• Matchday 1: Inter Miami CF vs New York City FC
• Date and Time: Friday, February 22, 7:30 pm ET
• Venue: Chase Stadium
• Forecast: Overcast but dry with light winds, 64F/18C
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Keith Costigan and Maurice Edu (English), Rodolfo Landeros and Mariano Trujillo (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Rosendo Mendoza (referee), Kathryn Nesbitt and Walt Heatherly (assistant referees), Marcos DeOliveira (fourth official), Younes Marrakchi (VAR), John Krill (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear their new blue Excelsior Kit; Inter Miami will be in their new pink stripey Euforia kit.
It's Matchday 1 of the 2025 Major League Soccer season, and New York City FC are in Miami Ft. Lauderdale to face Inter Miami in the 11th edition of the Gender Reveal Derby. (Or the 12th, if you include the memorable Noche d'Or.)
In his pre-match press conference, Head Coach Pascal Jansen officially ruled out center-back Thiago Martins and right-back Tayvon Gray from participating in the game. That further depletes a New York City squad thinned out by a wait-and-see approach to the transfer market.
Gray is recovering from a leg injury he suffered in the preseason finale vs Minnesota United, while Thiago Martins was absent from the friendlies and team training during the entirety of preseason while recovering from a leg injury of his own.
Inter Miami are expected field a rotated side after Head Coach Javier Mascherano said that "everyone is not available" after the team defeated Sporting Kansas City in a Concacaf Champions Cup tie played in sub-freezing conditions on Wednesday night. Lionel Messi scored the game's only goal, and played the full 90 minutes. Will he begin tonight's game on the bench?
New York City | Scouting Report
• Player Availability: Center-back Thiago Martins and right-back Tayvon Gray (leg) are out with injuries. Malachi Jones is out as his rehabilitation continues after suffering a broken leg in July.
• Will we see Mounsef Bakrar and Alonso Martínez pair up in the attack? They rarely shared the field last season, but they looked dangerous together when Jansen played them in tandem during the preseason.
• Kevin O'Toole missed the last three preseason friendlies. The left-back seemed to suffer a minor injury, but he traveled with the team to Florida.
• Will goalkeeper Tomás Romero be on the bench? The shot-stopper was a regular in preseason and looks to be the primary backup to Matt Freese.
Matthew Mangam
New York City vs Inter Miami H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 10 | 12 |
New York City have a dominant head-to-head record against Inter Miami, with an imperious win rate of 66.66% — only NYCFC's record of 6W-1D-0L against San Jose is better. New York City have handled the Messi Era well, earning a 1-1 draw in Ft. Lauderdale last March and another 1-1 draw in the Bronx last September.
Miami's only victory over NYCFC came in 2022, when a newly-signed Alejandro Pozuelo kept up his habit of crushing the soul of New York City by scoring twice in a 3-2 win.
New York City | Opening Day Record
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 14 | -4 |
But whatever comfort New York City fans might take in the club's head-to-head record against Miami disappears when you look at NYCFC's opening day performances: New York City have just two opening day wins in ten years, the last one of which took place way back in 2018.
New York City were held scoreless in five of those ten games, including the three most recent played: The last time NYCFC scored on opening day was in 2021, when Taty Castellanos found the back of the net in a 2-1 loss to DC United.
The last time New York City earned a point on opening day? That was in 2019, when they gave up a two-goal lead to Orlando City. The game ended 2-2.
Also of note: New York City have played every season opener on the road.
