New York City FC player ratings are determined by Hudson River Blue readers — here are your NYCFC player ratings for the 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati, in which the visitors from New York City were missing nine players and proved no match for Luciano Acosta and the reigning Supporters’ Shield winners.
New York City FC was depleted by international call-ups, injuries, and a key suspension when it traveled to face FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium, and the performance reflected the many bits of adversity faced by the visiting team.
The New York City players who were available for the team’s third road match of the 2024 season put in a solid effort and never looked overmatched by what was a nearly-full-strength Cincinnati squad.
It felt like something of a small victory that NYCFC neutralized Cincinnati’s attack for as long as it did, and that was due in large part to some critical saves made by New York City goalkeeper Matt Freese. In the end, reigning MLS MVP Luciano Acosta created and finished off the match’s one moment of creative brilliance, scoring in the 57th minute to decide things in FC Cincinnati’s favor.
This week’s ratings reflect both Freese’s brilliance in goal, and that it was another flat, limp, ineffective attacking performance for New York City FC while playing outside of New York City.
The attacking “front three” deployed by Nick Cushing—Hannes Wolf, Santíago Rodriguez, Julián Fernández—couldn’t make anything happen against a Cincinnati defense anchored by reigning MLS Defender of the Year Matt Miazga.
None of the team’s attacking reinforcements brought in off the bench—Malachi Jones, Alonso Martínez, Agustín Ojeda—could solve the Cincy puzzle, resulting in a third consecutive away defeat to begin 2024, and a fourth NYCFC loss out of five games played.
Read on to see who earned Player of the Match honors and who got the highest, and lowest, grades in the disappointing but not all too surprising road defeat.
Santiago Rodríguez – 5.7
Hannes Wolf (off 67′) – 5
Julián Fernández (off 67′) – 5.3
James Sands – 5.7
Andrés Perea – 5.5
Andres Jasson – 4.8
Kevin O’Toole – 5.4
Thiago Martins – 5.1
Birk Risa – 4.9
Strahinja Tanasijević – 4.0
Matt Freese – 7.7
Justin Haak (on 52′) – 4.7
Alonso Martínez (on 67′) – 5.2
Malachi Jones (on 67′) – 5.9
Agustín Ojeda (on 78′) – 4.4
Player Spotlight
This marked the first appearance and first start with New York City for 26-year-old Serbian defender Strahinja Tanasijević, and his first impression left a lot to be desired according to your ratings.
Tanasijević received a player-low 4.0 rating, a harsh welcome for someone getting his very first taste of MLS action against one of the tougher teams the league has to offer.
To the naked eye, Tanasijević seemed slightly out of sync with his teammates, which might have best been reflected in his 75% pass completion percentage.
He also seemed to be pushing it as far as his tackling and aggression on the pitch, as he lost the most duels of any player in the match (nine) and committed three fouls, seeming lucky to escape a 90-minute shift without receiving a yellow card.
It was a rocky debut, which might have been somewhat expected, but he also wasn’t helped by being deployed on the same side of the field that was meant to be patrolled by Andres Jasson, filling in as a makeshift right-wingback with Tayvon Gray and Mitja Ilenič both with their national teams. Tanasijević and Jasson were targeted by Cincinnati, and it was a struggle at times for both, which our readers picked up on—Jasson’s 4.8 was the second-lowest rating given to any NYCFC starter.
Initial struggles aside, this doesn’t figure to be the last we see of Tanasijević in the New York City defense. Both Birk Risa and Kevin O’Toole were substituted out of the Cincinnati match early with injury concerns and seem questionable at best for NYCFC’s trip to Ft. Lauderdale to face Inter Miami CF.
The voters might not have loved their first impression of New York City’s newest defensive signing, but Tanasijević might be right back out there up against Luis Suárez and company, hoping for a first clean sheet of the 2024 season, however unlikely that might be, when the team travels to South Florida.
Nick Cushing – 3.6
Cushing was in a tough spot heading into this match, knowing Keaton Parks was suspended, while his first- and second-choice strikers and right-backs were unavailable due to international call-ups. His decision to switch to a three-at-the-back defensive setup seemed to be a safer, conservative move made in search of a gritty, low-scoring road draw.
That plan almost worked, with New York City’s defense holding strong and buoyed by some timely goalkeeping, but a clean sheet remained elusive and out of reach for Cushing’s team. That it felt like a 0-0 draw was New York City’s best-case scenario for this game feels like an indictment of how Cushing set the team up, but also, he had very few alternatives given the nine absentees from his first-team roster.
Rafael Bonilla – 4.6
The replacement refs had a messy weekend, with the Charlotte FC-Columbus Crew match particularly shambolic, but Rafael Bonilla was not exempt from the shenanigans. Cincinnati’s Kipp Keller looked to have opened the scoring off a corner kick in the first half, but a lengthy VAR review disallowed the goal for offside. Bonilla also awarded a penalty kick to Cincinnati deep in second-half stoppage time for a handball that never occurred, a call that was eventually overturned on VAR review.
This could be written in this space every week, but, here’s hoping PRO and the Professional Soccer Referees Association strike a deal to bring back the actual, non-replacement refs very soon.
Player of the Match
Matt Freese
New York City’s goalkeeper has now won the title of Hudson River Blue Player of the Match for a second time. The unfortunate trend for Freese is that his POTM honors have come in two of the team’s MLS-high four losses, a depressing consolation prize as the team’s early-season struggles continue.
Freese was the main reason this final scoreline was not more lopsided in Cincinnati’s favor. He made five saves, including big ones to deny Cincinnati twice in the opening 15 minutes.
His stop on Aaron Boupendza in the eighth minute denied Cincinnati on their highest expected goal opportunity of the match (0.60 xG for that shot). He’d repeat the feat a few minutes later in the 13th minute, turning aside another dangerous effort this time from Luca Orellano.
Had the hosts opened the scoring so early, New York City might not have stuck around and had a fighting chance to equalize or take a shock lead for as long as it did. A lot of things have not worked so far in 2024 for NYCFC, but Matt Freese has consistently been one of the club’s top performers. He’d probably trade in his two Player of the Match honors on our website for two more wins and six more points for his team, though.
1. still feelin’ hard to cope the fan’s dislike of Haak. let me be straight if i may. w/o the enforcement of him, this game could easily has been like 2 or 3:0. he got bulkier (y’all remember the time we called the tiny timid boys ‘home grown’ in the likes of Jimmy, Justin, Tayvon and Andres etc?). in fact, Justin is one of those few ‘grown up’. sad his passing ability is not as sharp as the even low MLS standard “YET” but he really started showing his potential alongside his ‘homegrown’ mate Tayvon. he doesn’t deserve a hate IMO. 2. let’s talk about the STAT. IIRC, we’ve had one or two win on the road since Cushing the skipper era. being able to win on the road—doesn’t matter whether it’s St Louis, TFC or RBA. it’s an away game no matter what that’s comprised of the half of the schedule, and EVERY TEAM has disadvantage regardless how hard it can be—is one prominent reason not being able to be an elite team. do we hate Philly Union or NJRB? they win or keep draw in the worst hardest away games. WITH FUCKIN GUTS. we don’t deserve to hate ’em yet and it’s EMBARRASSING. among more than a few freakin’ reasons not to trust Cushing the skipper any more is HE HASN’T SHOWN THE BALLS TO TAKE THE AWAY GAMES SERIOUSLY—by always seemingly aiming for a draw at the max—and no ability to make it happen. THE STAT TELLS US.
Cushing’s road record all time with NYCFC in all competitions is now 6 wins, 10 draws, 21 losses, with 5 of the wins coming in 2022 when he was interim manager.
so then it was my emotional & sentimental stat lol. sorry ;)for the defense my own, not the cups & friendlies and not one as the interim. to be awfully fair, ones with interims are for compliments always. i do respect being on an interim hence disaster-managing jobs. a daily regular official managing skipper position, however, should be classified into a different grade establishing some testament especially in such a shallow mid-level league, no? what the EFF is this team’s color? personally i don’t doubt his ‘ability’ being an ok manager. we need, at same time, a COACH with freakin balls. who can manage a bold game not aiming a draw, not tries to park a bus with one goal lead, someone who got the balls going for a thin-chance. maybe just me i know. hey come on, it’s a sport that a 15 yr boys team can beat a veteran beer league ojisan’s Motown, no?