Mar 7, 2026; New York, New York, USA; defender Kai Trewin (5) and New York City midfielder Aiden O’Neill (21) embrace after winning against Orlando City at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
New York City FC (NYCFC) marked its opening home game of the 2026 season with an emphatic 5-0 victory against 10-man Orlando City SC at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The 16th-minute dismissal of Orlando goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau proved crucial, with Agustín Ojeda, Nicolas Fernánez Mercau, and Maxi Moralez scoring before the half-time break to effectively end the game as a contest.
Keaton Parks scored a five-minute brace early in the second half to put further gloss on the scoreline as an impressive NYCFC put a hapless Orlando to the sword.
Pascal Jansen’s side has now taken seven points from its opening three games and was impressive throughout against an Orlando side that has yet to collect an MLS point this season.
The win marked the 11th time that NYCFC has scored five goals in an MLS encounter and the third time that it has done so against Orlando. It is also the club’s biggest league win since a 6-0 win over Real Salt Lake in April 2022.
“They were hungry today,” Jansen said after the game. “(They were) very aggressive, created a lot of opportunities and chances to score when it was 11 against 11 and 11 against 10.”
Crépeau’s sending off marks the third consecutive occasion that NYCFC has faced 10 men this season, but there was a clear gulf in class between the sides as the hosts started brightly in the opening quarter of an hour.
Jansen’s side created plenty of chances against a porous Orlando defense even before Crépeau’s 16th-minute dismissal.
Ojeda, lively throughout, created the best of them on 14 minutes when he drove to the byline and picked out Moralez inside the six-yard box. The veteran Argentinian fired over when it appeared easier to score than miss, however.
But it mattered little when Crépeau was sent off two minutes later, effectively sealing Orlando’s fate with 75 minutes left to play.
The Orlando ‘keeper raced out to prevent Fernández Mercau from reaching a Moralez throughball but carried the ball outside the area, leaving referee Guido Gonzalez with little choice but to send him off for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
His replacement, Javier Otero, who had not featured in an MLS game since last July, had barely been on the field 30 seconds when he was picking the ball out of the net.
The substitute keeper was left flat-footed as Ojeda’s mishit volley looped over him and into the net to give NYCFC the lead and Ojeda the goal that his performance deserved. The Argentine had not scored an MLS goal since June 2024 – also against Orlando City at Yankee Stadium.
Jansen’s side doubled its advantage three minutes before the break when Fernández Mercau leapt highest to expertly guide a Moralez cross into the bottom corner.
There was still time for the hosts to add another before the break and kill the game off as a contest when Fernández Mercau was brought down by Luis Otavio in the Orlando penalty area deep into injury time. Moralez dispatched the penalty beyond Otero for his first goal of the season.
There was to be no let-up after the interval, with Parks adding a quickfire brace to mark his first goals for the club since returning from a lengthy spell on the sidelines last season.
Parks’ first came on 49 minutes when he latched onto an inviting Tayvon Gray cross to slot beyond Otero, while his second came five minutes later when Griffin Dorsey got his clearance all wrong, and the ball dropped at the feet of the NYCFC midfielder on the edge of the area. Parks fired a left-footed effort to the bottom corner beyond the despairing dive of Otero, who got a hand to the shot and probably should have done better.
Jansen praised his side for continuing on the front foot after the interval.
“We were ready to go at them again and again and again and not let them catch their breath,” he said.
At this point, NYCFC’s MLS record victory – 6-0 against Real Salt Lake and DC United – appeared likely to tumble, but Jansen’s side could not add to its tally in the final half-hour, despite chants of “we want six” from the Yankee Stadium crowd.
Even the officials seemed to take pity on Orlando, with Gonzalez blowing for full time precisely on 90 minutes despite a raft of second-half substitutions.
For more on NYCFC, visit AMNY.com