In what their coach deemed the “most complete game of the season,” the New York Cosmos matched their season-high in goals with four different scorers contributing to the final tally of their 4-0 victory over the Carolina RailHawks. Goalkeeper Kyle Reynish picked up his league-leading fifth shutout of the fall season in front of 5,409 fans at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium Saturday night and the Cosmos inched one step closer to a berth in the Soccer Bowl, which the team could guarantee with a win next weekend in their home finale against Edmonton.
The victory, the team’s fifth in a row, extends their undefeated streak to eight consecutive games and led head coach Giovanni Savarese to praise his squad.
“It was from the first minute that the team came out with the right attitude, completely dominated the game and they performed exactly the way we asked them to perform – pressuring, possessing the ball, making the runs, finding the goal early,” Cosmos coach Giovanni Savarese said. “I would say so far it was the most complete game we have had this season.”
The Cosmos maintain a seven-point lead atop the NASL table with Tampa Bay sitting in second place.
Alessandro Noselli returned to the field for his first game in a month. Coming onto the field as a sub in the 74th minute, Noselli made an immediate impact. First, he drew a penalty in the box that allowed Marcos Senna to score his fourth goal of the season, then, in the 90th minute, Noselli fired home his second goal of the season.
“I’m very happy because I have not played for one month and after one minute I [draw] the penalty and in the final [minute of] the game I score,” Noselli said. “It was the perfect game for me and I think for the team because the last game against Carolina we lost 3-0 and now we won 4-0.”
Danny Szetela started the scoring for the Cosmos early, before dominating in the midfield with Senna; Szetela’s game-winner put an exclamation on his season thus far.
“Four months ago, he was playing in local leagues. He came into preseason and he’s been growing every week,” Savarese said. “Today he had a tremendous performance.”
The goal was Szetela’s first since Oct. 18, 2008 when he scored for Brescia in Italy’s Serie B.
“We always talk about making our runs from the midfield, making our runs into the box,” Szetela said. “Once I saw the ball go out wide, I just started running. Diomar (Diaz) played a great ball across and I took it first time and it went into the net.”
Diaz popped in his team-leading fifth goal of the year in the 53rd minute and played one of his best matches yet.
“Diomar was great today,” Savarese said. “He keeps scoring. The more confidence he gets, the better he becomes. There’s a lot of talent there.”
A win over Edmonton next Sunday in the home finale at Hofstra sends the Cosmos to the Soccer Bowl against the Atlanta Silverbacks on Nov. 9.
