NEW YORK – He was a small red and white signature in a sea of sky and navy blues, but Jason Goldman's Thierry Henry New York Red Bulls No. 14 kit and Red Bulls scarf stood out in what is now considered enemy territory. Not long ago, it was still home turf.

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Goldman has long been a Red Bulls fan, and he made it clear in no uncertain terms that this happy party was a farce. It was empty, it had no heart and these fans weren't real. Not by his standards. True soccer fans in New York City hopped on the Red Bulls bandwagon long ago. Now, these posers are compromising everything his team has built.

"In a way, I do feel threatened, but I feel like fake soccer fans are going to NYCFC," Goldman said an hour before New York City FC played its first home game at Yankee Stadium against the New England Revolution on Sunday. "Real soccer fans joined Red Bulls a while back, but these soccer fans joined NYCFC because they have a lot of money that they can use to support big-time players."

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So why come out and witness the charade? As the stadium began to fill up, Goldman sat in the first row of the second level with a prime view to a new era, which NYCFC kicked off with a 2-0 victory over the Revs before a crowd of 43,507. He doesn't know what it will bring, but he knows things will never be the same again.

"It's a historic moment in New York soccer history, so I can't miss it even though I hate NYCFC," Goldman said. "I still like the Red Bulls. I just can't miss this game."

A block away at Billy's Sports Bar, Giuseppe Rossitto and members of The Third Rail, NYCFC's first independent supporter's club, were throwing their first pregame party, a day that was two years in the making for the earliest members. Rossitto is a lifelong soccer fan and admits he could have been a supporter of the Red Bulls – an original MLS franchise that began as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars – if it had ever felt right.

"I watched MetroStars, and I never got into it. And most of it, even though it's kind of messed up, is how far it was across the river," Rossitto said. "When you're [in the Bronx], everything is convenient to you. I just never felt like I was part of the identity over there, especially when Red Bull bought the team and changed the name. Their own fans don't even like their ownership. I actually think, give them 10 years, and they're gonna go away."

Such is the hubris of the baby-faced fans of a club spawned by two of the world's most powerful sports brands, Manchester City and the New York Yankees. The pregame party was packed at Billy's amid thumping house music and hundreds of freshly poured pints. Outside on River Avenue, fans were mugging for cameras and chanting "N-Y-C!" while jumping up and down.

Ninety minutes before kickoff, the Third Rail marched as a group for the first time to Yankee Stadium, their home for the foreseeable future. A soccer specific home won't be here anytime soon, and the team's second marquee star, Frank Lampard, won't arrive until he finishes Man City's Premier League season.

On Sunday afternoon, the uncertainty of the future didn't matter. A new home will (hopefully) come. New players, too. But that's a worry for another day.

"Right now, we're just enjoying it, trying to win the game, the [MLS] Cup," Rossitto said. "[The stadium situation] is in the back of our minds because we don't want to hear it from the Yankee fans or the Yankees. We want our own identity. And we're very restricted from bringing in drums and banners. Soccer is supposed to have those things. We're going to be limited there. We'll actually be more free to do those things when we're away as opposed to home."

The NYCFC fans came prepared and played their part. They raised two tifos, one with the supporters' group's logo and another that read "Our City. Our Club." The first chant that filled the stadium was the popular droning of "Seven Nation Army" and the partial Yankees DNA made an appearance when, for every "Rev-o-lu-tion!" chant from the New England section, the stadium resoundingly tacked on "Sucks!"

Will fans in Dortmund or Liverpool or even Portland be taking cues from those in the left-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium? Not yet. But it was more than enough for fans committed to the club to feel satisfied with their first home match.

"Of course I think everyone dreams and thinks about what this kind of opportunity could look like and what this match could look like, and I would say that it fulfilled my dreams," New York City head coach Jason Kreis said. "You couldn't ask for a better result against a very good team, and we couldn't ask for better support from our crowd. And also, the Revolution crowd, I thought it was quite outstanding that they had a large section there that was very vocal.

"There were a lot of positive signs about the direction this is headed. It's fantastic."

The conditions were windy and cold, and it took at least 10 minutes into the match for the crowd to warm up as a whole, literally and figuratively. The lulls that came early in the first half disappeared under the dull roar that started with David Villa's goal in the 19th minute and peaked with Patrick Mullins' hammer blow on the end of a brilliant Villa pass in the 84th minute.

Stationed directly in front of the home supporters during the second half, New York City goalkeeper Josh Saunders perhaps paid the ultimate compliment to these new devotees of the sky blue and white.

"There wasn't one moment I could point to that stood out," Saunders said. "It was just loud the entire time."

Goldman, the Red Bulls fan, was here to watch the glitzy new neighbors move in, but he's more concerned about D.C. United coming to town next Sunday and watching alongside fans he deems worthy. Supporters he feels made a commitment these new fans were afraid to. He wears those clashing bulls on his chest like a badge of honor. D.C. United has earned the hate, and Goldman doesn't see how that will change.

"Who cares about NYCFC?" Goldman said. "They're a bunch of fake soccer fans."

It's not hard to understand his sentiment, but it's undeniable that NYCFC and a suddenly thriving following are turning the Hudson River into a border. The skirmish is just beginning.

Maybe people bought tickets because the club is the shiniest new toy in an obsessive sports town. Maybe only a small fraction will still be here in the dog days of August. Maybe this club really is Manchester City light. Maybe they don't have a permanent home. Maybe they're just a feeder club for a European giant happy to pluck new fans from a new market.

"You know what? We're feeders to one of the greatest teams in Europe," Rossitto said. "I'd rather be feeders to them than feeders to an energy drink company."

Red Bulls fans can call NYCFC fans fake. But the threat is real.