New York City FC didn't get what it needed to have a hope of advancing in Leagues Cup, losing 2-1 to Club Necaxa to close out Phase One of the midsummer tournament.
It's another three-and-out showing for NYCFC in this new Leagues Cup format, and with the same results in 2026, one win and two losses, that Pascal Jansen's team produced in last season's tournament.
Keaton Parks got initially credited with a goal that would be changed to an own goal scored by Necaxa defender Agustín Oliveros, the right call considering it was never clear that Parks got a touch on the ball, but it was a goal nonetheless, with Parks's size making a difference on a corner kick in what was the midfielder's first start for NYCFC since May 16, also here at Sports Illustrated Stadium but against Red Bull New York in a 1-1 Hudson River Derby draw.
New York City had other chances early to add goals, with Malachi Jones hitting the woodwork with a header in the 15th minute, and with Luighi, starting at striker for the first time, popping up with a half-chance in the 21st minute. In the end, the Parks goal was all they could muster before halftime, and all they'd muster by the end of the full 90 minutes.
That would prove very costly, because Necaxa had goals to come in the second half. The Aguascalientes-based club drew level in the 64th minute, a nice side-footed Juan Valencia goal initially ruled out for offside in the buildup, but a decision that was overruled by VAR after a lengthy, many-minutes-long review.
Necaxa got a late winner in the 79th minute, with Juan Torres finding the back of the net to make it two goalscorers from Colombia for Necaxa, as they ruined NYCFC's slim chances of advancement and got a win for the sake of pride after losing their first two Leagues Cup matches.
New York City: 9 shots, 1 shots on target, 57% possession, 455 passes, 87% pass accuracy, 15 fouls, 2 corners, 2 saves
Necaxa: 10 shots, 4 shots on target, 43% possession, 341 passes, 85% pass accuracy, 16 fouls, 5 corners, 1 saves
Goals:
• New York City, Keaton Parks, 37'
Necaxa, Juan Valencia, 64'
Necaxa, Juan Torres, 79'
Attendance: 11,281
Bright start, second-half fade
For a while, this started out as a controlled performance from a heavily-rotated NYCFC side. Parks was getting his first start in some time, Matt Freese got the night off with Tomás Romero earning a start in goal, and Mitja Ilenič was also in at right-back and starting for the first time since his loan was cut short earlier this summer and he returned to New York City.
There was rotation, but there was still attacking firepower for NYCFC to call on, with Luighi earning his first start and going the full 90 minutes in his third career appearance with New York City. Bénie Traoré and Malachi Jones flanked him on the left and right-wings, respectively, while Nico Fernández Mercau pulled the strings from a central attacking midfield role.
They made a promising start to the match, with more chances than Necaxa and eventually with a lead heading into the break. "I think we went into the game trying to give it everything, knowing that there are games that are being played afterwards. That was all we wanted, but we played a good first half," said NYCFC assistant coach Mehdi Ballouchy after the match. "The goal changes things around a bit and made it a bit more difficult as the game went on."
The goal from Valencia made it so that things ended with a dispiriting finish for New York City, and after a certain point, Pascal Jansen seemed to nod at the importance of preserving some of his players' legs for the fast-approaching Sunday night MLS match with Philadelphia Union at Yankee Stadium.
The subs started rolling into the match from the NYCFC side once Valencia's equalizer was given, an acknowledgment from Jansen that the required goals were likely not coming from his already-rotated squad.
Back to MLS, better than ever?
What did New York City FC gain from this year's Leagues Cup? They got valuable minutes for new or returning-from-injury players who need the minutes — Parks, Traoré, Luighi, Kevin O'Toole, to name a few.
Multiple players made their first-team debuts during the three games, most recently in this loss, El Hadji Samb, a 16-year-old signed to NYCFC II. Cooper Flax and João Loiola were other II team members to break through this tournament, and central defender Max Murray got his first substantial look as a first-team player, scoring his first goal with the club and generally looking solid while paired with James Sands at the back.
Losing to Cruz Azul on the second matchday made advancement a longshot, and the performance against Necaxa wasn't good or dominant enough to make things more interesting in the MLS table.
New York City hasn't yet found the right balance to succeed in this new version of Leagues Cup. Rotating players becomes a necessity given Phase One crams three matches into one week, and New York City also entered the tournament with a lengthy, 10-player-long injury list.
The first half hinted at a performance that could have produced the needed goals, but the level wasn't maintained, and Ballouchy and the NYCFC staff took some exception to the handling of the VAR-aided Valencia goal.
"I don't want to talk about the refs again, but we lost a bit of control, in terms of them kicking the same player over and over. The VAR stop was about four and a half [minutes], what was added was just five, and there were plenty of subs in the game. These things, yes, this is not the reason we lost the game, but it slips away when it's repetitive," Ballouchy said.
While failing to advance in Leagues Cup yet again is a disappointment, Ballouchy found positives for NYCFC to take into its end-of-season sprint towards the MLS Cup Playoffs.
"It's a knockout tournament, so the feeling of being in a knockout tournament, hopefully the playoffs that we get to at the end of the season, that's positive for everybody to be in and around," said Ballouchy. "It's a little different pressure in the game. I think the other positive is we have a lot of people back, in and around the team, so that should give us a big boost going into the rest of the season."
