Maxi Moralez scored on a penalty kick and collected two assists in a dominant first half, Keaton Parks scored twice early in the second and New York City FC continued their success in home openers with a 5-0 victory over Orlando City Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
NYCFC (2-0-1, 7 points) improved to 9-1-2 in home openers, earned its seventh clean sheet in a home opener, and played the final 70-plus minutes with a man advantage. NYCFC scored five goals in a home opener for the second time in team history (also 2021 vs. FC Cincinnati).
Agustin Ojeda scored in the 21st minute shortly after Orlando goalie Maxime Crepeau was shown a red card and tossed for handling a ball outside of the box after his foot inched over the line. Crepeau’s ejection forced Orlando to turn to Javier Otero and play the rest of the contest with 10 players.
Nicolas Fernandez scored in the 42nd and drew the foul from Orlando’s Luis Otavio that led to Moralez’s penalty kick goal.
Moralez notched his fifth career game where he was involved in at least three goals and first since collecting three assists against FC Cincinnati on June 29, 2022.
Parks added to the rout by scoring five minutes apart early in the second half following two poor clearances by Orlando. NYCFC nearly scored a sixth goal but Talles Magno was called offsides in the 74th minute.
New York’s dominating offensive display led to them holding possession for 68.2% of the contest and goalkeeper Matt Freese only needed to make one save. Freese’s lone save occurred on Duncan McGuire’s shot in the 51st and two minutes after Parks scored his first goal.
Orlando (0-3-0) is off to its first winless three-match start in team history and has been outscored 11-3 in losses to Inter Miami and the New York Red Bulls.
Shortly after Crepeau exited, NYCFC regained possession and four passes later, Ojeda blasted an off-balance right-footed shot from close range into the net after getting a pass from Moralez.
NYCFC doubled the lead in the 42nd after Fernandez blasted a header from the penalty area past Otero into the far corner of the net after getting a pass from Moralez. In the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, Moralez made it 3-0 by easily finishing off a penalty kick.
–Field Level Media
