had the best chance of the first quarter hour when he forced Daniel Fernandes into a diving save on a hard shot from 25 yards.

Rayo OKC (2W-2D-4L, 8 points) played with 10 men from the 36th minute after Michel, the league’s leading goalscorer, was shown a straight red card for an apparent studs-up charge against Cosmos goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer. Rayo OKC finished the game with eight men when Billy Forbes and minutes later Georgios Samaras were ejected late in the match.

The Cosmos (6-0-3, 18) dominated possession and came close when Jairo Arrieta headed just high of the crossbar from a pinpoint cross from Ayoze. New York finally broke through in the 53rd minute when Sebastián Guenzatti flicked a header into the path of Danny Szetela for an easy tap in past Fernandes

The Cosmos finished undefeated at home this season, and have lost only four home games of 41 games over all since 2013 reboot season; and New York has only one loss over the same period when scoring first.

For more on the game, visit nycosmos.com and rayookc.com.