Maxi Moralez scored in the 27th minute and visiting No. 5 seed New York City FC defeated the top seed and Supporters’ Shield champion Philadelphia Union 1-0 in Sunday night’s second Eastern Conference semifinal.
Matt Freese made five saves to keep his third clean sheet of the MLS Cup Playoffs and send the Cityzens to their third conference final in five seasons.
This one comes after losing team-leading regular-season goal scorer Alonso Martinez to a reported torn ACL injury suffered during the November international window, and midfielder Andres Perea to a leg fracture suffered in the finale of NYCFC’s round one series against Charlotte FC.
NYCFC will visit Lionel Messi and No. 3 Inter Miami in the East final on Saturday after the Herons defeated FC Cincinnati 4-0 earlier on Sunday.
Philadelphia fell in the playoffs after winning the Shield for the second time in six seasons, and was eliminated at home by NYCFC for the second time in five years after dropping the 2021 East final at home.
The Cityzens went in front on an attack that began when Tayvon Gray dribbled past one opposing player and then sprung Agustin Ojeda with a ball down the right.
Ojeda cut across to the inside of his defender on the dribble and then played a pass toward the top of the box for Nicolas Fernandez, who received it and slotted another quick diagonal ball that Moralez ran onto and neatly finished past Blake from close range.
Fernandez nearly doubled the lead 10 minutes after halftime with a long-range effort that attempted to catch Blake off his line. Blake recovered in time to push the rolling attempt just wide of the left post, but absorbed an injury in the process and had to depart.
Philadelphia pushed for an equalizer and came closest twice through Frankie Westfield reaching crosses at the back post.
Freese reacted superbly to deny the first volley with his legs in the 74th minute. Thirteen minutes later, on arguably an even better chance, Westfield skied his effort over the bar.
Freese also reacted well in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, diving to his left to deny Milan Iloski’s long-range effort.
–Field Level Media
