It's Matchday 11, and New York City FC are ending their five-game homestand by hosting Colorado Rapids on a rainy Sunday afternoon in Queens The Valley of Ashes.
New York City are riding a three-game winning streak – the last time they won four in a row was in July, 2022. The club took 10 points in April, equalling the tally of Inter Miami CF to lead all of Major League Soccer.
Colorado are coming off a 2-1 away loss to FC Cincinnati. But they are 3-1-1 in their last five games, with an impressive road win over San Jose Earthquakes and a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Miami in Florida.
• Matchday 11: New York City FC vs Colorado Rapids
• Date and Time: Sunday, May 5, 4 pm ET
• Venue: Citi Field
• Forecast: Cool and rainy, 53F/12C
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Callum Williams and Calen Carr (English), Raul Guzman and Carlos Ruiz (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Allen Chapman (referee), Jose Da Silva and Meghan Mullen (assistant referees), Jeremy Scheer (fourth official), Edvin Jurisevic (VAR), TJ Zablock (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear the light-blue Interboro Kit for the second week in a row; Colorado will wear the burgundy One Flag Kit
This Colorado are a significant upgrade over the team that finished second-to-last in 2023. They added goalkeeper Zack Steffen, attacking midfielder Djorde Mihailovic, and NYCFC-killer Omer Fernandez, and the rebuilt squad is clicking under new head coach Chris Armas.
But Mihailovic is unavailable today due to injury, and they'll have a tough time getting a result on the tight footprint of Citi Field against a New York City that allowed just two goals in all of April.
Colorado also might be missing left-back Sam Vines. Look for NYCFC to overload the right flank and test his replacement.
New York City vs Colorado H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 9 |
New York City dominate the historic head-to-head between these teams.
Not only are Colorado winless against NYCFC, they have never scored more than one goal since the two sides first played each other in 2015.
The last time they faced each other was on June 19, 2022, in Nick Cushing's first appearance as interim head coach. (He was named permanent head coach later that year.) That game ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw for New York City: Colorado scored first against the run of play, Talles Mango evened it four minutes later, and NYCFC ended the day with just one point despite dominating in possession, shots, chances created, and xG.
New York City FC
• Player Availability: NYCFC will be without midfielder Maxi Moralez (ACL). The rest of the squad is healthy, according to Cushing.
• Does that mean we'll see Talles Magno? The Designated Player was nursing an injury for weeks, and has seen just 6' of action in 2024.
• Last week, MLS disclosed the roster profiles of all teams in the league and we now see how this edition of New York City are built for the future. While last year's squad had a number of one-season loans, the core of this year's squad is signed through 2025 and beyond. You can read more about it here.
• Recently, New York City midfielder Santiago Rodríguez has been one of the best players on the field — and in the league. In the past, the No 10 always had the talent, but he didn't always display the consistency. What's behind the change? Cushing has some thoughts:
Colorado Rapids
• Player Availability: Midfielder Daniel Chacon (knee), forward Jonathan Lewis (knee), midfielder Djorde Mihailovic (heel), and midfielder Connor Ronan (knee) are unavailable. Left-back Sam Vines (ankle) is questionable.
• Mihailovic and Vines are last-minute scratches. If both aren't on the lineup card, Colorado will be missing two key players who each started 10 games this season.
• Look for Cole Basset to run the midfield. The 22-year-old is off to the best start in his career, with three goals in 10 games.
• Hungry for more intel on Colorado? Matt Pollard of Burgundy Wave tells us about the turnaround under Armas, and why the forwards have trouble scoring in Oppo Research: 5 Things about Colorado Rapids.
