NYCFC Roll Over Orlando On Opening Day

 

NYCFC celebrating after they made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute. Photo by Jason Schott.

New York City Football Club rolled to a 5-0 win over Orlando City on Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 25,055 at Yankee Stadium.

NYCFC is now 2-1-0 on the season, with seven points, and to say they made this a festive one would be an understatement.

Their franchise record in home openers is now 8-2-2, and this was noteworthy because it is the final home opener at Yankee Stadium before they move into the new Etihad Park in Queens next season. The last time they scored five goals in a home opener was on April 24, 2021, when they beat FC Cincinnati, 5-0. 

While NYCFC dominated at the start, the game took an unexpected turn in the 16th minute when Orlando City FC goalkeeper Maxine Crepeau went to field a ball that was floated in by Maxi Moralez.

Crepeau approached it while he was still in the box, but by the time he touched it and attempted to catch it, he was well past it, which resulted in a red card.

Maxine Crepeau (in black) pleading his case to the referee. Photo by Jason Schott.

This meant that Orlando City would be playing with 10 men for the final approximately 75 minutes of the match.

It also marked the first time in NYCFC's history that their opponents had red cards in three consecutive MLS regular season matches.

In came Javier Otero to play net for Orlando City, and it wasn't hard to see what would happen next.

NYCFC had a top scoring chance which resulted in a corner kick in the 21st minute, and then after sending it on net, Otero made a save in which he punched the ball out. NYCFC kept it in, with Moralez floating it to Agustin Ojeda at the top of the box, and he used a bicycle kick to fling it inside the left post of the net to make it 1-0. 

It was Moralez's 100th assist as a member of NYCFC.

NYCFC celebrates their first goal of the day. Photo by Jason Schott.

It stayed that way until the 42nd minute when NYCFC had the ball going down the right side, and Maxi Moralez sent a brilliant pass into the box, where Nico Fernandez Mercau leaped and headed it into the net.

Then, in extra time - which was designated at 11 minutes - Fernandez Mercau was in on a breakaway in the 51st minute when he was taken down by Orlando City  midfielder Luis Otavio.

That resulted in an NYCFC penalty kick, which was taken by Moralez, and he buried it to make it 3-0 heading into the break. A four-picture breakdown of the PK is below:

In the second half, Keaton Parks scored a pair of goals, in the 49th and 54th minutes to make it 5-0 NYCFC and put the game away. They were the midfielder's first two goals of the season.

This was the 11th time in NYCFC history that they scored five or more goals, and the first instance since September 28, 2024 when they did it at the Red Bulls.

COACH'S COMMENTS: NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen spoke on these topics in his postgame press conference:

On the team's start to the season and earning seven points from the first three matches: "You can see we're improving again from where we started. We had a lot of work to do during preseason, and it's not finished quite yet, so we keep working in order to become a better team. You can see the growth within the three matches that we're played so far. For us, it was very important in the (Home Opener) to play for our fans and make sure the energy on the pitch was there to connect with them immediately from game one at home. I think we did that, so that's a massive achievement for the team but also a big compliment to the fans coming back home."

On the team's attacking performance and scoring five goals: "Looking at the Philly (Philadelphia Union) game (on March 1), we created some big moments against Philly as well, and a few less against (LA) Galaxy. Like I said just now, you can see that we're growing. We;re not making such a big issue of the number nine that's not available for us. We all know that Tico (Forward Alonso Martinez) is working really hard to get back to the team and we have to be patient. I said it from day one: if we sign a new attacker, it has to be somebody who is going to add special impact qualities that we might need in this team. If that is not the case, I'm perfectly fine with the guys that are there now because you can see they can play. They were hungry today, very aggressive, and created a lot of possibilities and chances to score, even before it became 11 against 10. We're not worried, we'll just continue what we're doing now."

On Midfielder Keaton Parks getting forward and scoring a brace: "Frist, I'm very happy that Keaton is still healthy. That was priority number one, becoming healthy again. We all know that Keats is a great player and a big personality for our team as well. There is a slight adjustment in the games that we've played so far, because also in the game against (LA) Galaxy and in the finishing touch against the previous game we played against Philly (Union), we were able to squeeze him up just a little higher on the pitch because we're also looking for a type of pressure in the middle of the pitch once we were in a plus-one situation. Obviously when the opponent goes down a man, like today as well, that allows him to move in a more offensive position throughout the game. What I'm very pleased with is that he got himself into the box and scored as well. The timing of the run and the delivery was good, and that's good for the team and for Keats."