New York City FC are looking to take their forward momentum to the next level after opening the 2025 season with a draw against Inter Miami. That will have to be done in a difficult fixture that sees City remain on the road as they travel to BMO Stadium and play Los Angeles FC. Their effort will require a steely mindset that new head coach Pascal Jansen is looking to ingrain in his club.
“The approach from a mental aspect doesn’t chance,” said Jansen during his preseason press conference. “What I’m focused on is trying to get a bulletproof mindset and a bulletproof approach in each and every game that we go into. From that angle, it doesn’t change much going into the LA game.”
City showed much of that desire and winning mentality when they took many pundits’ favorite team Inter Miami to the limit. Despite falling behind early, the team battled back, earned a red card that saw them push the game and nearly win the contest. A late stoppage time goal salvaged a point for Miami but gave City and their fans much to anticipate in 2025.
LAFC will be a different task. While Miami is surrounded by legendary talent it is a more youthful and physical club that will take the field on Saturday. Head coach Steve Cherundolo won a hard-fought first game last week, 1-0, over Minnesota United and then another 1-0 win over Colorado Rapids in the Concacaf Champions Cup. They team has already been thrown into the grinder of midweek fixtures and should be ready to play at their highest level.
“I think what we feel and what maybe the people saw already is that we play with more intensity,” said winger Hannes Wolf about the team’s new mentality after one week. “I think we try to play a little bit more direct. If we have space, we want to go to goal. I think we did a good job in attacking against Miami, but there’s still a lot to improve.”
City will hope to accomplish that tonight against LAFC in a late-night game for East coast fans, a 10:30 start time for the Pigeons.
photo by Jordan Bank