Photo gallery from the NYCFC v Charlotte match by 1495Sports
It was a tale of two halves for New York City FC in the team’s 2-1 loss to Charlotte FC in MLS action at Citi Field on 4/18/26.
New York City FC seemed as if, in the First Half of play that they were going to be a team walking away with the three points. Especially with the amount of quality chances that they had.
The Boys in Blue did a tremendous job with passing the ball around, maintaining the possession of the ball and not only that but creating scoring chances for themselves.
Getting the first scoring opportunity of the night was Kai Trewin just missing the target.
In the 16th minute Nicolás Fernández Mercau got denied by Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina in another great attempt from the team.
After a very solid first half of play, things just completely changed in terms of momentum for New York City FC, and it was Charlotte taking over and getting themselves the first two goals of the match.
It was in the 54′ and 90′ minutes when Idan Toklomati and Kerwin Vargas found the back of the net.
Fans are encouraged to enjoy the following video featuring thoughts from Head Coach Pascal Jansen from after the match…video is compliments of New York City FC:
The guys would not go down without a fight, not at Citi Field and the wonderful support that they were getting from the fans throughout the match.
Making things close in the extra time frame and netting the lone goal was Mercau, but after that New York City FC could not find any other goals, even though much of the momentum and match had belonged to them.
There were a ton of positives from the match, and the guys are going to have a quick turnaround as they now get ready to host Cincinnati at Yankee Stadium on 4/22/26.
In addition to some of the positives on the pitch there were some milestone moments as well, as Keaton Parks is now second all-time in club history with 180 MLS Regular Season Appearances. That mark surpasses former goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
Defender Kevin O’Toole was able to get his 100 appearances with the club in the match against Charlotte and Midfielder Hannes Wolf made his 90th appearance.
A fun fact from the NYCFC PR department is the fact that with his goal in the match Mercau leads New York City in scoring this season with six goals in eight of the MLS matches thus far.
The goal for Mercau is the 10th with the Club and thus far Nico is bringing the big moments for the team.
It’ll be fascinating to see what type of game plan the guys are going to put together against an ultra-tough and physical Cincinnati squad with the match that is to be played on 4/22.
New York City FC has a 6-0-0 mark against Cincinnati at Yankee Stadium, though it was FCC that was able to defeat the Boys in Blue in the 2024 MLC Cup Playoffs in the match that was played on October 28, 2024.
Things are going to be very different now for the guys though as the team played well in 2025 with the team getting a statement victory on August 23, 2025.
The match between NYCFC and FCC is only days away and we hope fans can stay tuned to this page as well as the team’s official website for all the latest news and coverage on the team.
The team’s official website can be seen here: