Matchday 34: New York City vs Seattle at Citi Field

It’s Matchday 34, and New York City FC are home at Citi Field for a Decision Day matchup with Seattle Sounders in a battle of the 5th Place teams from the Eastern and Western Conferences.

NYCFC fans and players will be watching the league scorelines all night. New York City could climb to 4th Place if Charlotte FC stumble at home against Philadelphia Union, or could fall to 6th Place if results don’t go their way — we run down through all the Decision Day scenarios here.

Seattle have less at stake, and will finish the season in 5th Place, no matter the result today.

Chris Penso will be refereeing a New York City game for the second time this season. He oversaw the 1-0 loss to CF Montréal on May 10 in Matchday 12, but Hudson River Blue readers had no issues with his officiating, handing Penso a 6.1 rating.

NYCFC historically have done well in the final game of the season, posting just two losses in 10 Decision Days. The first came in the inaugural 2015 season, when the expansion side didn’t get much right on the field. The other came just last year, when they were shut out 2-0 by CF Montréal at Stade Saputo — not only did it end an eight-year Decision Day undefeated streak, it sent the team to a 6th Place finish.

New York City FC | Decision Day Record

The last Decision Day to be played at Citi Field took place in 2023. New York City beat Chicago Fire 1-0 on a second-half goal from Julián Fernández that night, but Charlotte and New York Red Bulls also won, grabbing the final two playoff spots as NYCFC finished in 11th Place in the East.

Still, Fernández scored a peach of a goal:

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New York City vs Seattle H2H

The record between these two clubs is dead even: Both sides have three wins and one draw in seven played, with 11 goals scored and 11 allowed.

They faced each other once per year from 2015 to 2019 in league play, but that stopped as more teams joined MLS and there were fewer meetings between East and West. Seattle’s sole win in New York City came way back in May of 2015, when little baby NYCFC were just nine games into their inaugural season. Mehdi Ballouchy evened the score for New York City in that game with his second-ever goal for the club, but then Seattle retook the lead behind Clint Dempsey. Good times.

These teams last played each other in 2022, when they faced off in the CONCACAF Champions League (now the Concacaf Champions Cup). Seattle decisively won the first leg at Lumen Field by the score of 3-1, then flopped their way to a 1-1 draw the following week at Red Bull Arena (now Sports Illustrated Stadium). New York City took 25 shots that night, with 19 from inside the box and eight on target. But Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei was a superhero between the sticks, making seven saves in a Player of the Match performance.

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New York City Scouting Report

• Player Availability: Winger Malachi Jones (leg) and midfielder Keaton Parks (blood flow issues), remain Out.
• Nico Cavallo is available for the first time since late July. The backup left-back will give Head Coach Pascal Jansen more options off the bench.
• How badly does Jansen want to win this game? One litmus test will be if Aiden O’Neill is in the Starting XI. Jansen is at risk of overplaying him – O’Neill is now into his 14th month of nonstop soccer, logging 5,158 minutes across all competitions after going the full 90′ in both of Australia’s friendlies over the international break – but he’s essential to NYCFC’s form.
• New York City need a result to climb to 4th Place and earn home-field advantage in Round One, but they also need Charlotte to drop points at home against Philadelphia.
• Alonso Martínez is looking good after a mild injury troubled him for several weeks. The striker bagged a first-half brace for Costa Rica in their win over El Salvador in a World Cup Qualifier on Monday. It was a best-case appearance for Alonso: Score early and often, sit out the second half. If he scores against Seattle, Martínez will set the single-season MLS goal record for a player from Costa Rica – he’s currently tied at 17 with a past Tico star in MLS, Alvaro Saborio of Real Salt Lake, who scored 17 during the 2012 season.

Seattle Scouting Report

• Player Availability: Winger Paul Arriola (ACL), winger Ryan Kent (hamstring), Defender Yeimar Gomez Andrade (muscle), defender Kee-Hee Kim (calf) are OUT.
• Seattle’s 52 points mark the lowest total since 2022, when the club missed out on the playoffs but won the CONCACAF Champions League.
• Looking to learn more about the Sounders? Be sure to read Oppo Research: 5 Things about Seattle Sounders, in which Jeremiah Oshan of Sounder at Heart spills the tea on a squad that have underperformed this year, but that are still capable of beating any team in the league.

Oppo Research: 5 Things about Seattle Sounders

A Sounders that used 45 different lineups in their 46 games played are once again battling injuries as they get ready to face New York City FC at Citi Field in Decision Day 2025.

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