ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico United played its first home match of the season on Saturday. The black and yellow played rival El Paso Locomotive FC in front of a crowd of 11,005 and sent them home happy with a 1-0 victory.
The match was slow in the first half. New Mexico and El Paso we
re both scoreless at halftime. NMU only recorded two shots with one on target, while El Paso did not record a shot.
Of note, Alex Tambakis recorded his 20,000th career minute in the USL during the first half. He is the third player in league history to reach that mark.
In the second half, things picked up for New Mexico in the final ten minutes. Sergio Rivas sent a thru ball to Mukwele Akale. Akale then danced his way through the box and found Greg Hurst at the top, who then sent the ball into the back of the net for the only goal of the match.
"Ultimately we knew we were going to get limited chances," said United head coach Dennis Sanchez. "Fortunately Greg is in great form right now and found it. I love the guys that came off the bench to close the game out. You can see that we've built a really strong team and we need that if anything arose as the game went on. So really proud of the collective effort."
With the win, New Mexico United improved to 2-1 on the young season. Up next for the club is a road trip to Miami FC on Saturday. ...read more read less
