ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Simon Becher scored twice in the second half as ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ City SC closed out the public portion of its preseason with a 3-1 win over New York City FC at the Coachella Valley Invitational in Indio, California on Wednesday.

Marcel Hartel scored nine minutes into the game to give City SC an early lead that it held for the duration.

City SC has two wins, a loss and two ties in its preseason, with a closed-door scrimmage against San Jose on Saturday at Coachella. City SC’s third season begins for real on Feb. 22 at Energizer Park against the Colorado Rapids.

It was probably the best offensive game of the preseason for City SC, which hadn't scored more than one goal in its four previous games.

"I think throughout the game we looked dangerous, we created a lot of chances," said coach Olof Mellberg. "We should have probably scored a couple of more goals, but happy with all the chances we created today."

Hartel, serving as captain in the first half as Roman Burki got the game off, one-timed in a cross from Akil Watts from about 8 yards out to put City SC ahead as it came out strongly against NYCFC. NYCFC almost tied the game in the 26th minute on a shot that went off the crossbar.

"I think the first 30 minutes," Hartel said, "we played a very, very good first half. We tried to play out from the back. We were good on the ball, with the ball, against the ball, we defended very well, especially the first 30 minutes was very good and the last 15 minutes was a bit too passive, especially the defense against the ball, but for me, it was a very good game for me in total."

Mellberg changed almost his entire lineup at the half, and Becher headed in a pass from trialist Alfredo Morales in the 67th minute to make it 2-0, with a buildup that included good plays from Rasmus Alm and Cam Cilley. It looked like NYCFC had cut the lead in half in the 75th minute but the offside flag went up late to negate the goal. Four minutes later, Celio Pompeu finished a nice run with a cross to Becher for a goal that went in off an NYCFC defender that made it 3-0. NYCFC scored on a free kick in the 86th minute.

"We conceded two or three chances, not happy with that," Mellberg said, "but created more than our opponents."

Becher almost scored a third goal in the final seconds of the match but his shot at an open net from a tight angle went just wide.

Timo Baumgartl was the only player to go the full 90 minutes.