Kickoff was at the early hour of 3:10 pm at Yankee Stadium but it was New York City FC playing like the team traveling from distance for the early start, not Minnesota United FC.
Minnesota's Tani Oluwaseyi scored in the second minute and the visiting Loons never looked back from there, adding a set-piece goal from Wil Trapp in the 29th minute and ultimately winning 2-1 despite a late Keaton Parks consolation goal for New York City.
NYCFC started the match terribly and Pascal Jansen made two substitutions before halftime while trying to find a way to reverse his team's fortunes. New York City had the bulk of the possession and attempted lots of shots, but their shots and the quality of their chances were consistently poor, and Minnesota looked happy to let New York City pass the ball around, soak up pressure, and then try to hit back on the counterattack.
Andrew Leigh
The early goal gave the Loons an edge in the game that they never relinquished and New York City ended up with a first loss at home in 2025 and a second straight defeat overall, dropping them to 11th Place in the Eastern Conference after Matchday 7.
New York City: 22 shots, 4 shots on target, 66.5% possession, 677 passes, 84.8% pass accuracy, 8 fouls, 7 saves
Minnesota: 16 shots, 9 shots on target, 33.5% possession, 254 passes, 63.4% pass accuracy, 10 fouls, 3 saves
Goals:
• Minnesota, Tani Oluwaseyi, 2'
Minnesota, Wil Trapp, 29'
New York City, Keaton Parks, 89'
Attendance: 18,279
Not ready to start
New York City struggled from the get-go in this match, not appearing to turn up for the opening whistle. Conceding the Oluwaseyi goal inside two minutes set the tone and it would be an uphill slog all afternoon for the home team.
Pascal Jansen in his post-match press conference described the way his team opened the game as follows: "You can never start a match like we did today. It's impossible with the level of intensity and aggression in this match."
The opening goal came thanks to a chain reaction of bad things for NYCFC: Julián Fernández lost possession too easily; Mitja Ilenič and Thiago Martins were each too far upfield to deal with a Minnesota rush up the right side of the defense; and Birk Risa and Kevin O'Toole couldn't react quickly enough to Oluwaseyi's run to do anything to stop the Minnesota striker from netting his fifth goal of the season.
ONE. MINUTE. IN. ⚡️
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 6, 2025
Tani Oluwaseyi opens the scoring with his fifth of the season for @MNUFC! pic.twitter.com/hvsQ9tAmxC
Less than a half hour later came Minnesota's second goal from Wil Trapp, a clever free-kick routine from a set play opportunity New York City likely regrets giving up, since it gave Minnesota a chance from the edge of their penalty area due to a sloppy foul from Kevin O'Toole.
Trapp is a defensive midfielder with one MLS goal scored across his last three seasons in the league, but he managed to beat Matt Freese from some distance, rolling a low strike through significant traffic in the box and benefiting from the redirection of a deflection. Freese got a touch on the shot but it wasn't enough to stop it from ending up in the back of his net.
Wil Trapp strikes on the set-piece routine to make it two for @MNUFC. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/a4GvATfLXr
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 6, 2025
Two poor goals to concede in the opening half-hour put New York City deep in a hole, and they didn't really come to life as a team until Pascal Jansen rolled the dice and made substitutions and formation tweaks in the 40th minute.
Adjustments help, but only partly
The early substitutions from Jansen and a change to a three-at-the-back defensive setup were all worthwhile gambles while New York City was trying to claw back into things down two goals.
Putting Mounsef Bakrar up front next to Alonso Martínez to give Minnesota a different attacking look, and bringing Strahinja Tanasijević in to join Thiago Martins and Kevin O'Toole in an unorthodox back-three, provided something of a spark, and at least let NYCFC continue to hold possession and try to poke holes in Minnesota's defensive organization.
Hudson River Blue Staff
It almost paid off before halftime, with NYCFC awarded a penalty kick after Michael Boxall took down Alonso Martínez in the box. There was a lengthy delay, close to six minutes, while referee Sergii Boiko and the VAR consulted on the on-field penalty decision. The call stood after all that reviewing at the monitor, and Alonso Martínez had a chance to make it two penalty kick goals in two straight weeks.
Instead, his attempt at replicating the top-corner blast he scored vs. Atlanta was unsuccessful, with the usually-accurate El Clínico rattling his penalty off the crossbar to give Minnesota a reprieve and let them keep their two-goal advantage heading into the break.
Game of inches. 😬
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 6, 2025
📺 #MLSSeasonPass or Apple TV+: https://t.co/JszyfEi2Ql pic.twitter.com/3CSXV28QzP
Too little, too late
After halftime, New York City enjoyed even longer spells of dominance when it came to possessing the ball and trying to threaten Minnesota, but they didn't create the best scoring chances even while trying to force the issue trailing by two goals.
It took until the 77th minute for New York City to register a first shot on target, which was right around the time Minnesota seemed to start to fade and the opportunities started to get bigger for NYCFC.
Hannes Wolf had one of the best scoring chances of the second half for the hosts in the 81st minute when he was played in on goal via a great pass from Bakrar only for Wolf to blast his shot over the bar despite being 1-v-1 with Minnesota goalkeeper St. Clair. NYCFC did get its breakthrough in the 89th minute when Keaton Parks poked home a loose St. Clair rebound following an Alonso Martínez strike, but that was all the offense they could muster.
IT'S NOT OVER YET 🎯 pic.twitter.com/76inigeLIY
— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) April 6, 2025
Minnesota did its best version of parking the bus in the second half while leading by two and they deservedly walked out of Yankee Stadium with all three points. New York City won the expected goals (xG) battle and attempted far more shots than Minnesota, but their shots and chances weren't good ones, with NYCFC's lack of quality in the final third exposed repeatedly during a mostly fruitless afternoon.
New York City now will try to end a modest two-game losing streak by hosting the always-tough Philadelphia Union at Citi Field on Matchday 8, where they'll be looking to shake off the goal-leaking tendencies they've displayed in Atlanta and now back home against Minnesota.
• New York City, Birk Risa, yellow card, foul, 36'
Minnesota, Michael Boxall, yellow card, foul, 43'
Minnesota, Dayne St. Clair, yellow card, poor sportsmanship, 82'
Officials
• Referee: Sergii Boiko
• Assistant referees: Adam Garner, Gianni Facchini
• Fourth official: Luis Diego Arroyo
• VAR: Timothy Ford
• Assistant VAR: Jonathan Johnson
