NYCFC's three goals against San Diego FC give them their first 2025 CVI win | OneFootball

On Saturday, New York City FC played the second match of the Coachella Valley Invitational, or CVI. They first played Sporting Kansas City, in which the fixture ended in a 0-0 draw. Despite no goals, the Pigeons had some promising play during the 90 minutes under the California sun.

In the second game, the Boys in Blue played San Diego FC, who is about to begin their first season in Major League Soccer. Hence, the Pigeons wanted to welcome them to the league even though it was a preseason battle. So, NYCFC did just that, dominating most of the fixture to win 3-1. As a result, they are now 2-0-2 in the preseason.

Notably, the team won with a few non-starters in the Starting XI. Draft pick Nicholas Cavallo and Homegrown Jonathan Shore received the opportunity to impress Pascal Jansen. Justin Haak, who is aiming to take over James Sands' spot, also earned another start. Then, Mounsef Bakrar, who has been criticized due to his lack of goals for NYCFC, started up front with Alonso Martínez and Hannes Wolf. Subsequently, Martínez started on the wings, which is his natural position.

NYCFC's CVI match against San Diego was fantastic

As a whole, the game itself was a fun watch. Both teams desired to win and had attacking opportunities throughout the fixture. However, NYCFC was more dominant, and it showed by the three goals that were scored. They were all great ones too.

Martínez opened up the scoring in the 28th minute, scoring the side's first 2025 CVI goal. The Costa Rican, while playing on the wings, scored a striker's goal after Tayvon Gray sent a perfect pass to him. Martínez was in front of the goal, and easily tapped the ball in to level the game, for San Diego took the lead almost ten minutes earlier thanks to Paddy McNair's header.

Thankfully, that would not be the only goal, and NYCFC took the lead in the 39th minute. The often-struggling Bakrar found the back of the net thanks to Martínez. This time, the Costa Rican fed the striker Bakrar, who was also in the right spot as a striker should be, and easily put the ball into the back of the net.

The best and final goal of the afternoon came from Martínez in the 65th minute. The forward scored his second of the night, a curler from outside of the box.

Seeing the striker pick right back up from last year is a great thing to see. Hopefully, the NYCFC player will continue to score goals like this during the regular season.

Overall, the win over San Diego was a thrilling one. There were some shaky moments defensively, but that should be tightened up once Thiago Martins can play again. There were also missed chances that should have been converted, but at least the Pigeons scored three times. Such matches were often rare in 2024.