Pascal Jansen faces some blame after NYCFC falls to Club Puebla in the Leagues Cup | OneFootball

After a four-game road trip in Major League Soccer, New York City FC began the team’s 2025 Leagues Cup journey against Club Puebla.  While considered a home game, the Pigeons were at Sports Illustrated Stadium, formerly known as Red Bull Arena, and many fans tend to choose not to attend these games.  Regardless, the home side played like they were on the road, for they lost 3-0.

Since this was considered the least difficult game on paper, some of the changes to the roster were slightly shocking since NYCFC needed to win.  It made sense to rest Maxi Moralez and start Nicolás Fernández Mercau.  However, not starting Alonso Martínez after his hat-trick heroics in the win against FC Dallas was counter-productive.

While Seymour Reid has the talent, he was out of his lane in this fixture.  Rather, the entire attack in the first half was fruitless.  It is mind-boggling how Pascal Jansen did not start his best attackers or best players in a must-win game. His decisions made this a disaster.

Listen, it was known that moving beyond Phase One would be difficult entering the Leagues Cup.  NYCFC has had the ups and downs so far this season.  So, why would a team not try to take advantage of a match that they should win?  Instead, starting some players who have not had too much playing time with the first team hurt the Boys in Blue.

NYCFC opens Leagues Cup with a loss

The game did not start well for NYCFC.  Despite being the stronger side, for Puebla only won their first league game since February in their last match, the Pigeons gave up the first goal in the second minute.  Juan Fedorco scored via a corner kick.  The ball first fell to the player to watch, Ricardo Marín, and the forward passed the ball to Fedorco, who swept the ball past Matt Freese.

From then on, it was all Puebla for most of the first half.  The Boys in Blue struggled to do anything offensively, and there were too many poor passes.  It took 24 minutes for the team to have their first shot, which was way off target, from Julián Fernández.

Meanwhile, Nico Cavallo, who was eaten alive during his time on the pitch, was responsible for Puebla’s second goal.  The left-back gave the ball away after attempting to clear, and this allowed the Liga MX side to go on the attack.  He then subsequently failed to defend and intervene, allowing Alejandro Organista to make his run and put the ball into the box.  With one powerful strike, Emiliano Gómez ran to the ball and easily slotted it home in the 38th minute.

Truthfully, the defensive issues seen in the crazy Dallas game were out in full force and arguably even worse.  The backline was messy, and everyone was making mistakes.  Funny enough, Jonathan Shore was the best defensive player, and he was in the midfield.  He was also decent offensively and had one of the best chances in the game with his 72nd-minute shot.

Things turned around a little for NYCFC when Jansen made his substitutions at halftime.  Cavallo and Fernández Mercau came out, with the new midfielder only expected to play one half, and Kevin O’Toole and Andrés Perea came on.  Perea made an immediate impact, creating more cohesiveness in the midfield and helping create attacking opportunities.

But afterward, he did not play Moralez, which is okay based on how many minutes he has played this year.  He did not play Hannes Wolf.  Martínez did not come on until the 65th minute.  These decisions were costly, for NYCFC lost to a struggling team.

Martínez obviously made a difference in the attack, for the Boys in Blue became more threatening when he came on.  Like Shore, he had a brilliant chance in the 72nd minute, but that was sadly saved.

Alas, NYCFC could not score, and eventually Puebla added on another after a team goal saw Owen González put the ball into the back of the net in the 88th minute.

It is understandable that Jansen wanted to play some of his younger players and those who do not always play.  But it must be stressed that this Leagues Cup is different.  Only the top four teams from each league will move on, which means losing once, especially in the game they should have won on paper, basically eliminates the Pigeons from moving on.

Yes, the defense has been shaky without Thiago Martins.  One would think they would be better.  But this loss has to be blamed on the head coach.  His decisions with the Starting XI and some of his subs ultimately put his team in a bad position.  This is not one of those matches where the lack of consistency receives the entire blame.

More was expected from NYCFC.  Instead, they started the Leagues Cup with a loss and basically guaranteed that three games will be the maximum they play this year.