Rocio Robles
Argentine Valentin Castellanos scored four goals in New York City’s 6-0 win over Real Salt Lake and became the team’s first player to score that many goals in an MLS match.
Argentine Valentin Castellanos, who was the MLS Golden Boot winner last season, finally got on the scoreboard in this 2022 MLS season. In New York City FC’s previous five matches, the striker had failed to score, despite having started in all of those games. The wait was worth it, as the player had an outstanding performance, scoring four goals.
Valentín Castellanos, who is also known as “Taty”, opened the scoring in the 9th minute with a header.
With the confidence of being ahead on the scoreboard and having broken the goal drought, his teammate Thiago Andrade made it 2-0, and the Argentinian took care of taking a penalty kick in the 40th minute and converting it into his team’s third goal (3-0).
In the second half, Andrade once again sent the ball into the net (4-0) and a couple of minutes later, Valentín Castellanos scored his hat-trick from the penalty spot. It didn’t stop there, as “Taty” completed the 6-0 defeat of Real Salt Lake in the 80th minute.
Thanks to his good performance in the match played at Yankee Stadium, Castellanos was named the MLS Player of the Week 7.
The importance of Valentín Castellanos’ return to the scoresheet
At 23 years of age, Castellanos is showing great potential in attack. Despite the fact that he had not scored in the New York team’s first five matches this season, the South American had previously proven his worth in the CONCACAF Champions League, when he scored four goals and gave four assists.
The team was eliminated in the semifinals of the Concacaf tournament by the Seattle Sounders last week, so now, they will be fully focused on the league.
In 2021, Valentín Castellanos recorded 19 goals and 8 assists, making him a key player in the team’s MLS Cup run. If he continues his scoring success in the coming games, the striker could improve on his own records from last season and perhaps NYCFC could dream of becoming champions again.
For the time being, this feat appears difficult, since the Big Apple team has only two victories on the season and are in tenth place in the Eastern Conference with seven points.
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