New York City FC Goals:
Sporting Kansas City Goals:
New York City FC kicked off their participation in the Coachella Valley Invitational on Tuesday afternoon with a match against Sporting Kansas City.
Head Coach Pascal Jansen sought to challenge his players as City continued to step up preparations for the MLS regular season.
Jansen’s side started brightly, but it was Sporting KC that created the first significant chance of the game when a swift counterattack allowed Dejan Joveljić to fire off a shot from a tight angle.
At the other end, a dangerous low cross from Kevin O’Toole zipped through the penalty area, just missing an unmarked Mitja Ilenič six-yards-out.
As the half progressed, City began finding more attacking opportunities, and in the 21st minute, Maxi Moralez delivered a corner that Keaton Parks headed just wide.
Sporting KC remained dangerous on the counter. In the 26th minute, a long ball over the top put Joveljić through on goal, but a brilliant recovery tackle by Birk Risa denied the striker a look at goal.
City thought they had taken the lead just after the half-hour mark when Julián Fernández turned in Agustín Ojeda’s low cross, but the goal was ruled out for offside, keeping the score level.
Jansen’s side continued pressing for a breakthrough, but another offside call on the stroke of halftime denied them a promising opportunity after Ojeda latched onto a long through ball from Risa.
The second half began with several changes for City, as Jonathan Shore, Mounsef Bakrar, and Nicholas Cavallo came in for Kevin O’Toole, Alonso Martínez, and Keaton Parks.
That was followed by a raft of further changes for City on the hour mark, with the score still tied at 0-0.
Sporting KC were handed a great chance to break the deadlock five minutes later after striker Mason Toye beat the offside trap, but his shot trickled just wide of the post.
Tayvon Gray nearly gave City the lead in the 65th minute with a deep cross that looped toward the back post, forcing goalkeeper Ryan Schewe to scramble and claw the ball away from danger.
Gray was then called into action at the other end ten minutes later, denying Toye a look at goal with a last-ditch tackle.
Sporting KC had a goal disallowed in the 84th minute when Stephen Afrifa fired past Matt Freese, only for it to be overturned due to a foul in the build-up.
In the 87th minute, Peter Vermes’ side had a golden opportunity to take the lead from the penalty spot, but Toye missed wide from 12 yards out. That proved to be the final chance of the match, as the two teams settled for a draw.
New York City FC XI: Fernández (Baiera), Freese (Romero), Haak (McCalmy), Ilenič (Gray), Martínez (Bakrar), Moralez (Shore), Ojeda (Molinari), O’Toole (Cavallo), Parks (Yañez), Risa (Amponsah), Tanasijević (Murray)
