New York City FC’s hopes of advancing in the U.S. Open Cup tournament were dashed Wednesday night in a 1-0 loss in the quarterfinals to the Columbus Crew, ending their hopes of securing at least one of three trophies this season.
Max Arfsten’s goal in the 59th minute was the death blow for NYCFC, which had been riding a high with wins in three of their past four MLS matches, including one over Columbus.
Advertisement
Nevertheless, the Crew dominated possession Wednesday night and put eight shots on target, while New York City FC failed to record one.
“There’s one minor mistake in defensive principle that we don’t have it 100 percent and we get punished for that moment,” NYCFC head coach Pascal Jansen said about the difference for his team in the loss.
“Which is a sad thing, because I think even though they had a little more possession than we did at one point in the game, it was an unnecessary goal to concede.”
Arfsten scored what would be the game-winning goal from inside the box after a stutter-step move to shake the NYCFC defender and then blasted the shot past Matt Freese.
Advertisement
New York City FC has not gone further than the quarterfinals in the U.S. Open Cup in the club’s history and would have put them a step closer to winning a major trophy. NYCFC had been coming out of a rough stretch that saw them go winless in league play from the middle of March into May.
“When you lose a game the way we did tonight, we’re all sad because we were all very focused on putting ourselves in a good position to go to the semifinal. That is something that we didn’t achieve,” Jansen said. “We’re very sad that we were not able to get closer to winning a trophy, because once you’re in the quarterfinal, it’s just a few games away to get yourself in the final and compete for that trophy, so that’s the sad thing from today.”
Max Arfsten of the Columbus Crew celebrates a goal with teammates during the second half of the quarterfinals in the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup against the New York City FC at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field on May 20, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Getty Images
Jansen was asked directly if he felt his club had the roster to compete for a trophy this season, and the NYCFC coach sidestepped the question.
Advertisement
NYCFC entered the match down a key player in Maxi Moralez, who was injured in the club’s 1-1 draw with Red Bull New York on Saturday.
They lost another player in warmups after Keaton Parks had a groin issue flare up, forcing Jansen to turn to Johnny Shore to start in his place.
The NYCFC coach did not have an update on the status of Moralez, and when asked by The Post about the injuries that have occurred during warmups — Talles Magno had also been injured before a match earlier this season — he hinted that the condensed schedule played a part in the circumstances.
“When you have to play multiple games in a short period of time, that puts more pressure on the roster in general,” Jansen said.
““So we just have to find out what’s going on with [Parks] in this moment and try to prevent it from happening again.”
