![\"NYCFC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-03-22T182700Z_1811750406_MT1USATODAY28564402_RTRMADP_3_MLS-INTER-MIAMI-CF-AT-NEW-YORK-CITY-FC.j.jpeg\" "\\"NYCFC")
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New York City FC midfielder Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez (7) celebrates his goal with New York City FC forward Agust\u00edn Ojeda (26) and New York City FC defender Kai Trewin (5) during the first half against the Inter Miami at Yankee Stadium on March 22, 2026. <\/p>\n
Mark Smith-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
After going toe-to-toe against Inter Miami<\/a> before the March international break, New York City FC<\/a> is trying to get back to winning ways against St. Louis City FC this Saturday night in Queens.<\/p>\n The Boys in Blue will be playing at Citi Field for the first time this season, out of four scheduled fixtures. The remaining three home matches that Citi Field will host this season will be decided later, with the MLB schedules in mind.<\/p>\n St. Louis City picked up their first three-points of the season against the New England Revolution two weekends ago, but now face a stern test against a resolute NYCFC.<\/p>\n Pascal Jansen\u2019s men have picked up 10 points of a possible 15 so far this season, and with the MLS transfer window now closed, seem to have found a solution to their No. 9 problems.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a very strong start to the season,\u201d midfielder Keaton Parks said. \u201cI think we have a lot of good things, but we can always progress and get better. I think we are scoring lots of goals, which is great\u2026without a true nine.\u201d<\/p>\n The team\u2019s tally of 13 goals scored \u2014 joint-second most in the league behind 2025 MLS Cup finalists the Vancouver Whitecaps and tied with the number-one Eastern team, Nashville SC \u2014 and six conceded is the fourth-best goal difference in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau has started every game up front for the Boys in Blue, and has rewarded Jansen\u2019s confidence in him with a goal a game so far and is the first Boy in Blue to score five goals in the first five games of a season.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something in having a good start \u2026 and being with the team from the beginning,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cThe knowledge of knowing each other from last season also helps \u2026The players around him understand his qualities more as they play together.\u201d<\/p>\n The former Spanish second division striker is on track to be in contention for the MLS Golden Boot, and it will be the first time an NYCFC player has won it since Valentin Castellanos\u2019 feat in the 2021 Cup-winning season.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Boys in Blue have been formidable this season so far, and whilst it\u2019s a common superstition to not look at your team\u2019s position in the league until 10 games into a season, the Eastern Conference standings make for pretty reading for fans of the Pigeons.<\/p>\n Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau has scored in three straight home matches as well, with NYCFC scoring 10 goals across the two wins and a loss.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s playing in a slightly different role, but he\u2019s found comfort there as well,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cHe\u2019s very productive in several ways; from set pieces, individual actions, you name it, he\u2019s brought it into the game. This is something we anticipated once we signed him.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Louis managed to overturn a 1-0 deficit against the Revolution, with Simon Becher, Chris Durkin and Marcel Hartel ensuring the Missouri side\u2019s first three points of the calendar year.<\/p>\n Head coach Yoann Damet said he was \u201chappy\u201d for his team but said they need to \u201cstay level-headed\u201d and \u201cnot get carried away\u201d by the result.\n<\/p>\n St. Louis remains tied at the bottom with Sporting Kansas City and the Portland Timbers in the Western Conference.\n<\/p>\n If they were to find a result at Citi Field, St. Louis must score more than one goal against this burgeoning NYCFC team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City FC midfielder Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez (7) celebrates his goal with New York City FC forward Agust\u00edn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2031,28561,64759,6497,74015,74016,74017,74018,9,24,402,64571,63,6584,64572,122,124,123,74019,54938,74020],"class_list":{"0":"post-183958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-citi-field","9":"tag-inter-miami","10":"tag-keaton-parks","11":"tag-major-league-soccer","12":"tag-mls-2025","13":"tag-mls-eastern-conference","14":"tag-mls-golden-boot","15":"tag-mls-transfer-window","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-new-york-city-fc","19":"tag-nicolu00e1s-fernu00e1ndez-mercau","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-nycfc","22":"tag-pascal-jansen","23":"tag-queens","24":"tag-queens-headlines","25":"tag-queens-news","26":"tag-st-louis-city-fc","27":"tag-vancouver-whitecaps","28":"tag-yoann-damet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}