New York City FC player ratings are determined by you, the Hudson River Blue readers: Here are the NYCFC player ratings from the comfortable 2-0 win over Club León at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Leagues Cup‘s Phase One.
What a difference three days can make.
New York City FC players struggled across the board in the Leagues Cup-opening loss to Club Puebla and got universally bad ratings from you the Hudson River Blue readers for that performance, but the player ratings bounced back just as the club bounced back in the 2-0 win over Club León on Matchday 2 of Phase One of this year’s Leagues Cup.
Four New York City starters earned their highest individual ratings of the season for the León win, while the entire team averaged a combined 7.6 rating, among the highest numbers of the season to date. It didn’t feel like the most important win of the season, but the recovery from the Puebla loss was enough to boost these NYCFC player ratings, even if it might not be enough to ensure the team advances in Leagues Cup (blame the unforgiving new format for that).
There were only 13 players to rate this round of voting because Pascal Jansen stuck almost entirely with his Starting XI and only made two changes mid-game against León, a rarity for a coach averaging 4.4 substitutions per MLS match through 24 league games. Judging by the numbers given out by our readers, Jansen made the right call to stick with his starters, as two players scored as high as 8.8 and six starters total earned ratings at or above 8.0.
The vote for Player of the Match was extremely close and decided by one single vote – you had a tough time separating the NYCFC stars in attack and defense from this win. We also spend some time spotlighting a long-awaited breakthrough from one of the team’s promising, yet slightly disappointing, young attacking players.
Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.
Alonso Martínez, off 64′ (8.0) – 8.8
Agustín Ojeda (8.4) – 8.2
Nicolás Fernández, off 80′ (7.4) – 8.3
Maxi Moralez (6.9) – 7.9
Andrés Perea (7.7) – 7.3
Aiden O’Neill (7.2) – 7.2
Kevin O’Toole (7.2) – 7.4
Justin Haak (8.1) – 8.1
Strahinja Tanasijević (6.9) – 6.7
Tayvon Gray (7.9) – 8.0
Matt Freese (9.0) – 8.8
Julián Fernández, on 64′ (6.5) – 6.6
Seymour Reid, on 80′ (6.2) – 5.1
Player Spotlight
Agustín Ojeda
June 28, 2024 was a long time ago. That’s the date Agustín Ojeda last found the back of the net for New York City up until his goal to make it 2-0 over León at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
Ojeda has been a non-factor in the New York City attack this season. He’s appeared in all 27 matches the team played in 2025, in the Starting XI for 13 of those matches – but he entered Leagues Cup with zero goals scored and had only one shot on target in 24 MLS appearances this season.
According to Pascal Jansen after the game, Ojeda wasn’t even going to be in his Starting XI for the León match, but Hannes Wolf picked up a knock in training and didn’t feature in the squad. Ojeda chose a good time to get his first goal, and it was a goal that exemplified what this New York City attack might be capable of with a new Designated Player in the mix, and if Ojeda could once again find his shooting boots.
The early returns are very positive for Nico Fernández Mercau, who got the “hockey assist” on Ojeda’s goal, dribbling away from León defenders into free space before sliding a pass behind the defense to an unmarked Alonso Martínez, who squared a pass in front of goal for Ojeda to tuck inside the far post.
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Agustín Ojeda with his first goal in over 12 months. Video via New York City FC.
The finish snapped a 37-match streak (across all competitions) between goals for Ojeda. With two straight starts in Leagues Cup, he’s managed two shots on target – doubling his output through the regular season to date. Given Jansen can now choose between Wolf, two Fernández’s, and even Andrés Perea when it comes time to decide who starts on the wings for NYCFC, Agustín Ojeda needed a game like this to boost his confidence and make it a tougher choice for his Head Coach when it comes time to make his lineups.
Mark Radigan
It’s still an uphill climb for Ojeda to wipe away what’s been a disappointing last calendar year while playing here in New York City, with doubts still lingering over if he’s going to live up to the $5 million transfer fee NYCFC paid to sign him. Regardless, he finally had a moment to celebrate against León.
FotMob had him at 8.4 for this performance while HRB readers handed him an 8.2 rating, his highest rating of 2025 among our reader votes. If he goes off on a goal-scoring binge from here, you can point back to this finish vs León as the moment things turned for the better for Agustín Ojeda.
Pascal Jansen – 7.7
Went back to the “A” lineup for León after none of his rotation paid off in the rough loss to Puebla. Got a much-improved performance even though the team rode its luck, needing Freese to save a penalty while missing a bunch of chances to add to their two-goal lead. Jansen finally got a reward for his continued faith in Agustín Ojeda and his team looked dangerous with an attacking front led by the dual creative threats of Nico Fernández and Maxi Moralez. Maybe most importantly, he stopped the experiment of “Tayvon Gray, center-back,” moved Gray over to right-back, and saw his defense put in its best performance since losing Thiago Martins to injury. While Leagues Cup advancement might be a non-starter due to the heavy Puebla loss to open the tournament, this was still a positive step for a New York City team in the midst of a summer shuffle as the roster goes through transfer- and injury-related changes.
Reon Radix – 7.2
Player of the Match
Alonso Martínez
It was neck-and-neck between Martínez and Matt Freese for this latest Player of the Match honor, but the striker with one goal and one assist squeaked past his goalkeeper in the final vote, winning by exactly one vote and earning his seventh Player of the Match win this season.
Maybe Martínez got a bit of extra credit for his supporting role on Freese’s penalty-kick save to deny James Rodríguez of a goal that could have drastically changed the nature of this match. Freese admitted to our Matthew Mangam postgame that Alonso helped point him in the right direction as James got ready to kick from the spot – that’s what good teammates do, a second unofficial assist for Martínez in this win.
Martínez didn’t start against Puebla and was missed, with 17-year-old striker Seymour Reid not able to fill the void left by the Costa Rican who leads NYCFC in goals scored for a second straight season. Even when Martínez entered as a second-half sub against Puebla, he was highly involved, and really should have scored at least one goal in that loss.
Instead he saved it for his first Leagues Cup start, opening the scoring early off a corner kick, tapping home after a perfectly-executed flick-on header from Justin Haak. As mentioned above when discussing Ojeda’s goal to make it 2-0, Alonso also turned distributor, acting unselfishly in front of goal to tee up Ojeda.
Instrumental to both goals, Martínez earned only an 8.0 from FotMob for his 64 minutes played, but our readers had him higher at 8.8, tied for the highest rating with his PK tag-team partner Freese.
This performance continued an interesting streak in Leagues Cup for Martínez. The Costa Rican has appeared in seven straight Leagues Cup matches played by NYCFC dating back to 2024, but he’s only started three of those matches. In his three Leagues Cup starts for New York City, Martínez now has two goals and two assists. He likes getting the nod in the Starting XI during this tournament, so we’ll see if his statistical strength as a starter holds true in the Phase One finale against Deportivo Toluca.
“one good game after another bad one” regardless the opponent has been the exact pattern of this team for awhile now. what inconsistency prob i mean, lol? with 50% W probability in the rest of the season—considering the rest 50 divided by Ls & Ds, we should be fine making the mid-to high seat in the POs no? — The Positivity Tribune