New York City FC 1-2 D.C. United 2025 MLS Regular Season - Matchday 31 Date: Saturday, August 30, 2025 | Kickoff: 7:40pm ET Location: Yankee Stadium | The Bronx, NY Attendance: 20,192
New York City FC lost 2-1 to D.C. United at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. Justin Haak opened the scoring in the 19th minute, but Gabriel Pirani struck just before halftime to level the game. The Brazilian then put D.C. United ahead midway through the second half, and despite late pressure, New York City were unable to find an equalizer.
UP NEXT: The ‘Boys in Blue’ face Chicago Fire FC at Soldier Field on Saturday, September 13 at 8:30pm ET. | Apple TV: MLS Season Pass | Radio (English/Spanish) newyorkcityfc.com/radio
New York City FC has faced 11 opponents who were ranked above them in the MLS standings at the time of the match this season, and 15 opponents ranked below them.
The Club's season opener against Inter Miami CF is not included, as neither team held a higher position in the standings at that point.
Against opponents ranked above them in the MLS standings when entering the match, New York City FC holds a record of 7-2-2 (W-L-D). They’ve scored 14 goals, conceded eight and recorded five clean sheets.
Against opponents ranked below them in MLS standings when entering the match, New York City FC holds a record of 6-7-2. Against these opponents, the Club has scored 22 goals, conceded 22, and recorded three clean sheets.
In the overall series against D.C. United, New York City has posted a record of 11-8-5, scoring 42 goals and conceding 27.
At home, the team has played D.C. United 12 times, posting an impressive record of 8-2-2.
In these matches played at home, New York City scored 30 goals and conceded only 12.
New York City has never suffered a shut-out defeat from D.C. at home.
Aside from this evening’s loss, the only other time D.C. United defeated New York City at home was in a narrow 2-1 win at Sports Illustrated Stadium on August 31, 2022.
This is the first time D.C. United has beaten New York City FC at Yankee Stadium in series history.
This season at Yankee Stadium, New York City has won more matches than the team has lost, posting a 6-4-0 record.
Overall, the team’s home record stands at 9-4-0, with a total of 22 goals and 13 goals conceded.
Midfielder Justin Haak registered his first goal of the season, marking the second goal of his MLS career.
His first career tally came with New York City FC in a 1-1 away draw against the Columbus Crew on July 8, 2023.
Haak is the second Homegrown player to score two or more goals for the Club in the MLS Regular Season.
The only other Homegrown to have achieved this feat is former Midfielder Andres Jasson, who had three goals.
Alonso Martínez recorded his second assist of the season, marking the fifth assist of his MLS career.
His most recent assist was in a 2-0 shut out win in the Hudson River Derby against the New York Red Bulls on May 17, 2025.
NEW YORK CITY FC HEAD COACH PASCAL JANSEN
Thoughts on tonight’s match... “My final comment just now in the locker room was we played [CF] Montréal twice when they were at the bottom of the table. Today, D.C. [United] is bottom of the table, finished for the playoffs already, so they're just playing to finish the league. It's a competition, and we only got one point out of three games. In all three games, there is something that's alike: we have a lot of possession, but we get punished for small errors. That was the case today. The first half was going our way; we were playing well, good goal. We also knew they were looking for moments like when they scored the equalizer, giving away a throw-in and then defending it like we did, especially in the second phase. I even used a couple of examples from the Premier League today, like what happened with Burnley [Burnley F.C.] and with Manchester United. Very unfortunate, but it says a lot about our attacking play today.”
NEW YORK CITY FC MIDFIELDER JUSTIN HAAK
On what happened playing D.C. United this evening... “To be honest, I don't really have the answer. We’ve already seen it twice this year versus [CF] Montréal. They were in last place when we played them, and we lost both of those games. So even when we played D.C. [United] away, it was a similar game a little bit—dominated the ball but couldn't really score and in the end didn't get what we needed to take from these games to finish higher up in the standings.”
NEW YORK CITY FC FORWARD ALONSO MARTÍNEZ
Sobre cómo seguir adelante después de este partido... “Bueno, creo que sabíamos que iba a ser un partido difícil. Queríamos los tres puntos. Lastimosamente así no fue. Ahora pensar en los siguientes partidos que quedan después del descanso que tenemos y pensar en qué hicimos mal, qué hicimos bien hoy en este partido. Entonces creo que tratar de cambiar el chip para el siguiente partido.”
On moving forward after this match... “Well, I think we knew it was going to be a difficult game, but we wanted the three points. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Now it’s about thinking of the next games after the break we have and thinking about what we did wrong and what we did right today in this match. I think it’s about trying to change the mindset for the next game.”
New York City FC were back in action on Saturday as they hosted D.C. United.
The hosts entered the contest looking to extend their five game unbeaten run, while United arrived eager to build on consecutive draws under new Head Coach René Weiler.
Pascal Jansen stuck with the same lineup that had beaten FC Cincinnati last time out—a decision that quickly paid dividends as City started the brighter of the two sides, dictating the tempo from the opening whistle.
In the eighth minute, Hannes Wolf stung the palms of former teammate Luis Barraza in the D.C. goal. At the other end, Aaron Herrera carved out United’s first look of the night, but his strike was comfortably gathered by Matt Freese.
City’s dominance soon told. After controlling the early exchanges, they broke through in the 19th minute when Maxi Moralez flicked the ball cleverly into the path of Justin Haak, who slid a precise finish from the edge of the area.
United were handed a good opportunity to equalize from a free kick on the half-hour mark, but the resulting strike cannoned into the wall. Wolf nearly doubled City’s advantage in the 41st minute, only for Lucas Bartlett to throw himself in the way of his shot.
That miss proved costly: moments later Gabriel Pirani collected the ball on the edge of the box and curled a pinpoint effort in off the post to level the match.
The second half opened with João Peglow flashing an effort wide of Freese’s goal. City responded in the 56th minute through Nicolás Fernández Mercau, who wriggled into space inside the area and forced Barraza into a sharp save.
The lively playmaker tested him again six minutes later, earning a corner from which Andrés Perea saw a drive blocked as the hosts kept up the pressure.
Despite controlling large spells of possession, City were stung in the 77th minute when Pirani struck again. Released by a threaded pass from Christian Benteke, he burst clear of Haak and coolly slotted beyond Freese to complete his brace.
Jansen turned to his bench in search of a response, introducing Agustín Ojeda for Wolf before sending on Julián Fernández in place of Kevin O’Toole five minutes later.
City almost found their equalizer in the 84th minute when Aiden O’Neill let fly from distance. His shot took a wicked deflection, wrong-footing Barraza, but the goalkeeper reacted sharply to palm it behind for a corner.
New York City pushed hard until the final whistle, but could not find an equalizer and were forced to settle for a disappointing 2-1 defeat at home.
