NYCFC makes a winning start to the season's second half

New York City FC started the second half of the MLS season with a mostly comfortable win in Columbus, defeating the Crew 2-1 on goals from Nico Fernández Mercau and Agustín Ojeda.

Ojeda's goal put New York City up by two at the 70th minute, and Columbus only made it interesting late when Dániel Gazdag converted from the penalty spot in the 93rd minute after VAR intervened to suggest a handball given against Thiago Martins had occurred inside NYCFC's penalty area.

New York City started to build its two-goal lead early thanks to a combination between their two goal scorers, with Nico playing a pass behind the Crew's defense for Ojeda to run onto, but with Columbus and USMNT winger Max Arfsten, beaten by Ojeda, pulling the NYCFC forward to the ground for a clear penalty.

Fernández Mercau stepped up and converted the penalty in the 28th minute, giving him 11 goals on the season and giving NYCFC their first goal scored in Columbus in some time (August 31, 2024) following back-to-back Crew clean sheets in the club's most recent trips.

Columbus controlled more possession throughout this match but didn't have much of anything to offer in the final third, not while playing their first MLS match post-Diego Rossi sale, and while their new attacking reinforcements have yet to arrive.

The Crew only put three routine non-penalty shots on target for Matt Freese to deal with, which he did without incident in a match that saw Freese get booed by the Columbus fans with every touch he took, certainly due to his role in the United States' World Cup exit.

Nico keeps ticking in new role

Nico Fernández Mercau played as the de facto striker for the bulk of the first portion of the New York City FC season, but now with Bénie Traoré signed as the new top non-Alonso Martínez option at the 9, Fernández Mercau had a new role to play in Columbus.

The 26-year-old slid seamlessly into the central midfield spot usually occupied by the now-injured Maxi Moralez and had an influential night against the Crew, responsible for setting up the penalty opportunity that he'd cash in for his 11th goal, while also credited with playing two key passes, and with one free kick rattled off the crossbar while trying for a brace and to extend the NYCFC lead.

With Traoré out there, then with Talles Magno on from the 55th minute, Nico never had to deputize in at center-forward as he did for much of this season, and could put in two-way work in the midfield as the player who had freedom to roam all over and connect passes and attempt to push the ball upfield when NYCFC was in possession.

Ojeda's influence was large on this game, too, since he drew the penalty and scored the second goal, but his goal came from a brilliant piece of pressing and skill from Talles Magno.

Crew defender Rudy Camacho tried to shield the ball from Talles in the corner deep in the Columbus end of the field, but Camacho had his pocket picked and Talles perfectly picked out Ojeda in front of goal, who coolly shot past Patrick Schulte to make it what looked like a comfortable lead late in the match.

Agustín Ojeda makes it 2-0 in favor of @newyorkcityfc! pic.twitter.com/EwIZLncxGh

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 23, 2026

Talles has made lots of appearances as a substitute this season and hasn't always had this level of influence, but he helped make the difference in Columbus.

Fernández Mercau has been the most consistently influential attacker on the team all season long, and while transfer rumors may follow his name at the moment, he showed no signs of his performance being influenced for the worse by a switch of positions or by any external chatter.

Sands, Thiago, Freese

The penalty handball decision that went against Thiago Martins late in the second half spoiled what looked poised to be a clean sheet for the first run-out of NYCFC's new central defense, featuring the returned James Sands at left-center-back next to Thiago Martins.

Sands and Thiago dealt with all the danger that came their way until the penalty, with Sands in particular stepping in to make tackles and clearances and generally playing like he wasn't just back from another long injury rehab.

Given the injuries to Raul Gustavo and Kai Trewin, Sands is going to be more needed than ever at center-back. The depth is still present in the NYCFC midfield without Sands, and that's thanks to the presences of Andrés Perea and Jonny Shore, who started and were serviceable in their double-pivot.

It was all relatively smooth going in the middle of the field for NYCFC, since there was also scrutiny on Matt Freese, since this was his first game after the mistake on the third goal the USMNT conceded against Belgium in the World Cup's Round of 16. Freese's counterpart and USMNT competitor, Patrick Schulte, actually had a more active night, forced to make a double-save on Perea following an earlier save on Ojeda to keep it a one-goal deficit for the Crew in the 65th minute.

NYCFC was missing lots of their regular starters through longer-term injuries, and had question marks around the lineup and its ability to get results coming out of the long World Cup break, but the qualities of a (familiar) new addition like Sands and another great performance from a versatile player like Fernández Mercau were enough to get a helpful away win against an Eastern Conference foe.