{"id":376093,"date":"2026-10-18T05:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T05:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376093\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T05:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T05:08:10","slug":"nycfc-settles-for-disappointing-tie-as-playoff-hopes-continue-to-dim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376093\/","title":{"rendered":"NYCFC settles for disappointing tie as playoff hopes continue to dim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New York City FC needed a win Saturday night in Queens.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead, they had to settle for a 1-1 draw with LAFC. <\/p>\n<p>NYCFC managed to erase a first-half deficit with a goal from Andr\u00e9s Perea early in the second half to prevent a loss, but the club still dropped to 11th in the Eastern Conference standings when all was said and done.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41388253\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/7-moves-ball-pitch-los-145505595.jpg\" alt=\"New York City midfielder Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez moves the ball down the pitch as Los Angeles FC defender Yevhen Cheberko defends during a match.\" class=\"wp-image-41388253\"\/>Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez moves the ball down the pitch as Yevhen Cheberko defends during the first half of NYCFC\u2019s 1-1 draw with LAFC on Oct. 17, 2025 at Citi Field.  Corey Sipkin for NY POST<\/p>\n<p>While the point came at a crucial time, with four games now left on the schedule, the home side was lucky enough to escape after NYCFC nearly handed LAFC star Son Heung-min the winning goal in stoppage time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Son broke free and managed to get a shot off from inside the box that hit the post and stayed out. The final whistle sounded seconds after that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>New York City FC found itself down after a stoppage-time goal in the first half had goalkeeper Matt Freese frozen in place on a free kick.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Aiden O\u2019Neill was shown a yellow card in the 44th minute after a bad foul that gave LAFC a free kick outside the box. Midfielder Leo Walta blasted the ball into the top right corner of the net with a right-footed shot to give Los Angeles the 1-0 lead in stoppage time while frustrating Freese.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But a desperate NYCFC squad managed to even the game with a goal in the 59th minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41388258\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/los-angeles-fc-forward-son-145494952.jpg\" alt=\"Los Angeles FC forward Son Heung-Min controls the ball during a match against New York City FC.\" class=\"wp-image-41388258\"\/>LAFC forward Son Heung-Min (controls the ball during the first half. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>New York City FC was awarded a corner kick, which star striker Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau took, setting up Perea for a flying header in the box to pull the home side level with LAFC.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While the club played to a draw Saturday night, New York City FC has yet to win at Citi Field this regular season. The last time the club won at the Queens baseball venue, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/10\/17\/sports\/nycfc-addresses-impact-of-man-city-scandal-on-mls-club-dealings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">located across the street from NYCFC\u2019s future home, Etihad Park<\/a>, was a victory over Red Bull New York on May 17, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City FC needed a win Saturday night in Queens.\u00a0 Instead, they had to settle for a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6583,9,24,402,55,54,56,400,319],"class_list":["post-376093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-mls","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-fc","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376093","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=376093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}