New York City FC Goals: Risa 86'
St. Louis CITY SC Goals: Hartel 9’, Becher 67’, 79’
New York City FC returned to action on Wednesday afternoon, facing St. Louis CITY SC in the Coachella Valley Invitational.
City fielded a youthful lineup, with MLS SuperDraft picks Collin McCamy and Max Murray earning their first preseason starts.
After a cagey start, St. Louis began applying pressure on City’s defense and took the lead in the ninth minute when Marcel Hartel converted a low cross into the box.
St. Louis nearly doubled their advantage six minutes later when a short corner routine found João Klauss in space at the back post, but the striker’s tame effort was easily gathered by Tomás Romero.
City came within inches of equalizing in the 26th minute when a cross from McCamy found Mounsef Bakrar inside the area. Unfortunately for the Algerian, his close-range effort crashed against the crossbar before being cleared from danger.
Pascal Jansen’s side continued to push forward, and a clever one-two between Drew Baiera and Hannes Wolf enabled the young defender to clip in a dangerous cross, forcing Klauss into a headed clearance.
At halftime, Jansen made one change, bringing on Alonso Martínez for Wolf.
St. Louis started the second half brightly and created a good chance after ten minutes, requiring a last-ditch block from Prince Amponsah.
As the match reached the hour mark, City made further changes, with Birk Risa and Justin Haak replacing Murray and Tayvon Gray. Nicholas Cavallo and Jonathan Shore also entered the game, replacing Peter Molinari and Amponsah.
St. Louis doubled their lead in the 67th minute when Simon Becher headed the ball past Romero from 12 yards out.
City thought they had pulled one back in the 75th minute when Martínez pounced on a loose ball and ran through to score, but the offside flag denied him a place on the scoresheet.
Their hopes of a comeback were further dashed just four minutes later when Becher netted his second goal of the day from close range.
An injury to McCamy forced him off late in the game, with Molinari returning to the field. City found a breakthrough in the 86th minute when Risa's delightful free kick dipped over the St. Louis wall and into the net.
In the dying moments, Martínez had a half-chance, but his effort was blocked. That proved to be the final act, as City fell to a 3-1 defeat.
New York City FC XI: Romero, Murray (Haak), Gray (Risa), Baiera, Molinari (Shore), Amponsah (Cavallo), McCamy, Wolf (Martínez), Fernández, Bakrar (Yañez), Ojeda.
