• Matchday 3: New York City FC vs Orlando City SC
• Date and Time: Saturday, March 7, 2:30 pm ET
• Venue: Yankee Soccer Stadium, The Bronx, NY
• Forecast: Overcast, cool, 48F/9C
• Watch: Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Jessica Charman and Ian Joy (English) , Sergio Ruiz and Walter Roque (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Guido Gonzales, Jr. (referee), Gerard-Kader Lebuis and Ben Pilgrim (assistant referees), Ricardo Montero Araya (4th official), Geoff Gamble and Tom Supple (VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear the sky-blue Excelsior Kit; Orlando will wear the newly-introduced yellow and purple Sunken Treasure Kit
The 4 Train is partially suspended, and not running between 125th St station in Manhattan and 149th St-Grand Concourse station in the Bronx.
Consider taking the D Train, or Metro-North to Yankees–East 153rd Street (Metro-North will cross-honor subway fares from Manhattan)
New York City FC are back home in The Bronx to host Orlando City after a successful two-game road trip to open the 2026 season, drawing at LA Galaxy and winning at Philadelphia Union. To put that in context, home teams had an eye-popping record of 21W-5D-4L in the first two weeks of the Major League Soccer season: NYCFC were one of just four teams to win on the road (Inter Miami, LAFC, and Red Bull New York were the others) out of 30 games.
Later today, NYCFC will play in front of their fans in a fixture that they dominate: New York City are 8W-2D-1L in home openers, with 24 goals scored and just seven allowed.
If New York City are to add another to the win column, they'll need to continue to figure out how to score without a No 9 making runs in the center. It worked on Sunday, when Agustín Ojeda's strong performance on the left wing led to both of the team's goals.
They'll face a shaky Orlando defense that gave up six goals in two games. While the overall vibes are not strong in Orlando, the attack still has some bite: They have three goals in those games, the same total as NYCFC.
Guido Gonzales, Jr. will be the referee today. In the four New York City matches he officiated last year, NYCFC's record was 3W-0D-1L. Gonzales Jr. oversaw the 1-0 win over Philadelphia at Citi Field on Matchday 8, the 2-0 loss to Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium on Matchday 21, the 3-2 win over Red Bull New York at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Matchday 32, and the 1-0 win over Philadelphia at Subaru Park in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Gonzales Jr. is exceptionally consistent with the whistle, calling exactly nine fouls on NYCFC in each of those four games, for a total of 36; he called a combined 48 on their opponents. He handed out 18 yellow cards in those games, nine to New York City and nine to the opposition.
New York City will wear the sky-blue Excelsior Kit for the second time this season, and the 34th time in league play. The team's overall record in the kit is 18W-4D-12L, for a win percentage of 52.9%. And today will feature the public introduction of Sky, the plush pigeon and Bronx native that's the team's new mascot.
For those of you not in attendance at Yankee Stadium, fan favorite Ian Joy will be in the Apple TV broadcast booth. It's his first time calling a New York City game for Apple and his first time calling NYCFC action since the final 2022 regular-season game in Atlanta.
Andrew Leigh
John Baney
New York City vs Orlando H2H
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 49 | 33 | 16 |
New York City have a decisive advantage in the head-to-head between the two clubs, with a record of 11W-10D-7L — those 10 draws are the most with any club. NYCFC's 49 goals against Orlando is the joint-most against (equal to Toronto FC), and the +16 goal differential is the joint second-most, behind only CF Montréal (+19), and equal to Chicago Fire and DC United.
