Late comeback earns New York City FC dramatic road win in Orlando

After 85 minutes, it looked as if New York City FC's away skid was going to continue to another matchday, before a bizarre own goal and late heroics from Alonso Martínez stole all three points in the Sunshine State, with NYCFC defeating Orlando City SC 2-1 in front of 18,521 fans at Inter&Co Stadium.

With a weather delay pushing back kickoff by 45 minutes, both sides were thrown out of their rhythm before the match even began. The hosts clicked into gear early on, while New York City were slow to get things going. Orlando dominated the first half, taking the lead after 36 minutes through an impressive strike from captain Robin Jansson.

A number of missed chances from Orlando kept NYCFC in this contest. As the minutes ticked on, the belief in the New York City camp began to grow, culminating in a quick turnaround in the final five minutes to steal a second road win of the season.

Orlando dominates early

To the surprise of a few who've been following New York City FC home and away this season, Pascal Jansen's side came out of the locker room cold to start the match Wednesday night. Orlando dominated the game in nearly every facet of play, yet only entered halftime with a 1-0 lead.

By the halftime interval, Orlando City outshot New York City 15 to 3, with five of those 15 shots hitting the target, compared to none from the visiting Pigeons. The hosts sustained pressure in the New York City defensive third for the majority of the half as well, forcing eight corners for the visitors to defend.

The breakthrough for the hosts came in the 36th minute, with the sustained pressure from set pieces finally paying dividends.

Orlando's Martín Ojeda swings in a great ball towards the middle of the box that's met by the head of Slovenian defender David Brekalo. The defender heads the ball back towards the face of goal, with Jansson waiting to receive. At this point, the Swedish center-back still has plenty of work to do, controlling the ball with his chest, before turning and firing past Matt Freese from close range.

It was the Orlando City captain's first goal of the season, and his first since the early stages of the 2024 MLS season. Questions can be asked of Aiden O'Neill's defending on this play, but that shouldn't take away from the sheer brilliance and skill required to execute a strike like that.

It was a strike any striker would be proud of, and it was enough to give Orlando City some breathing room heading into halftime, in search of a sixth home win of the season.

Leaving it late

Despite playing on the back foot for the majority of the match and trailing for nearly 60 minutes, New York City FC fashioned a late turnaround after fighting back into contention, snapping the club's five-match winless streak on the road.

Orlando City's lack of a clinical touch in front of goal kept New York City in the match in the second half, and an Orlando mix-up defending a corner gave the Pigeons new life late on.

In the 87th minute, an excellent corner from Hannes Wolf is rewarded with a header of equal measure from Andrés Perea. Orlando's Pedro Gallese did well to palm it away off the post, before the rebound fell to the feet of his teammate, Rodrigo Schlegel. In a desperate attempt to clear his lines, Schlegel lashes out to send the ball anywhere away from goal, but ends up firing his clearance straight into fullback Kyle Smith, before careening into the back of the net.

New York City 2-1 Orlando: 4 Thoughts

New York City FC earned its most dramatic win of the 2025 season to date by surviving a tough first half and getting two late clutch goals to get a second road win of the season.

Hudson River BlueAndrew Leigh

It certainly wasn't pretty, but somehow, New York City found itself level, on the road, with just three minutes left in regulation. Orlando, desperate the claw back it's lead that was so carelessly lost just moments prior, continued to pile pressure forward. This pressure allowed NYCFC one final opportunity on the counter, one which El Clínico was certain to make count.

Julián Fernández, a player who himself has longed for a goal contribution as of late, picks up the ball in space. The Argentine remains composed and picks his pass well, feeding Martínez through on goal. A desperate attempted tackle from Dagur Thorhallsson failed to connect with the Costa Rican, who sprinted through on goal before slotting past Gallese while one-on-one.

It was Martínez's first goal for New York City since he bagged a late penalty in the 3-1 win at Yankee Stadium over the Chicago Fire FC on May 25. Though he managed three goals for Costa Rica at the Concacaf Gold Cup, Martínez had looked slightly off the mark in the two appearances following his return from international duty.

This goal, however, makes Martínez just the third player in New York City history to score 25 goals in a two-season span, joining Taty Castellanos and David Villa.

Jansen and his staff will hope this strike, Martínez's ninth of the season, will propel the Costa Rican back into form as the club's grueling summer stretch continues.

Questions still loom over road form

Though the monkey is off their backs and New York City finally grabbed that elusive second away win of 2025, the Pigeons looked far from convincing on the night.

Overall, Orlando City outshot New York City FC 26 to 11, and the Lions put seven shots on target to the Pigeon's four. They only lead by one goal due to their forward line squandering chance after chance in front of Freese's goal. Though much can be said of the resiliency displayed by New York City on Wednesday night, refusing to back down and controlling possession during the second half, Orlando will feel they should have scored more.

The underlying metrics back this up, with Orlando finishing the match with 2.63 expected goals (xG) compared to just 1.51 xG for New York City. If not for a miscue from the Orlando City defense, this very well could have been another disappointing road result, continuing a worrying trend that has developed over the first half of the season.

Jansen and his staff will relish a further three points, while taking a long, hard look at the film from Wednesday ahead of a quick turnaround away against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

New York City FC has just two wins on the road all season long, drawing four and losing five others. The squad's confidence and cohesion seems to disappear on the road, but perseverance is still a trait this squad maintains through thick and thin, and that's what won them the match in Orlando.

As this side continues to grow and improve as the MLS season pushes on, it remains to be seen how New York City will build off results like this in order to maintain consistency on the road. It all starts with confidence, and stealing three points late on goes a long way to getting that belief back into a squad that desperately needs it.