New York City FC player ratings are determined by you, the Hudson River Blue readers: Here are the NYCFC player ratings from the wild 3-2 win over New York Red Bulls in the 32nd edition of the Hudson River Derby.
Just three days after New York City FC suffered their season-worst loss when they fell 4-0 to Inter Miami at Citi Field, the Boys in Blue bounced back with an energetic 3-2 win over New York Red Bulls in front of an announced crowd of more than 25,000 at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Your ratings reflect the positive result, with the Starting XI average coming in at 7.5.
There’s much to commend about a team that found a way to beat a Red Bulls that had just two home losses coming into this game, and did it without Alonso Martínez in the Starting XI and Matt Freese in goal at the end of the game.
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Pascal Jansen knows how to end a team meeting | Courtesy newyorkcityfc.com
Three players received season-high ratings: Nico Fernández Mercau (8.5), Andrés Perea (8.3), and Raul Gustavo (7.7). Not to be a buzzkill, but maybe Raul Gustavo’s rating should be a little higher, given that he was a defensive machine and provided the assist to Perea? After all, the FotMob bot gave him a 7.9.
No matter: We’re here to praise these New York City players. Note that two of those listed above, Nico and Raul Gusatvo, joined the team in the summer transfer window. It bodes well that they’re making important contributions in a win like this one, just as the squad gets ready to begin the playoffs.
Agustín Ojeda is your surprise choice for Player of the Match – his first since joining the club last year – despite the fact that he didn’t contribute directly to a goal. Raul Gustavo is our unsurprising choice for the Player Spotlight, considering his major contributions on both sides of the ball. And Head Coach Pascal Jansen earns his eighth rating of 8.0 or higher this season — by comparison, you gave Nick Cushing a rating of 8.0 or higher just four times in two years, once in 2023 and three times in 2024.
Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.
Michael Battista
Nico Fernández Mercau, off 90+4′ (8.2) – 8.5
Hannes Wolf, off 90+4′ (7.1) – 6.6
Agustín Ojeda (7.4) – 8.4
Maxi Moralez, off 67′ (6.5) – 6.7
Andrés Perea (8.5) – 8.3
Aiden O’Neill, off 82′ (7.2) – 7.1
Raul Gustavo (7.9) – 7.7
Tayvon Gray (6.7) – 7.2
Justin Haak (7.9) – 7.9
Thiago Martins (7.6) – 8.0
Matt Freese, off 67′ (5.5) – 6.9
Tomás Romero, on 67′ (6.4) – 7.2
Julián Fernández, on 67′ (6.7) – 7.3
Kevin O’Toole, on 82′ (N/A) – N/A
Seymour Reid, on 90+4′ (N/A) – N/A
Strahinja Tanasijević, on 90+4′ (N/A) – N/A
Player Spotlight
Raul Gustavo
For the second game in a row, we put the Player Spotlight on a center-back.
After the last match, Liam Fitzpatrick looked at the defensive contributions Thiago Martins made while holding off Inter Miami — and how it all fell apart after he was subbed off in the 73rd minute. After Saturday’s win over Red Bulls, it’s Raul Gustavo who gets the spotlight treatment.
Before we get to his assist, let’s talk about his defending. Raul Gustavo led all players on both teams with 15 defensive contributions, making 11 clearances and four tackles. The center-back made one recovery, won six out of nine ground duels, three out of six aerial duels, and committed zero fouls.
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Raul Gustavo provides his first career assist with NYCFC | Courtesy newyorkcityfc.com
And then there was that assist. It took place in the 26th minute, when Raul Gustavo carried the ball up the left, then fired a low cross that found Perea at the top of the box, and that the midfielder headed via a rainbow-like trajectory into the upper-right corner of the goal. Was that run of play intentional? It doesn’t matter: In just his third appearance for NYCFC, Raul Gustavo earned his first goal involvement while simultaneously being the most defensive-minded player on the field.
Andrew Leigh
Pascal Jansen – 8.2
Just three days after earning his lowest rating to date when you handed him a 2.8 after the loss to Miami, Jansen is handed his eighth rating of 8.0 or higher this season. There’s no doubt that you like the gaffer.
Doubt surrounded this club going into this matchup against the Red Bulls. Not only was the 4-0 loss to Miami the worst drubbing of the year, it was unclear how the team would find a way to score without Martínez in the Starting XI or on the bench.
But Jansen found a way fielding close to the same lineup that looked lost in front of goal on Wednesday night: Nico made up for his Miami miss by scoring the third-fastest goal in Hudson River Derby history, the rest of the squad added another two, and the defense found a way to close down Eric Maxim Chupo-Moting just enough to escape with a one-goal win.
Guido Gonzales Jr. – 5.1
The ref whistled 19 fouls on Red Bulls, which equals the season-high of 19 fouls that Rosendo Mendoza called on Chicago Fire in the 3-1 win on May 25 in Matchday 15.
Player of the Match
Agustín Ojeda
This decision by HRB readers to vote Ojeda the POTM comes as a welcome surprise. Usually, the player who scored the most spectacular goal gets the vote, but this time you hand the honor to a winger who didn’t get on the scoresheet but who tortured the Red Bulls defense, and who helped set the pace for the rest of his team.
Ojeda was a firecracker on Saturday night, literally running circles around Red Bulls fullback Raheem Edwards. Nico Fernández Mercau was the one who filled in for the injured Alonso Martínez at striker, but it was Ojeda who played Alonso’s role by making runs that forced open the defense and created space for the rest of the team.
Ojeda’s stats don’t capture the impact he had on the game: He created two chances, took two shots, completed three dribbles, and finished the night with a 0.28 xG + xA. Those numbers aren’t bad, but they won’t exactly break the bank.
Instead, it was his knack for tormenting the opposition that helped his team get over the line. Maybe his finest moment came late in the game, when his deft touch and ability to move in tight spaces allowed him to hold the ball in the attacking third and dribble around and through a swarm of Red Bulls defenders. The hosts had been looking like the more dangerous side for long spells of the second half, but Ojeda’s run of possession killed their momentum. It helped that it took place directly in front of the traveling supporters’ section, which gave a full-throated roar when they saw what he was doing with the ball.
It was because of moments like this one that Ojeda came out ahead in a six-player race for this honor, taking a little less than 50% of the vote to earn his first POTM since joining the club at the start of the 2024 season.
Matthew Mangam
