Every single Match Thread for New York City FC matches, like this one about NYCFC vs Columbus Crew, features a comprehensive preview, then updates added at the top of the post as things go. It's for subscribers only, so sign up now, preferably as a paid subscriber, to read it all.
Update 6:50 pm ET: FULL TIME: New York City FC 3-0 Columbus Crew
Holy Hannes Wolf: The Austrian's hat trick of goals carried New York City to a slump-snapping 3-0 win at Yankee Stadium on Mother's Day, a much-needed result after the club went seven league matches between wins.
You can see The Wolf of 161st Street's goals here, here, and here, and we'll have more post-match coverage to come.
Update 4:00 pm ET: The Starting XIs are out for each team, with Pascal Jansen bringing Hannes Wolf, Keaton Parks, and Tayvon Gray back into the fold as he compensates for having seven players unavailable for this game.
Columbus doesn’t have many or any surprises in their XI, with Diego Rossi still their main attacking threat and with midfielder André Gomes back in the lineup for the first time since April 18.
• Matchday 12: New York City FC vs Columbus Crew
• Date and Kickoff Time: Sunday, May 10, 4:40 pm ET
• Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
• Forecast: Overcast, dry, but bordering on warm, 70F/21C
• Watch: Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Neil Sika and Gio Savarese (English), Diego Pessolano and Daniel Chapela (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Rubiel Vazquez (referee), Nick Uranga and Jose Da Silva (assistant referees), Atahan Yaya (fourth official), Ismir Pekmic (VAR), Craig Lowry (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear the light-blue Excelsior Kit; Columbus will wear the black-with-hints-of-yellow Goosebumps Kit
A late-afternoon kickoff at Yankee Stadium on MLS Matchday 12 as Columbus Crew visit New York City FC, with the hosts looking to snap their seven-match winless streak in their final home match before the league pauses for the FIFA World Cup.
For a second straight match, New York City faces an Eastern Conference rival with an identical record, as Columbus also enters at 3W-3D-5L on the season, with NYCFC's slightly superior goal differential (a +1 to the Crew's break-even 0) enabling them to enter this match in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, just ahead of Columbus in 12th place.
New York City's squad is extremely banged up entering this match, with seven players ruled out on the injury report, including some new and significant additions that will severely limit Pascal Jansen's options while in search of that elusive MLS win.
Also, make sure to wish any moms in your life a Happy Mother's Day, the writing or reading of this post would be impossible without them.
Andrew Leigh
New York City FC vs Columbus Crew Head-to-Head
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 48 | 47 | 1 |
Eight of New York City FC's nine wins in this historic head-to-head have come at home, where they've compiled a 8W-2D-3L against Columbus since the 2015 season.
The Crew have two wins from their 10 previous trips to Yankee Stadium, with their last away win vs NYCFC coming in June 2024 in what was a controversial 3-2 victory featuring a match-winning penalty kick from Cucho Hernández that PRO Referees would later say should not have been given.
The most recent meeting at Yankee Stadium between these teams, on September 17, 2025, also ended 3-2, but this time it was New York City winning on a last-gasp Julián Fernández curler.
Historically these teams have been evenly matched, and their matches have included multiple goals, with only seven total clean sheets kept across the past 28 previous meetings and with those 28 matches averaging 3.39 combined goals per game.
New York Soccer Journal
New York City Scouting Report
• Player Availability: Alonso Martínez, Max Murray, Drew Baiera, Kevin O'Toole, Aiden O'Neill, Talles Magno, and Andrés Perea are all out for this game with what NYCFC officially says are "leg" injuries. Martínez and Baiera are recovering from ACL surgeries, O'Neill has an ankle problem, and Talles a calf problem, though the exact nature of the Murray, O'Toole, and Perea injuries are unknown as of this writing.
• Maxi Moralez has six MLS assists this season, tied for second in the league and only trailing Son Heung-min who has seven assists. Moralez has played the Crew 20 times in his career (most appearances in the H2H of any player) and has seven assists in those games, the most of any player to take part in an installment of this Eastern Conference fixture. Maxi also just got named US Open Cup Player of the Round after his hat trick of assists in the Round of 16.
• Keaton Parks or Jonny Shore seem like the next players up to fill in for the injured midfielders NYCFC will be missing in O'Neill and Perea. Parks recently said he's out of the Starting XI because he's not preferred over O'Neill or Kai Trewin, but injuries might dictate a change in perspective from Jansen.
• Who starts on the left of the attacking line? We've seen Malachi Jones, Arnau Farnós, and Hannes Wolf play over there in recent games while Wolf recovered from an injury, and Jansen seems to rate Malachi highly, based on comments he made following the loss to DC United.
• Just one clean sheet kept by New York City this season and that came in the 5-0 win over Orlando in the home opener on March 7. Since then, the defense in front of Matt Freese has looked shaky, and no Freese heroics have been able to keep every single shot out.
New York Soccer Journal
Columbus Crew Scouting Report
• Player Availability: Wessam Abou Ali (knee, ACL) and Jamal Thiare (lower leg) are out, while 2021 MLS Cup Champion Malte Amundsen is Questionable to play due to a thigh issue.
• In his third MLS season, the 20-year-old Taha Habroune has quickly grown into the physical backbone, or maybe enforcer, of Columbus, collecting a team-high 16 tackles won while also committing the most fouls, 15, of any Crew player.
• Max Arfsten is on three goals and four assists through 11 games for the Crew, with his assist total good enough for a spot inside the league-wide top 10, though behind Maxi Moralez and a few others. Arfsten also enters Yankee Stadium on a streak of four straight matches with a goal contribution.
• Columbus has yet to score a goal from a set piece this season. Is that good news New York City, a team that has conceded lots of goals from set pieces this season? Or are the Crew due for a breakthrough?
• Matthew Mangam spoke to Ty Fisher of Massive Report to learn more about the Crew as they get used to their new coach Henrik Rydström, and get used to life without their top goal-scoring option, striker Wessam Abou Ali.
Matthew Mangam
