On Saturday, May 17, 2025, New York City FC (NYCFC) secured a 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls in the Hudson River Derby at Citi Field. This win marked a significant turnaround for NYCFC, especially after their previous playoff defeat to the Red Bulls at the same venue. On a mid afternoon match in perfect weather, the team finally shook off the struggles offensively after 3 straight shutouts with an Alonso Martinez last from outside the box just 13 minutes in. From there the team kept the pressure on for much of the first half, forcing offensive opportunities and keeping RBNY on their heels.
The second half also saw a similar start, this time just 5 minutes into the half after goalkeeper Carlos Coronel ended up out of position allowing Martinez to get the ball to Maxi Moralez for his first goal of the season and a 1 goal cushion. You can see the clip her (plus Moralez’s approval as he liked the tweet):
In the end, the team got a much needed 2-0 win over a rival team on a schedule that needed a W. Next up the club has a small break (by May standards) as they host the Chicago Fire on Sunday May 25th for an afternoon game at Yankee Stadium.
5 STATS
1) The attendance was as expected great for this matchup, with 30,804 on hand, a team high this year. Also the NYCFC fans got into it by trolling their Cup-less Rivals:
2) This was only the second time this season the team had gone into halftime with a lead. It was also curiously the first time this season that a match didn’t end in a draw or a goal goal differential.
3) This was Matt Freese’s 6th Clean Sheet of the season. He had 5 all last season.
4) The overall record for NYCFC vs RBNY now is 11W-13L-4D. 8 of those wins were at home.
5) NYCFC is as mentioned facing the Chicago Fire next. NYCFC has never lost to the Fire at home, going 8W-0L-3D.
