In their penultimate preseason outing against the Colorado Rapids, NYCFC opted to once more field a squad mostly of young players in what would be be their last official matchup in their first ever appearance in the Desert Diamond Cup. And much like their previous showings against the Houston Dynamo and the rival Red Bulls, City seemed to lack the cohesion and creativity to put themselves past their opposition, failing to give fans that extra bit of excitement they desperately crave heading into the 2017 season.
New York City lined up as follows:
GK: Eirik Johansen
DEF: Shannon Gomez, Fredric Brillant, Ben Sweat, Kwame Awuah
MID: John Stertzer, Andrea Pirlo, Tommy McNamara (c)
FWD: Khiry Shelton, Sean Okoli, Jalen Brown
Striker and captain David Villa was unavailable for selection due to red card suspension.