New York City FC

2015: As the MLS approached its 20th season, plans to grow the league continued with the hopes of putting a second team in New York, to play in of New York’s five boroughs. However, talks to put a team in Queens next to Citi Field fizzled when Owners of the New York Mets were involved in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. New York’s other baseball team, the Yankees, would pick up the slack and partner with Manchester City to create New York City Football Club. Initially, the team would play at Yankee Stadium, with plans to build a soccer-specific stadium down the road. NYC FC coached by Jason Kreis made its debut on March 8th, facing fellow newcomer Orlando City at the Citrus Bowl. Things looked good early as Mix Diskerud scored in the 76th minute to give New York a 1-0 lead. In injury time, Kaka would score, forcing NYC FC to settle for a 1-1 draw. A week later, New York City FC would make their home debut at chilly Yankee Stadium with 43,507 fans on hand at Yankee Stadium to see NYC stun the New England Revolution 2-0 on goals by David Villa and Patrick Mullins. There wasn’t much to cheer about after that as a 0-7-3 stretch stuffed NYCFC down the standings of the East. The team’s stars such as Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, and Frank Lampard arrived in midseason, and by that point, it was too late for them to make a difference as NYCFC ended their first season with an eighth-place record of 10-17-7.

2016: With new coach Patrick Vieira on board, the City would have a hard time getting a footing. After winning their first match against Chicago, NYCFC struggled after that, tying four and losing three. Then came a four-match winning streak in the summer, which helped vault them to the upper end of the East. NYC would overcome some defensive inconsistencies to finish in second place at15-10-9, three points in back of the Red Bulls. But in the conference semifinals, the season would come to a screeching halt as they were destroyed by Toronto FC 7-0 on aggregate.

2017: The season would begin at a steady pace for New York City with a 5-3-1 mark. After winning four in a row through June, Andrea Pirlo would be benched in favor of Alexander Ring and Yangel Herrera. While the move didn’t lead to strong play, it helped the club’s chemistry to enough wins for playoff positioning. Maxi Morales had a tough time helping NYC to replace Frank Lampard, and the offense dried up to finish the season on a 1-2-4 slide, but to another second-place finish of 16-9-9. The City’s season would come crashing to a halt in the East Semifinals, losing to Columbus Crew SC 4-3 on aggregate.

2018: Things looked good early on in the Bronx as NYCFC opened up the season with a 5-0-2 stretch, before going through an up and down segment in the late spring and early summer. Despite some inconsistency at the end of the summer, the club was able to do enough to end up in third place in the East at 16-10-8. As usual, David Villa led the way with 14 goals. The team would easily dispatch the Philadelphia Union in the Knockout Round, 3-1. But they would get demolished by eventual champions Atlanta United FC in the semis 4-1 on aggregate.

2019: Even with the loss of captain David Villa who left the club to play in Japan, New York City remained determined to capture an elusive championship. And they would once again get off to a roaring start, losing only one game in their first 16, including an unbeaten run of 12 matches, to establish themselves as the class of the East. Heber with 15 goals and Alexandru Mitriță with 13 helped the club to another top seed in the East playoffs at 18-6-10. With the Yankees playing in the American League Championship Series this year, Yankee Stadium would be unavailable for the playoffs, forcing NYCFC to Queens and Citi Field for their showdown with Toronto FC. There, the season would come to another disappointing end as TFC’s Alejandro Pozuelo deposited a last-minute penalty kick to break a 1-1 tie to send his team onto the next round.