New York City FC underwhelm, lose to Charlotte in Queens

New York City FC returned to the Big Apple on Saturday but dropped points in their third straight home match, losing 2-1 vs Charlotte FC at Citi Field.

Riding high off an emphatic 5-2 win over USL League One side Westchester SC last Tuesday in the US Open Cup, the Pigeons returned to Queens looking to use that momentum to earn their first regular-season victory since mid-March.

Instead, despite dominating the ball and creating the lion's share of chances, New York City failed to win for a fourth straight MLS match, now 0W-1D-3L since beating Colorado Rapids 3-1 on Matchday 4 at Yankee Stadium.

While the New York City defense, per Sofascore, held Charlotte to just 1.04 expected goals (xG) on the night, the offense misfired woefully, with the lack of a clinical edge forcing the Pigeons to walk away from this contest empty-handed despite their own superior 1.76 xG.

Old habits return

New York City should've come away from this game with more to show for their efforts than zero points and another L in the loss column, and the Pigeons would be rightly kicking themselves for it. Outshooting Charlotte 22-7 on the night, New York City couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from inside 12 yards, let alone seriously trouble Charlotte's Kristijan Kahlina between the sticks.

The Pigeons forced seven saves out of the Croatian, including some miraculous, cat-like reflexes from close range, but that doesn't paint the whole picture of New York City's shooting woes. Of their 22 shots, just seven hit the target, with a further seven blocked before testing Kahlina. By contrast, it took Charlotte 54 minutes to record their first shot of the match, Idan Toklomati's close-range finish to break the deadlock. By the time the final whistle blew, The Crown had fashioned just seven shots.

The difference here was that Charlotte, for its part, boasted a clinical edge that New York City seemingly left in the locker room. Despite mustering just 1.04 xG, Dean Smith's side put 70% of their shots on target, testing Matt Freese's goal with a precision not shared by the hosts.

Nico Fernández Mercau, who grabbed his sixth goal of the season with a wonderful first-time strike in second-half stoppage time, was a non-factor for most of the night, as were Hannes Wolf and Agustín Ojeda. The trio created four chances between them, and only hit the target with shots a combined five times on the night.

Maxi Moralez was the most potent creator on the pitch for the Pigeons, with the 39-year-old creating six chances for his teammates, but he too failed to leave a discernible mark on this contest.

This isn't new for New York City. In fact, this is an issue that dates back to the Nick Cushing years. The Pigeons boast some of the league's most potent goal threats yet continuously find themselves enduring goal-scoring skids season after season. The defense, as it did on Saturday night, continues to look as solid as ever, keeping the Pigeons in games.

With how competitive and tight the standings are in the Eastern Conference this year, the lack of clinical finishing on display from New York City is troubling.

The fall back to Earth continues

New York City opened 2026 with a point to prove. Eastern Conference Finalists in 2025, the Pigeons came into this season looking to prove that last season wasn't just a flukey fairytale playoff run, but another step in the rapid development the club has undergone since Pascal Jansen took over as head coach.

The club backed this up by going unbeaten through their first four games, leading the Eastern Conference midway through March.

Since then, New York City has crashed back down to Earth, hard, dropping points in each of the last four league games — losing three. Losses to Inter Miami CF and away at Vancouver Whitecaps FC aren't as deflating as one might think, considering the former are the reigning MLS Cup Champions, while the latter look capable of a repeat as Western Conference Champions in 2026. Dropping all three points at home against Charlotte in the manner which the Pigeons did is a different story.

Per Fotmob, the first half saw Charlotte held to 0.00 xG after failing to record a single shot. New York City dominated with 64% of the ball while peppering 10 shots towards Kahlina in goal, forcing three saves. The second half saw a further 13 shots fired off, forcing another four saves out of Kahlina, and still, New York City couldn't find the back of the net until it was too late and they trailed by two goals.

Kerwin Vargas put the game away for Charlotte with a curled effort from just inside the box on the stroke of the 90th minute, kissing the side netting after a touch from the outstretched glove of Freese. It was a lovely finish, and represented everything that New York City struggled to replicate in their half on the night.

The perfectly-weighted pass from Wilfried Zaha to play in Pep Biel, the awareness from Biel to find Vargas alone at the edge of the box, and the poise from Vargas to take a touch, set himself, and place his effort into the top-left corner — what came across as effortless for The Crown proved frustrating for both the players and fans of New York City alike.

This was a match where New York City could have played Charlotte off the pitch, if they brought their shooting boots, yet the Pigeons seemingly left them in Mount Vernon.

More needed from key players

Nico Fernández Mercau can't do it all himself. With six goals in his first eight games to start the year, the Argentine is proving his worth as the club's latest DP attacker and has set a new personal career-high for goals scored in a season, but he's not a miracle worker.

Like Alonso Martínez in 2025, Nico needs more support around him if the Pigeons are to build off their success from last season. That rests on the shoulders of the forwards. The defense continues to do their jobs week after week. Thiago Martins returned to the Starting XI and looked fit in central defense alongside Raul Gustavo. Though the latter had a couple blunders of his own on Saturday, Jansen's Brazilian duo gave Charlotte enough problems to where NYCFC could have walked away with at least one point.

Alas, to collect points in MLS, you need to score goals, and New York City is noticing the tap beginning to dry up. These are the games where players like Wolf and Ojeda need to step up and find the back of the net. Both wingers have combined for six goal contributions in the league so far this year. A respectable tally, sure, but it could very well be eight, ten or even twelve, and each missed good chances against Charlotte, with Ojeda putting an open header off the post in the first half.

Without Alonso until the end of the summer, Nico will continue to carry the brunt of the goalscoring burden, and there's no guarantee the Argentine can keep up his current pace until then. And if he goes cold, who will step up and score? That's the question plaguing this New York City squad.

During his post-game press conference after the match, Jansen said that he and his staff will be "doing their homework for the summer," insinuating that the club could return to the market for another impact forward to compliment the likes of Nico, Maxi and Alonso.

This squad is crying out for another goal-scoring forward, but until the summer window opens in June, New York City will continue to grind through the calendar with what they already have.

The pieces are there. Wolf had 17 goal contributions in 2025. Ojeda has three goals and assists just last week vs Westchester. Maxi has five assists this season already. But more is required if New York City wants to repeat as Eastern Conference Finalists and take that next step towards winning a second MLS Cup. And whether that more is found on the training pitch or the transfer market is up for the club to decide.