New York City vs Red Bulls player ratings

In the most highly anticipated Hudson River Derby to date, New York City FC allowed Citi Field to become a burial ground for arguments that New York is Blue by dropping the first derby meeting with New York Red Bulls in the playoffs in disappointing fashion.

After an energizing penalty shootout win against FC Cincinnati to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinal, the Boys in Blue produced nothing close to a clinical performance after the Red Bulls snatched an early two-goal lead to suck the air out of Citi Field, or at least, the side of Citi Field not wearing red.

NYCFC looked to have the momentum in the opening minutes of the first half, before Felipe Caballo unleashed an absolute rocket in the top-left corner of the 16th minute. Followed by a poor showing of defending on a corner kick less than ten minutes later, NYCFC could just not find their footing in this game.

While FotMob may have been more generous with rating head coach Nick Cushing’s squad, your ratings were more judgmental. Just five players received a number higher than 5.0, and Justin Haak topped out the ratings at 6.0.

Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.

Player Spotlight 

Thiago Martins

In a poor showing from his squad, he did his best to win the smaller battles on the field. With eight duels won, Martens boasted a flawless 100% win rate in each encounter.

He even found success in his distribution game, producing the joint-second-highest completion rating of all field players with an 84% rate, tied with James Sands. Of course, they both fell short of the Player of the Match, Justin Haak, who produced an 89% completion rating. FotMob gave Thiago Martins a rating of 7.3, second only to Maxi Moralez’s 7.4.

Martens came alive in the latter part of NYCFC’s playoff run, Martens received a resounding 8.5 from readers for his heroics in that same match.

Thiago Martins had a strong end to the season after his performance in the 1-5 loss to Philadelphia Union at Yankee Stadium on September 18, when FotMob handed him a dismal 3.8 rating. More recently, Thiago Martins has been one of the more consistent New York City players in the MLS Cup Playoffs, earning a season-high 7.8 rating from FotMob for his goal-scoring performance in the 3-1 win against FC Cincinnati in Round One.

He was one of the engines of that win three weeks ago. But last night, Thiago Martins and the rest of the team came up short.

Player of the Match

Justin Haak

With five passes into the final third and an 87% completion rating, Justin Haak performed in a way that stepped out of the traditional center-back role, and play the way in which the academy product thought would help his team best.

Haak received nearly two-thirds of the vote for Player of the Match from our readers. And while the team’s final result wasn’t near the expectations on the day, Haak put forth a performance that could give the fans some solace.

With eight recoveries, Haak was found moving along the defensive left flank in order to fill in when needed, but also generate plays that could move his team into the attacking third to produce a whopping seven shots on goal.

While an early tackle from Haak in the box prevented a goal early on for NYCFC, it was hard to generate positive momentum after two goals are scored against your back-line in a playoff match, at home, as the favorite, against the cross river-rival Red Bulls.

After the game, Haak said that he is “looking to become a starter whether that’s here (at NYCFC) or somewhere else.”

The Homegrown still has one year left on his contract. After a performance like Saturday’s, New York City should do what they can to make sure he returns in 2025.