{"id":609907,"date":"2026-02-23T07:22:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T07:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/609907\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T07:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T07:22:25","slug":"nycfc-ties-la-galaxy-in-season-opener-as-nicolas-fernandez-scores-on-penalty-kick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/609907\/","title":{"rendered":"NYCFC ties LA Galaxy in season opener as Nicolas Fernandez scores on penalty kick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CARSON, Calif. \u2014 Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez scored on a penalty kick in the second half and New York City FC tied the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-1 in a season opener on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 30,510 at Dignity Health Sports Park.<\/p>\n<p>Newcomer Jo\u00e3o\u00a0Klauss needed 90 seconds\u00a0to win the hearts of Galaxy fans, scoring with assists from Marco Reus and Joseph Paintsil for a 1-0 lead. LA worked a cash-for-player trade with St. Louis City to acquire Klauss on a 1-year deal, hoping he\u2019ll ease the loss of superstar Riqui Puig for a second straight season after complications from a torn ACL.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38573859\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/nicol-s-fern-ndez-7-122036163.jpg\" alt=\"Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez and Tayvon Gray of New York City FC celebrating a penalty kick goal against the LA Galaxy.\" class=\"wp-image-38573859\"  \/>Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez (r.) celebrates after scoring during NYCFC\u2019s Feb. 22 game. MLS via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles maintained the lead until Emiro Garces was sent off the field for a second yellow card, setting up a successful PK for Fern\u00e1ndez that tied it in the 66th minute and left the Galaxy a man short. Fern\u00e1ndez scored five goals in 19 appearances with L.A. last season.<\/p>\n<p>Novak Micovic did not have a save in his 25th career start for the Galaxy \u2014 20 of them coming last season when the 24-year-old allowed 37 goals.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Freese, the reigning goalkeeper of the year, saved six shots for NYCFC \u2014 four in the first half. Freese had eight clean sheets in 31 starts last season on his way to the award.<\/p>\n<p>NYCFC <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/29\/sports\/nycfc-routed-by-lionel-messi-inter-miami-as-playoff-run-ends\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">is coming off a loss to eventual MLS Cup champion Inter Miami<\/a> in the Eastern Conference Final last season.<\/p>\n<p>The Galaxy are hoping to rebound from a disastrous season that saw them endure a league-record 16-match winless streak \u2014 one year after beating the New York Red Bulls to win the MLS Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARSON, Calif. \u2014 Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez scored on a penalty kick in the second half and New York City&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":609908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337,6656,29097,221,62],"class_list":{"0":"post-609907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-mls","14":"tag-new-york-city-fc","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116118745624950627","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}