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Match Report — New York City FC

NYCFC dealt a crushing defeat as New England grabs a stoppage-time winner

Another costly setback at home for NYCFC as they're now winless in eight straight matches after New England's Dániel Gazdag scored a winner in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.

,   and  Andrew Leigh
6 min read
Andrés Perea started on the left-wing in this one. Photo: newyorkcityfc.com

A return to Queens wasn't enough to get New York City FC out of its funk, as the New England Revolution grabbed a late 2-1 win at Citi Field when Dániel Gazdag scored in the third minute of second-half stoppage time to claim all three points for the visitors.

New York City went down early, with the Revs awarded a penalty kick after Aiden O'Neill was judged to have handled the ball in the box in the 10th minute. Carles Gil converted from the spot, something he couldn't do a few weeks back at Gillette Stadium when these teams played to a draw, and NYCFC was up against it from the 12th minute on.

A comeback appeared to materialize once acting head coach Mehdi Ballouchy sent Luighi on as a second-half substitute, as the Brazilian striker equalized with a first-time finish in the 71st minute. Instead of that setting NYCFC up for another draw or a dramatic late win, it was New England who found a last-gasp winner once a true New York City FC killer, Gazdag, got involved.

Gazdag looked to have lucked into a go-ahead goal when Thiago Martins and Matt Freese had a miscommunication and Thiago redirected a ball straight into Gazdag's path for him to tap into the net, but VAR stepped in and sent referee Allen Chapman to the monitor, with the goal disallowed when Gazdag was ruled to be offside.

That was only a temporary reprieve for NYCFC, as Gazdag was left unmarked in space inside NYCFC's box and picked out with a lofted cross from Ilay Feingold. This time, there were no questions asked as Gazdag finished past Freese in the 90'+3' to give New England a rare road win while playing at New York City FC, with Gazdag scoring his seventh career goal against NYCFC in 14 combined games played for three different MLS teams.

The result was a gut-punch of all gut-punches for NYCFC and deepens the club's misery, adding on to the ongoing winless streak and sending the team perilously close to falling out of the MLS Eastern Conference playoff field. They have virtually no time to linger on the loss, because in two days, NYCFC will be playing at Real Salt Lake while trying to snap what's now an eight-match winless streak in all competitions, and seven matches winless just in the MLS regular season.

GAME STATS

New York City FC: 1.18 xG, 18 shots, 6 shots on target, 65% possession, 611 passes, 87% pass accuracy, 5 fouls, 12 corners, 4 saves

New England: 2.36 xG, 11 shots, 6 shots on target, 35% possession, 317 passes, 79% pass accuracy, 10 fouls, 4 corners, 6 saves

Goals:
• New England, Carles Gil (PK), 12'
New York City, Luighi, 71'
New England, Dániel Gazdag, 90'+3'

Handball hands hosts early setback

New York City put itself in jeopardy early thanks to a weird moment off what seemed like an innocuous clearance of a corner kick by Aiden O'Neill. O'Neill to the naked eye looked to have headed a cross away and out of danger, but the naked eye wasn't as close to the play as the officials. Instead, referee Allen Chapman whistled O'Neill for a handball in the box and awarded New England a penalty, as O'Neill was ruled to have his arm contact the ball, not just his head.

Matt Freese couldn't recreate the magic of his penalty save on Carles Gil at Gillette Stadium. This time, Gil sent the New York City keeper the wrong direction and coolly buried his spot kick, a league-leading sixth PK converted by New England's talisman.

New York City had all the possession and tilted the field towards Matt Turner and New England's goal after falling behind, but their chances to equalize before the break weren't gilt-edged. Bénie Traoré had a pocket of space but blasted a shot well over and wide of goal shortly before halftime.

New England only attempted one shot in the entire first half and it was the penalty Gil converted. Sometimes, less is more, and in the opening 45 minutes, while NYCFC tried eight shots to trouble Matt Turner, only a tame Traoré effort in the 15th minute was actually put on target. The Revs ceded possession and didn't create anything in the 30 minutes after they took their lead, but that was still enough to send them into halftime with a lead.

Lifeline from Luighi, but for naught

New York City started brightly after halftime, with Mitja Ilenič and Agustín Ojeda each forcing Matt Turner to get down quickly to make saves on dangerous low strikes attempted in search of an equalizer very early into the second half.

The pendulum swung back in the Revs' direction after those chances for NYCFC, though, as Raul Gustavo had to slide in to put a dangerous low cross from New England speedster Peyton Miller out for a corner. The cross looked destined to become a tap-in for Dor Turgeman, but Raul Gustavo ensured that wasn't the case, a crucial defensive intervention to keep it to a one-goal deficit in the 55th minute.

Freese would be forced to make a diving save a few minutes later, sprawling across his goal to block a headed shot by Jackson Yueill in the 59th minute. New England kept knocking, but the next big moment of the match would be coming from a New York City substitute.

Luighi took over the role of No 9 at the front of the NYCFC attack after substituting on for Ojeda in the 63rd minute, and he made a quick impact. In the 71st minute, Nico Fernández Mercau outmuscled his man, New England's Brooklyn Raines, while in pursuit of a pass rolled into a dangerous area in the 18-yard box by a returned-from-injury Hannes Wolf. Nico then centered across the face of goal, with his cross eluding two nearby Revs defenders and getting redirected home by Luighi to draw the teams level.

The drama didn't end with the Luighi equalizer, though. New England appeared to get gifted a go-ahead goal, because Thiago Martins and Matt Freese had a disastrous moment of miscommunication that saw Thiago intervene on a ball that seemed destined to settle into Freese's arms, with NYCFC's captain instead deflecting the ball into the path of new New England addition Dániel Gazdag, who scored to make it a 2-1 Revs lead. That lead was fleeting, because VAR sent Allen Chapman to the monitor, and the goal was chalked off when Gazdag was ruled to have been in an offside position.

It seemed like NYCFC would be able to ride its luck for a second straight match, after Nashville's Hany Mukhtar similarly failed to capitalize on a screw-up at the back by NYCFC in the previous 0-0 draw at Yankee Stadium.

Instead, Gazdag had the last laugh and got a super-late winner for New England. The Hungarian attacker was left unmarked and drifted into a pocket of space in front of Freese's goal, then slotted a shot perfectly into the corner past Freese at 90'+3' to give New England all three points, and their first away win over NYCFC since back in 2021 in a match played at Red Bull Arena.

Gazdag was denied a winner once but wouldn't be a second time, and NYCFC instead suffered arguably its worst loss of the 2026 season (so far), surpassing another recent stoppage-time defeat, when they lost 2-1 to FC Cincinnati on the road.

This one rates as worse because it came at Citi Field, where NYCFC remains winless this season in four trips. Home field once again did not provide an advantage for NYCFC, as the club now only has collected 16 points from 13 home matches and is winless across its last four home games in MLS play.

The bad results are piling up and now the playoffs look far from a certainty. Results elsewhere in the Eastern Conference leave NYCFC way down in ninth place, the final spot that qualifies for the MLS Cup Playoffs, though that would have NYCFC currently playing on the road in the win-or-go-home Wild Card match. With only four home matches left out of the 10 still to play during the regular season, New York City is spiraling at a most inopportune time.

Highlights: New York City FC vs New England Revolution

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