New York City Football Club Goals: Martínez 28’, 65’, Bakrar 39’
San Diego FC Goals: McNair 19’
New York City FC returned to action on Saturday afternoon as they took on San Diego FC in the Coachella Valley Invitational.
After a goalless draw against Sporting KC in their previous outing, City were keen to build momentum against the expansion side and started brightly.
They nearly took an early lead after Hannes Wolf recovered the ball inside San Diego’s penalty area and squared it to Alonso Martínez in the fifth minute. Unfortunately, the Costa Rican could not keep his low effort on target as it skipped just wide of the goal.
San Diego broke the deadlock from a corner in the 19th minute after Hirving Lozano’s precise cross found Paddy McNair, who headed it home.
City found an equalizer in the 28th minute after a low cross from Tayvon Gray was tapped over the line by Martínez.
One almost became two for City two minutes later after Wolf cut inside onto his right foot and fired off a shot that forced a strong save from CJ Dos Santos. The shot-stopper was called into action again in the 37th minute, denying Gray’s powerful strike.
City found their second goal of the half in the 39th minute as Martínez turned provider for Bakrar to convert from close range.
Martínez almost made it three on the stroke of halftime after he found space at the back post—his volleyed effort flying just over the crossbar.
Head coach Pascal Jansen named an unchanged side heading into the second half, and City wasted no time pushing for a third goal.
At the other end, Lozano tested City goalkeeper Matt Freese early, driving inside from the left and firing a low shot toward the bottom corner—but Freese produced a fine save.
San Diego thought they had equalized just before the hour mark when Lozano’s cutback was turned in by Aníbal Godoy, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
City made their first changes just after that as Tomás Romero, Mitja Ilenič, Prince Amponsah, and Julián Fernández replaced Freese, Gray, Cavallo, and Wolf.
Martínez was enjoying a fine afternoon and capped it off in the 65th minute with his second goal of the day—a stunning strike from distance.
City made further changes in the 77th minute as Peter Molinari, Collin McCamy, and Zidane Yañez came on for Keaton Parks, Martínez, and Jonathan Shore. Agustín Ojeda would also replace Bakrar late on.
Jansen's side controlled the remainder of the game and secured an impressive 3-1 win in their second game of the tournament.
New York City FC XI: Bakrar (Ojeda), Cavallo (Amponsah), Freese (Romero), Gray (Ilenič), Haak, Martínez (Yañez), Moralez, Parks (Molinari), Risa, Shore (McCamy), Wolf (Fernández)
