NYCFC falls to St. Louis City FC in the Coachella Valley Invitational | OneFootball

On Wednesday, New York City FC played their third match in the Coachella Valley Invitational. The team faced St. Louis City FC, who they faced for the first time in the regular season last year. Sadly, the Pigeons lost that fixture, so one could assume there was a desire to get a win in the preseason.

Plus, the Boys in Blue wanted to continue their winning ways after the fantastic win over San Diego FC. However, their backs were against the wall in the preseason match since Pascal Jansen started mostly young players and non-starters.

A few of those players included Prince Amponsah, Drew Baira, Collin McCamy, Peter Molinari, and Max Murray. There were a few mainstay players like Tayvon Gray and Hannes Wolf, but otherwise, the Starting XI was full of youth, inexperience, and lack of playing time. The opposition had more regular starters in their lineup. In the end, NYCFC fell 3-1 despite some promising play.

One thing to note with the Starting XI is that Hannes Wolf was playing as the number ten role. With Santiago Rodríguez more than likely on his way out of NYCFC, the club will have to figure out who can play there when Maxi Moralez does not play.

NYCFC falls to St. Louis City FC 3-1

As such, it was not surprising to see St. Louis take the lead in the ninth minute. A good cross into the box found Marcel Hartel, who easily put the ball past Tomás Romero after Gray slipped. NYCFC was down early, but they never gave up.

Despite some shakiness, the Bronx side grew into the match while showing some strong defensive moments. Murray was especially impressive with his tackles and interceptions on the ball. He also looked comfortable in the backline, not willing to be influenced by St. Louis. Additionally, he was threatening in the attack. He had a chance from a corner kick when he headed the ball towards the goal in the 34th minute. Unfortunately, it went right to St. Louis' goalkeeper.

NYCFC was an offensive threat, with players from Mounsef Bakrar and Gray trying to score. Bakrar had a great opportunity around the 26th minute where he had nobody in front of him right at the goal. The striker should have scored, but instead he slashed the ball into the crossbar. That was the best chance of the first half.

At the start of the second half, Alonso Martínez was the only player to come on, leaving most of the same Starting XI in the match. St. Louis made nine changes, so NYCFC was, in a way, playing a new side. As a result, the opposing team started to get more into the game again, for it appeared the Pigeons were outplaying the opposing side at the end of the first 45 minutes.

Around the 61st minute, NYCFC was still down 1-0. Similar to other preseason matches, Jansen made some changes around this time. It was an even battle, but St. Louis managed to score again in the 67th minute. Simon Becher scored via a free header, and there was nothing Romero could do.

Interestingly enough, Justin Haak and Birk Risa were the center-backs when this goal was scored. They should have done better to mark the attacking players.

Still, NYCFC continued to attack. They were not deterred from being down 2-0. Martínez almost put the Pigeons on the scoresheet, but the goal was called offside after the fact. This was interesting since there is no VAR, but rather a conversation between the referees made the determination.

Instead, St. Louis scored their third soon after, for Becher's shot, which went off of Nicholas Cavallo, found the back of the net. Still, NYCFC did not back down and would not be held scoreless. Risa took a free kick in the 86th minute and scored an impressive goal.

The 3-1 result was not ideal, but there were some good things from the game. Some of the younger players, like Murray, played well. The young defenders gave some hope that the Pigeons will have stronger backup options in 2025. They also kept fighting, which is what fans want to see.