Another chapter in the heated Boston-New York sports rivalry will be ignited this weekend as the New England Revolution seek their first victory of the 2025 Major League Soccer campaign when they face New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
Last weekend, the Pigeons won their first match of the campaign, 2-1 against Orlando City, while New England were beaten 2-0 by the Philadelphia Union.
Match preview
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The Boys in Blue finally got in the win column last weekend and deservedly so, firing nine efforts on target to claim a narrow victory.
It was the first triumph for Pascal Jansen as an MLS head coach in the regular season, with three of this team's goals in 2025 occurring in the final 45 minutes.
On Saturday, they can extend their unbeaten run at home to four matches in the regular season, winning their last two home games of the 2024 regular season at Red Bull Arena.
In 2024, this team only suffered one defeat at Yankee Stadium (3-2 to the Columbus Crew), and a victory this weekend would match their longest domestic winning run in the Bronx from last season (two).
NYCFC have won their last three regular-season affairs when drawing first blood and have not lost in this competition when doing so since August 2024 (4-2 defeat to the Columbus Crew).
They have not been beaten in their last five competitive fixtures against New England and have not lost any of their previous five home games versus the Revs across all competitions.
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It has been another difficult start to an MLS campaign in Greater Boston, with the Revolution one of three sides in the Eastern Conference without a victory thus far.
Caleb Porter's men made some bold moves in the off-season, parting ways with three of their top four MLS goalscorers last year, Giacomo Vrioni (nine goals), Bobby Wood (four goals) and Esmir Bajraktarevic (three goals).
Without those three this team have suffered a lot early on this season and are the only side in the league that have yet to find the back of the net.
Dating back to the previous campaign, the Revs are winless in their last seven MLS affairs, six of which ended in defeat for the 2021 Supporters' Shield winners.
The Revs have collected just a single point in their previous seven MLS away contests, claiming a 0-0 draw at Nashville SC in their 2025 season opener.
Not since July 2022 have they won a domestic away game versus a New York-based club, defeating the New York Red Bulls 3-2, while they have not won at Yankee Stadium since October 2020, when they beat NYCFC 2-1.
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Team News
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In their victory over Orlando City, the Pigeons were missing Andres Perea with a sore hip, while Malachi Jones and Tayvon Gray were sidelined due to leg injuries.
New York will be without Kevin O'Toole on Saturday after the team's left-back received a pair of cautions in the latter stages of last week's second half.
Alonso Martinez picked up his team-leading second goal of the season in their previous encounter, with the winner coming courtesy of Hannes Wolf two minutes after the Lions had equalised.
Matt Polster was an unused substitute for the Revs last week as he is recovering from a thigh issue, while Peyton Miller was sidelined with a groin strain and Tomas Chancalay sat out because of a knee problem.
The Revs will be minus their big off-season signing, Leonardo Campana for the next few weeks, with the Ecuadorian suffering a hamstring strain early into their game against the Union and Maxi Urruti taking his place after only 10 minutes.
Midfielder Noel Buck made his first MLS appearance for New England last weekend since being loaned to Premier League side Southampton in 2024, while Luis Diaz came off the bench for a third successive occasion, replacing Luca Langoni in the second half.
New York City FC possible starting lineup:
Freese; Ilenic, Martins, Risa, Cavallo; Parks, Haak; Fernandez, Moralez, Wolf; Martinez
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Ivacic; Feingold, Ceballos, Fofana, Sands; Yueill, Polster; Langoni, Gil, Ganago; Urruti
We say: New York City FC 2-0 New England Revolution
Carles Gil is among the best playmakers in the league, but without a consistent, quality attacker, his contributions will not help the Revs, who face an elite goalkeeper in Matt Freese this weekend and and a proven goalscorer in Martinez.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
