New York City FC II Goals: Reid 9’, 21’, Murray 59’
Chicago Fire FC II Goals: McCamy 31’ (OG), Cassano 37', Shokalook 70'
Quick Read
New York City FC II and Chicago Fire II played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Icahn Stadium. Seymour Reid scored twice early, but Chicago fought back. Max Murray briefly restored the lead before a late equalizer forced penalties. A lively contest throughout, the teams split the points in regulation with the bonus point decided via shootout—Chicago winning 4-1 in the PK shootout.
Match Recap
A summer evening at Icahn Stadium saw New York City FC II return to home soil, hosting Chicago Fire II in an entertaining MLS NEXT Pro encounter.
City came into the contest riding the momentum of a convincing road win over Orlando City B, while Chicago arrived equally buoyant after putting six past Columbus Crew 2 the previous weekend.
Head Coach Matt Pilkington made several changes to the side that triumphed in Florida, handing starts to Max Murray, Nico Cavallo, and Seymour Reid. That decision paid dividends inside the opening ten minutes, as Reid opened the scoring after a sharp give-and-go with Luka Sunjic. The forward took a clever return pass and slotted home calmly to give the hosts the lead.
The advantage was doubled just over ten minutes later. A strong tackle near the halfway line by Sebastiano Musu set the Italian free down the left. Musu delivered an inch-perfect pass into the path of Reid, who took a touch before confidently dispatching his second goal of the evening.
Reid nearly completed his hat trick shortly after when Chris Tiao found him in space, but the Chicago goalkeeper came out on top in the one-on-one.
Despite City’s strong start, the Fire found a lifeline just after the half-hour mark through a stroke of misfortune for the hosts—a low cross deflected off Collin McCamy and ended up in the net. The equalizer followed six minutes later as Claudio Cassano finished off a quick breakaway with a low strike past Mac Learned from close range.
Chicago almost edged in front before the break, but Learned produced a superb save to deny Diego Konincks’ goal-bound header.
New York City made one change at the interval, with Piero Elias replacing Evan Lim. The match continued at a lively pace and City reclaimed the lead just before the hour mark. Musu, influential throughout, sent in a precise delivery that found Max Murray, who guided a header past the keeper.
That lead proved short-lived. Chicago pressed high and won the ball back through Jhonier Montiel, who set up Jason Shokalook to convert and make it 3-3.
Pilkington turned to his bench once more in the 80th minute, introducing Julien Lacher in place of Musu. City nearly snatched a fourth in the 85th minute after Máximo Carrizo’s delicate through ball freed Lacher, whose cross flashed across goal but narrowly missed the arriving Sunjic.
There was one final scare in stoppage time when Chicago came inches from winning it with a curling free-kick that just evaded the post.
With the score level at full-time, the match proceeded to penalties to decide the recipient of the bonus point. Chicago emerged victorious, winning 4-1 on penalties.
How We Lined Up
What's Next
Next up for New York City FC II is a game against Huntsville City FC on Sunday, August 17. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00PM ET.
