Matchday 4: New York City vs Colorado at Yankee Stadium

It’s Matchday 4, and New York City FC are back at Yankee Stadium to host Colorado Rapids on a bracingly cold day in The Bronx. It’s a battle between two in-form teams early in this season, with both New York City and Colorado riding two-game winning streaks going into tonight.

NYCFC are looking to build on the 5-0 demolition of Orlando City at Yankee Stadium last Saturday, when the home team capitalized on an early red card and turned the game into a turkey shoot. The question dogging New York City going into this season – where will the goals come from without a No 9? – has been addressed for now, with six players combining for eight goals in three games. By comparison, NYCFC didn’t reach eight goals in 2025 until Matchday 6 — with three of those coming from Alonso Martínez and another three from Hannes Wolf.

But can NYCFC get a result when facing 11 players? Every team that New York City faced so far this season were reduced to 10 players by a red card. Then again, the same can be asked of Colorado: Both of their wins came when the opposition went down to 10 players.

Pascal Jansen will be looking for his 20th league win as NYCFC head coach. Tonight will be his 37th game in charge, and he could reach that milestone faster than any coach in club history: It took Ronny Deila 38 games to reach 20 wins, Domé Torrent 40 games, Patrick Vieira 43 games, and Nick Cushing 64 games. (Note that Mehdi Ballouchy was in charge of one of NYCFC’s games last year.)

Jansen leads all head coaches with a win rate 52.8% in league games, and in points per game with 1.75 PPG, just ahead of Domé Torrent’s 1.74 PPG over 53 games in 2018 and 2019.

New York City FC | MLS record by head coach

This will be the first MLS game refereed by Brandon Stevis. A regular in the National Women’s Soccer League and the US Open Cup, Stevis called a second-division USL Championship game last week, and oversaw the USL League One Final last November.

But there will be a familiar face in the Apple TV broadcast booth, as Ian Joy will provide analysis for the second straight week at Yankee Stadium. His return for the Orlando blowout last Saturday was Joy’s first New York City game since 2022, when MLS signed a long-term broadcast deal with Apple TV.

New York City vs Colorado H2H

New York City and Colorado have faced each other just seven times in 11 years. NYCFC not only boss the head-to-head with a record of 3W-3D-1L, they dominate hosting responsibilities, with four of those games played in New York City — tonight will make it five.

Colorado’s sole win came in the last meeting between these two teams, in May of 2024, when they faced each other in Matchday 11. It was a classic trap game: A New York City coming off three consecutive home wins fell 2-0 at Citi Field behind an early goal from Rafael Navarro and a late goal from Cole Bassett. NYCFC dominated possession and finished with the higher xG, but Colorado went home with three points.

New York City’s last win over Colorado came in July of 2019, when Héber and Alexandru Mitriță scored to give the team a 2-1 win over a Rapids reduced to 10 players.

NYCFC’s remaining two wins were by substantially larger margins. There was the 4-0 drubbing in May of 2018 at Yankee Stadium, which saw a brace from David Villa and goals from Maxi Moralez and Ronald Matarrita. And the 5-1 win in July of 2016, which featured Tim Howard in net for the Rapids, Frank Lampard scoring the first hat trick in NYCFC history, and a 37th-minute red card for Colorado’s Micheal Azira.

New York City Scouting Report

• Player Availability: Andrés Perea (leg), Alonso Martínez (knee), and Malachi Jones (leg) are all still out.
• The biggest selection conundrum in front of Jansen might be: Who starts and who sits between Kai Trewin and Raul Gustavo? Trewin was paired with Thiago Martins at center-back in the win over Orlando, but Raul started in that spot on Matchdays 1 and 2 before only coming on as a second-half substitute during the home opener.
• Will Agustín Ojeda continue his hot start to the season? In the Orlando win, Ojeda scored his first regular-season MLS goal since June 28, 2024, meaning he’d made 44 league appearances between scoring. He had seven assists in MLS play in the time between goals, but an attack still minus a clear No 9 could always use an Ojeda scoring outburst.
• Keaton Parks scored a first-career brace while making his second straight start in the midfield against Orlando, and for two games in a row, Parks partnered with Aiden O’Neill centrally. O’Neill said prior to the Colorado match that Keaton’s forays forward “Make my role in front there a little bit more critical, shutting down their opportunities to break on us, making sure that that doesn’t happen.” O’Neill recorded 2.7 tackles per match while completing 90% of his passes so far this season, per Sofascore, so expect him to once again fill the disruptor and distributor role from deep, if paired with Parks in the middle.
• Parks has two goal contributions, and so, too, does fullback Tayvon Gray, after he got the helper on Keaton’s first goal against Orlando. Gray might seem like an unlikely source of goals and assists after having zeros in both columns last season, but our executive editor, Andrew Leigh, wrote about how Gray has evolved as an attacking contributor, starting late last season and continuing into the early days of 2026.

Tayvon Gray’s evolution into an attacking threat

The New York City FC right-back was one of the best defenders in MLS last year. With two goal involvements just three games into the season, could Gray progress into a league-leading two-way threat in 2026?

Hudson River BlueAndrew Leigh

Colorado Scouting Report

• Player Availability: Goalkeeper Zack Steffen (shoulder), midfielder Connor Ronan (leg), and defender Reggie Cannon (ankle) are out.
• Colorado has the second-youngest coach in MLS, 37-year-old Matt Wells, and they’ve fielded the second-youngest roster in the league so far this season, with their average age of 24.1 trailing only teenager-laden Red Bull New York’s 23.9 average through three matches.
• The youngest Rapids player used this season is 18-year-old center-back Lucas Herrington, who has played every available minute while paired in central defense with ex-Arsenal FC man Rob Holding. Herrington scored his first MLS goal when Colorado beat Portland on Matchday 2, and if he starts as expected, that could make it a trio of Aussies on the Yankee Soccer Stadium pitch, if Australian countrymen Aiden O’Neill and Kai Trewin are out there for NYCFC.
• Colorado usually relies on former Columbus Crew and Manchester City FC goalkeeper Zack Steffen to tend their twine, but Steffen has been sidelined by injury to start this season. Nicholas Hansen was in the net for last week’s 4-1 win over the Galaxy, and made five saves against a team reduced to 10 players.
• Earlier this week, the Rapids had to recall 19-year-old Homegrown keeper Adam Beaudry from his loan to Loudoun United FC in USL Championship, hinting that Steffen will remain sidelined for the trip to Yankee Stadium.
• For even more intel on the current state of the Rapids as they rebuild around a young coach and high-priced signing Paxten Aaronson, read the latest Oppo Research, in which our senior writer Matthew Mangam catches up with Matt Pollard of Burgundy Wave to learn more about Matt Wells, defensive midfielder Hamzat Ojediran, and the other X-Factors in this cross-conference clash.

Oppo Research: 5 Things about Colorado Rapids

A rebuilt Colorado Rapids are riding a two-game winning streak under new Head Coach Matt Wells after shutting out Portland Timbers at home at putting four past LA Galaxy. But can they do it on a cold Saturday night in The Bronx?

Hudson River BlueMatthew Mangam

Update 7:45 pm ET: The Starting XIs, dropped here just as the match gets underway in the Bronx.

New York City is rolling with an unchanged XI from their dominant 5-0 win against Orlando.

Colorado makes more changes, with Alexis Manyoma getting his first start, and with Wayne Frederick playing in place of Josh Atencio.

Update 10:20 pm ET: FT New York City FC 3-1 Colorado Rapids

That’s three straight victories for New York City as they continue to enjoy one of their best-ever starts to a season in Major League Soccer. Nico Fernández Mercau scored twice before halftime, in what was a bit of a nightmare for backup Rapids goalkeeper Nicholas Hansen.

Then Talles Magno put the cherry on top late in the second half, scoring a goal on the hallowed Yankee Soccer Stadium pitch for the first time since March 18, 2023 against DC United, and scoring for NYCFC for the first time since July 17, 2024, when he helped the team salvage a 2-2 draw in Atlanta.

With the match over, read Matthew Mangam’s instant reaction to the result with thoughts on Nico, Talles, and the brief switch-off that let the Rapids briefly get back into the game before halftime. After that, rate all the NYCFC players from the win.

New York City 3-1 Colorado: 4 Thoughts

A brace for Nico Fernández Mercau and a welcome back goal from Talles Magno earned NYCFC a third straight win, as they beat the Rapids 3-1 in The Bronx.

Hudson River BlueMatthew Mangam

New York City 3-1 Colorado: Rate the players

New York City FC beat the Rapids to make it three straight wins, extending their unbeaten start to the 2026 season. Now you get to rate all the players, Pascal Jansen, and the first-timer ref.

Hudson River BlueHudson River Blue Staff