BRONX, NY — With nothing to play for except pride, D.C. United was eliminated from MLS postseason play last week. They came from behind and scored two goals in the second half at Yankee Stadium Saturday evening to defeat NYCFC.
They were more aggressive, and seemed like they were a team striving for the postseason. NYCFC perhaps was too confident opposing the second worst team in the MLS and tough to beat at home. Instead, this became that trap game and NYCFC after taking a 1-0 advantage, had their setback, a 2-1 loss.
NYCFC fell to D.C. United by a final of 2-1 Saturday night at Yankee Stadium – Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
Detrimental in the Eastern Conference standings for NYCFC? Perhaps it was that type of loss to a certain extent, three points with a win or one with a draw would have been to their benefit. Instead, NYCFC ended the evening ranked eighth (8th) in a tightly contested conference.
D.C. United (4-15-9) won for the first time since beating Cincinnati 2-1 on May 31st, which to them is a major victory. More so, NYCFC (13-9-5) snapped a three game winning streak and five consecutive matches without a loss. The momentum on Saturday night was halted in the Bronx and NYCFC hopes to rebound in two weeks at the Chicago Fire.
“We played [CF] Montreal twice when they were at the bottom of the table,” said coach Pascal Jansen. “Today, D.C. is bottom of the table, finished for the playoffs already, so they’re just playing to finish the league. It’s a competition, and we only got one point out of three games. In all three games, there is something that’s alike—we have a lot of possession, but we get punished for small errors.”
Head coach Pascal Jansen and NYCFC stand 13-9-5 on the MLS 2025 regular season, good for 8th in the Eastern Conference standings – Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
He mentioned the first half and the good play, Justin Haak rolled a first-touch shot from the edge of the penalty area inside the right post to make it 1-0 in the 19th minute. Haak, a 23-year-old defender in his seventh MLS season, scored his second career goal and his first since 2023.
“We also knew they were looking for moments like when they scored the equalizer, giving away a throw-in and then defending it like we did, especially in the second phase,” said Jansen.
But NYCFC allowed Gabriel Pirani to score two goals, his first multi-goal game of the season, and be the difference maker. Former NYCFC keeper Luis Barraza had three saves. He stopped a possible equalizer in the 84th minute when Aiden O’Neill let it fly from distance. His shot took a wicked deflection, wrong-footing Barraza, but the goalkeeper reacted sharply to palm it behind for a corner.
Luis Barraza saved the night for D.C. United, stopping a potential game-tying goal in the 84th minute of Saturday’s match against NYCFC – Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
For Haak, the goal was satisfying, though three points and decisive win fell short. Overall, a disappointing evening for NYCFC and 20,292 of their supporters. The two teams played to a 0-0 tie on May 14th as NYCFC’s home record now stands at 9-4-0, with a total of 22 goals and 13 goals conceded.
“They (D.C.) occupied the ball,” said Haak. “Disapppinted we did not move up in the standings. Don’t really have the answer. We’ve already seen it twice this year versus [CF] Montréal. They were in last place when we played them, and we lost both of those games. So even when we played D.C. away, it was a similar game a little bit.”
He mentioned how they dominated the ball but couldn’t score in the end. Regardless, this wasn’t NYCFC that was more aggressive and defensive as the momentum built leading to this one. They previously scored first nine times and had a decisive win.
NYCFC will get back to the drawing board after Saturday’s loss and prepare for their next match against Chicago Fire on the road – Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
“Well, I think we knew it was going to be a difficult game, but we wanted the three points,” said forward Alonso Martínez through a translator. “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Now it’s about thinking of the next games after the break we have and thinking about what we did wrong and what we did right today in this match. I think it’s about trying to change the mindset for the next game.”
And what is that mindset? Obviously it’s getting back to the aggression and attack, a vital part of the NYCFC game. It was not a lack of motivation and matching up with a team that is playing out the string. A long MLS season and games like this can become that trap, but an overall consensus is NYCFC with a two week hiatus will have time to ponder this loss that to them should have resulted in three points.
“We just got to keep going and pushing the same way,” Martinez said. “We have been doing relatively well and we got to keep doing more of the same. They (D.C.) were a strong team. The result isn’t what we wanted.”
NYCFC missed their opportunity to move up in the Eastern Conference standings Saturday night, falling to D.C. United – Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
But what NYCFC seeks is a run to the MLS championship. They realize this was an opportunity to move up in the standings and a loss they say is another one that went bad before heading to Chicago.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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