Nicolas Fernandez scored a goal in the first half, Luighi added his second in as many matches in the second half, and New York City FC shut out struggling Real Salt Lake 2-0 on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah.
Agustin Ojeda assisted on both goals as New York City (8-9-8, 32 points) snapped a seven-match MLS winless streak (0-3-4) with its first league triumph since July 25.
RSL (8-11-5, 29 points) slumped to an 11th consecutive winless league result (0-7-4) with its second straight loss.
NYCFC took the lead in the 41st minute on a set-piece routine, as Fernandez came to meet Ojeda’s free kick and sent a booming shot past RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral to make it 1-0. It was his 15th goal of the season, tying him with Nashville SC’s Sam Surridge for third-most in MLS.
New York City doubled its lead to 2-0 in the 62nd minute. Ojeda caught up with a long ball from Tayvon Gray, cut into the box and centered a pass for Luighi, whose touch beat Cabral at the far post. It was Luighi’s fourth of the season.
That was more than enough for NYCFC, which was outshot 15-6 overall and 6-3 in shots on target but improved to 4-4-4 on the road. Salt Lake fell to 7-3-2 at home.
Matt Freese turned aside all six RSL shots he faced to keep his fifth clean sheet of the season. Cabral finished with one save.
Fernandez’s goal on Saturday gave him two goals and three assists in his last six league matches. NYCFC’s clean sheet was its second in three matches.
New York City head coach Pascal Jansen, who missed Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the New England Revolution while tending to a personal matter in Europe, was back with the club on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
