The MLS Cup Playoffs arrived but New York City FC didn’t do much to trouble FC Cincinnati, losing 1-0 at TQL Stadium in Game 1 of this best-of-three Round One series.
It’s not hyperbole to call this a historically bad attacking performance from New York City, and your player ratings were not generous to the players held scoreless for a ninth time in MLS play this season.
This was the club’s 17th match in the MLS Cup Playoffs and NYCFC’s two shots on target were the second-fewest ever produced across that playoff history – ahead of only a 2018 home loss to Atlanta United FC in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in which Domé Torrent’s team put zero of its eight attempted shots on target.
When looking at 2024 results, this was the most anemic match of New York City’s MLS season from the perspective of expected goals (xG). NYCFC posted 0.3 xG in this loss, the lowest expected goals number in an MLS match in 2024 – while Cincinnati was credited with 3.3 xG, the second-highest opponent xG NYCFC allowed in an MLS match this season.
That it remained only a 1-0 scoreline in Cincinnati’s favor was thanks to another incredible showing from Matt Freese in goal, who earned yet another Player of the Match for the latest in what’s been a season full of standout performances.
These ratings liked Freese’s game but didn’t like what was seen from the rest of New York City’s team. No non-Freese player rated higher than a 6.1, with the Starting XI averaging a middling 5.3 for their collective efforts at TQL Stadium.
Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.
Alonso Martínez, off 87′ (6.3) – 5.1
Santiago Rodríguez (4.8) – 4.8
Hannes Wolf, off 62′ (6.2) – 4.2
Andrés Perea, off 87′ (6.9) – 6.1
Keaton Parks, off 76′ (6.6) – 4.6
James Sands (6.6) – 5.8
Tayvon Gray (6.3) – 4.2
Kevin O’Toole (6.6) – 4.8
Thiago Martins (6.4) – 5.8
Birk Risa (6.9) – 5.8
Matt Freese (8.6) – 7.0
Maxi Moralez, on 62′ (6.5) – 5.5
Julián Fernández, on 67′ (6.6) – 4.7
Jovan Mijatović, on 87′ (n/a) – 3.8
Mounsef Bakrar, on 87′ (n/a) – 4.0
Player Spotlight
Andrés Perea
Something of a surprise start for Andrés Perea in the midfield to open these playoffs, and he produced one of the team’s better performances, though that’s not saying a ton.
What made his inclusion in the Starting XI a surprise? Perea had been a staple as a sub and spot starter through the early part of the season but picked up a lengthy injury in New York City’s 0-0 draw in Chicago on July 13.
His next appearance for NYCFC wouldn’t come for two months, but he did return to action on September 14 in Washington, DC. Since that date the midfielder has appeared in all seven of New York City’s matches, earning a place in the Starting XI for three of those games.
In Cincinnati, he slotted into the central midfield next to James Sands and Keaton Parks and had the liberty to get forward into the opposition’s penalty area.
Perea was a regular target for crosses at the back post, coming close-ish to heading home one of those opportunities in the 39th minute, though his header ended up atop Roman Celentano’s goal. It seemed like a conscious effort to try to recreate what worked when Perea thundered home NYCFC’s third goal in the 1-5 away win over the Red Bulls.
Perea as the more advanced midfielder didn’t work in what was an overall pathetic attacking showing from NYCFC, but Perea did take the most shots (two) of any New York City player, responsible for one of two shots the team put on target. FotMob graded him at 6.9 and you the readers put him at 6.1, with both figures representing the highest ratings given to non-Matt Freese players.
He was active if not always the most effective: Perea won 11 of his duels with Cincy players, made three clearances, and was credited with winning two tackles, but he completed only 59% of his passes, the lowest pass-completion percentage of any player who started in the Round One opener.
The 23-year-old midfielder did a lot, though couldn’t do it alone and certainly didn’t get enough help in front of him from players like Santi Rodríguez (4.8 rating from both FotMob and our readers) and Hannes Wolf (rated a brutal 4.2 by our readers, but 6.2 by FotMob).
Nick Cushing – 3.9
The big lineup decisions — starting Birk Risa at center-back, opting for Perea over Maxi Moralez in the midfield — did not work in his favor. Nothing about this New York City performance screamed “playoff game,” it instead looked like a standard midweek trip to Cincinnati with Cushing’s team not playing with much of a postseason edge. Since Cushing has been head coach, the team has invested a substantial sum of money in attacking players like Agustín Ojeda, Julián Fernández, Jovan Mijatović, and Hannes Wolf — yet none of that group is in good form at this stage of the season, and none of them nor breakout striker Alonso Martínez could make any mark at TQL Stadium. Cushing also again saw his team pick up a costly late red card, meaning he’ll be without Tayvon Gray (pending appeal) for the must-win Game 2 at Citi Field, so he’ll once again have to shuffle his defense before a big game. Nothing that went down in Cincinnati on Monday night made Nick Cushing or his team look particularly good.
Sergii Boiko – 3.0
No one enjoyed The Sergii Boiko Experience in Cincinnati. The Gray red card decision looked harsh and like the kind of red that happens in part due to slow-motion replays. Before that, Boiko was giving his whistle a serious workout. He blew for 31 fouls total, 20 against Cincinnati and 11 against NYCFC, but most significantly for New York City, he did not blow his whistle on a possible foul on Santi Rodríguez right before Cincinnati got their goal from Yamil Asad. Santi gave up possession after feeling contact but Boiko wasn’t having it, and that decision plus NYCFC’s reaction to it proved extremely costly.
Player of the Match
Matt Freese
That Freese did not make the shortlist for MLS Goalkeeper of the Year looks like even more of a travesty coming out of his first playoff performance of 2024.
Freese made six saves, his most important stops coming late in the match while New York City was still pushing for a late equalizer and a possible penalty shootout. The diving save Freese made to deny Luca Orellano in the 71st minute was a particular standout from a game that saw Freese credited with preventing 2.60 goals, according to FotMob.
Another incredible goalkeeping performance in the playoffs, this time from NYCFC’s Matt Freese. Despite his team taking the loss, he denied an astounding 2.5 xGOT on 6 saves to keep the game close. Should he have been nominated for GKOTY? pic.twitter.com/quaTcQSRq9
— MLS Statistics and Analysis 📊⚽️ (@mlsstat) October 29, 2024
Freese has now picked up your Player of the Match honor nine different times this season, and this is his second Player of the Match earned from a 1-0 loss on the road in Cincinnati – he did this same kind of thing way back in March.
His 7.0 rating from the readers was significantly lower than the 8.6 number he got from FotMob, a rare case of New York City fans underrating The Iceman.
Any hope of pulling off back-to-back wins and advancing past Cincinnati will mean Freese needs to hold this level in goal at Citi Field and then back at TQL Stadium.
He should have been a finalist for Goalkeeper of the Year alongside the likely winner, Charlotte FC’s Kristijan Kahlina (the keeper who topped HRB‘s MLS Awards ballot), because NYCFC would be lost without the season-long work of Matt Freese.
