NYCFC Finishes Off Philly For First Win Of Season

 

Tayvon Gray (2nd from right) celebrates his late goal in front of his teammates. Provided by NYCFC.

New York City Football Club earned their first win of the season in stunning fashion, as Tayvon Gray gave them a last-minute goal to give them the 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union on Sunday evening.

This gives NYCFC four out of a possible six points in the two games on the road to open the season, as they tied LA Galaxy on the opening weekend.

These teams met in the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs when NYCFC won at Philadelphia, 1-0, in an Eastern Conference Semifinal, so they didn't have to wait long for a rematch that met the moment. 

Hannes Wolf gave NYCFC the lead in the 36th minute, and it nearly held up, as it took until the 89th minute for the Union to equalize on a penalty kick from Indiana Vassilev.

Even though that goal seemed late, there was 10 minutes of extra time, which gave NCYFC plenty of time to notch the winner.

In the 99th minute, NYCFC had control of the ball in the box, and after a shot was blocked, the ball flew into the air over to the left side of the field, where Talles Magno corralled it. He then dropped off a pass to Agustin Ojeda, who near the top left corner of the box.

Ojeda then volleyed one towards the center of the box, where a leaping Tayvon Gray slipped between two Philadelphia defenders to head it in for what would be the winning goal.

Since it came towards the final minute of extra time, there was very little left after they reset play at midfield, and NYCFC walked away with the win.

This was Gray's first goal of the season, just the second-ever goal scored by the defender, with the other one coming in 2024.

Gray was named the player of the match for notching the first extra time game-winner in the MLS this season, and he said of scoring, "I saw Agu (Ojeda) kind of make eye contact for a second. Normally I'm passing to him, but today he passed to me, so I'm definitely happy to get that goal."

Ojeda and Magno each earned their first assist of the MLS Regular Season. Ojeda had five goal contributions in each of the past two MLS Regular Seasons, as he had three goals and two assists in 2024, and five assists in '25. This was Magno's first goal contribution in an MLS match since 2024, when he scored a goal in Atlanta. 

Wolf's goal was his first of the season, after he scored 11 in the 2025 MLS Regular Season, which well eclipsed the five he had in '24.

NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese earned the win, as he made three saves. 

Philadelphia had 17 shots, with five of them on goal, while NYCFC ad 10 shots on goal, out of 13 overall.

NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen said of the win, "Coming to Philly is always tough. Tough crowd, tough team, tough playstyle. The first 15 to 20 minutes were a huge fight to make sure we got comfortable in the game. Once we got comfortable, you could see that we could run them down and create a few good chances, and we scored a good goal. We knew the second half was going to be even tougher because them chasing for an equalizer makes them even more dangerous and more direct than they were in the first half. My guys had to fight again. We could have killed the game with the biggest chance from Seymour (Reid), but we didn't. Then obviously the penalty brought them back into the game. But to come back in Philly and win it like we did is a big compliment to the team."