Led by Diomar Diaz, who struck for a first-half brace, the New York Cosmos picked up their first road win of the season, defeating the Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2-0 at Lockhart Stadium.
The surging Cosmos are now unbeaten in five matches and remain atop the North American League Fall season standings with their second straight victory.
Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese made three changes to the side that beat Minnesota United on Sept. 14. To compensate for Hunter Freeman’s suspension, Hunter Gorskie was moved to right back, while Spanish midfielder Ayoze made the switch to left back. In midfield, Paulo Mendes earned his first start of the season.
Diaz opened the scoring in the ninth minute, diving in at the back post to head in a beautiful Ayoze cross from the left side.
Danny Szetela started the scoring sequence by feeding Ayoze, who had time and space to play the ball to the back post where an unmarked Diaz gave the Cosmos a 1-0 lead from eight yards.
Giovanni Savarese’s decision to play Ayoze in the left-back position paid almost immediate dividends with his perfect cross to Diaz.
“We always knew when we brought Ayoze that was a position he could play. The left-back position is a position he played before,” Savarese said. “It’s something we felt could contribute today in the match. We felt that was an area we could exploit with a player who could come from behind and take space exactly the way he ended up on the first goal.”
Diaz added his second in the 33rd minute, putting away the rebound after Sebastian Guenzatti’s shot from 17 yards out was saved.
With the two goals against the Strikers, Diomar Diaz is now the Cosmos’ leading scorer with three on the season.
“Diomar had a very good game today scoring the two goals, but I think even more his work defensively is something we’ve been working with him,” Savarese said. “He was able to give us that today and he was outstanding going forward and in covering tactically the areas we needed him to be.”
The Cosmos dominated possession in the second half and never allowed the Strikers’ attack to build momentum.
The Strikers did have the ball in the back of the net in the 67th minute but the assistant referee had his flag up and waived off a potential Martin Nunez goal.
Guenzatti was shown his second yellow card in the 90th minute for interfering with Strikers goalkeeper Richard Sanchez and the Cosmos finished the match with 10 men.
“This was a very good win for us,” Savarese said. “It was an important win. The team understood the importance of the game.”
The Cosmos return home to take on the Tampa Bay Rowdies Sept. 29 at 5 p.m. Tickets are available by going to nycosmos.com/tickets.
The teams played to a 0-0 draw in Tampa Bay Aug. 10.
While Freeman will be back, the Cosmos will be without Guenzatti, who received his second red card of the season.
“We’re playing against another good team, a team undefeated in the league, we know what they’re capable of,” Savarese said. “Tampa is a strong side and they keep having good performances. Now we were able to separate ourselves from Carolina and the Strikers, but still Tampa is right behind us.”
