After the dust settled at Belson Stadium on Wednesday night, New York City FC II had made history and a little bit of money. The team’s 1-0 cupset win over Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC of the second division USL Championship means the third division side is off to the Round of 16. It’s the team’s second straight cupset over a USL-C side.
The reserve team to the Major League Soccer side and last remaining Division 3 team in the 2024 US Open Cup, will host New Mexico United at Belson Stadium on May 21.
“We’re the only MLS NEXT (Pro) team left, so we’re representing that league and all the teams that were knocked out, but we’re showing that we have quality on the field,” said NYCFC II goalkeeper Tomás Romero. “We are a young team, but we have a lot of quality and obviously guys on the first team, including myself, when we come down we’re just as motivated to keep the run going.”
For head coach Matt Pilkington, he knows how much these last two games against higher division opponents have meant to his young group. Wednesday night’s match included eight products from the NYCFC academy, something the England native took a lot of pride in.
“It feels great. The players are really excited for opportunities to play higher-level teams,” Pilkington said. “They play different teams from different leagues, and teams that have a lot of experience. You alluded to the fact that we are younger. We had six teenagers out there in the lineup, so for them to fight it out, go the distance, keep a clean sheet, and work well for each other throughout, I thought it was a really good performance.”
New York only needed six minutes to take the lead and energize most of the 340 person crowd. Jonathan “JJ” Jiménez got a pass from Piero Elias and ran into the Colorado Spring box. He carved through the backline, sidestepped a final one, and shot low and between the legs of keeper Luis Zamudio.
For reference, that means a NYCFC II player scored against a D.C. United goalkeeper (Zamudio is on loan currently).
“I just got into a flow state . I split the defenders, a defender came toward me, and I dragged them . The keeper came out, and I put the ball through his legs,” Jiménez said. “It means a lot to me and to my team, as you can see in our celebrations. Everyone can see it; we celebrate goals with passion. There’s one thing we definitely don’t lack, and that is passion. At every game, whether it’s the US Open Cup or wherever we show up.”
The goal marks Jiménez’s fourth in this tournament. That places him in a three-way tie for the Golden Boot with Dembor Benson of El Farolito SC and Stefano Pinho of Birmingham Legion FC. Of the three teams, NYCFC II is the last remaining active participant.
After the goal however, City II looked content to hold back on attacking offense. While the team took the ball into the Switchbacks end multiple times it looked more on the backfoot overall. Meanwhile, Colorado Springs looked poised to find the back of the net.
In the 11th minute, Switchbacks forward Quentin “Quenzi” Huerman got under a cross from Jairo Henriquez with keeper Tomás Romero out of position. However the near open net opportunity from within five yards out was kicked over the crossbar.
In the 22nd, a corner kick by Colorado Springs saw Romero make a great save against a Jairo Henríquez attempt from inside the box.
The game settled into a rhythm after that for the remainder of the first half. Colorado Springs ended the first 45 minutes with close to 60% possession. However the visitors only had two more shots than New York City II, 5-3, while shooting the same amount of on-target shots (two). Full credit for that goes to players like City fullbacks Christian McFarlane and Drew Baiera, the former of which is a first team player “on loan” to the MLSNP side.
After the break, Switchbacks head coach James Chambers elected to make three substitutions to try and kickstart the offense. This included forward Ronaldo Damus, who scored two goals against El Paso Locomotive FC last weekend. The strategy worked, and in the first 10 minutes Colorado had multiple chances on net. Four separate players had chances, with two going wide and two being blocked.
Romero, who earned his first Open Cup clean sheet on Wednesday after letting in two goals in each of his last starts, says Colorado’s shift was noticeable but was able to be handled.
“It’s just a concentration thing. It may seem dangerous when they’re in our half. But if defensively we’re keeping our structure and guys are doing their job one (versus) one, it’s not super dangerous.
Cross is as long as everyone’s marked it, they didn’t have any, like huge guys in the box. So there (weren’t) any big threats. They had some chances that maybe they should have scored off, but I thought we defended well, and that’s just the game.”
Romero did note that his team did need to work on keeping possession more. While officially, New York held more possession overall in the second half (52%) the team never made headway with it. In fact City II only had three shots, none on target, versus Colorado’s nine, though none of those were on target either.
New York did have some chances to double the lead. In the 58th minute, a lazy pass in the Colorado end was intercepted. It ended up with first-team loan down Jovan Mijatovic, a high-profile winter signing for the organization, near the far post. However, his shot was deflected by a defender.
The wheels fully came off the visitors in the 88th minute when Aidan Rocha was shown a double yellow card. Firstly carded for a foul, Rocha continued to argue with the referee and was disciplined for dissent, leading to his ejection from the match.
As the last remaining Division 3 team left in the 2024 tournament, NYCFC II is also walking away with $25,000.
“Any honor is a great honor,” said head coach Matt Pilkington. “Any accolades are good for the group and for the players. For us, it is the magic of , just playing the game. The more games, the better. Every time we win a game, we go to the next round. It’s great. It’s something to prepare for, to look forward to, something to test the players with, and we’ll just keep doing the right things, keep training, and keep working hard to prepare for what’s coming next.”