It took until the league's 19th Matchday of the season, but it finally happened: A New York City FC player received my MLS Player of the Matchday vote.
That means a New York City player also gets prime real estate in this latest edition of How We Voted, the column in which I explain my thought process for each two-player ballot I cast with the North American Soccer Reporters following each round of MLS matches.
It also means I've now made it two straight Matchdays in which I've chosen to pass over a player who scored a hat trick to give my vote to someone who did not score a hat trick. Some might consider this sacrilegious, but part of the beauty of this column is that their outrage doesn't matter.
The bulk of the other voters didn't agree with my voting preference, but I will explain my rationale below and hope to make it make sense.
You can also find the final result of the Player of the Matchday vote and the Team of the Matchday for this window of games that ran not quite in the heart of the international window – like last Matchday – but still felt slightly odd falling right at the start of the Concacaf Gold Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
The HRB Ballot, Matchday 19
1. Hannes Wolf, New York City FC
A brace of goals scored in just three minutes in the second half, after a composed assist to Maxi Moralez to open the scoring late in the first half: Hannes Wolf delivered a lot of the damage in New York City's big 4-0 win over Atlanta United FC on a random installment of Thursday Night Soccer.
New York City was without leading scorer and focal point of its attack, Alonso Martínez, and also playing without a bunch of other important usual contributors due to international duty and lingering injuries.
Atlanta beat NYCFC in the reverse fixture in what was a shootout, a 4-3 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Plus, former the NYCFC coach who won MLS Cup was coming back to Yankee Stadium for the first time since leaving in 2022. There were intrigues and some juice heading into this game, and it ended up being Hannes Wolf's night.
His assist to Moralez came after a self-inflicted error at the back by Atlanta, but Wolf still had the presence to lay a pass off to his teammate, though Moralez also had work to do to find the right finish from a tight angle. Moralez had a huge influence on this game himself, returning the favor to Wolf by assisting on his first of two goals. That first Wolf goal was one of New York City's best team moves of the evening, including an incisive central dribble from Agustín Ojeda and a precise far-post finish from Wolf.
Hannes Wolf slots it home to make it 3-0. 🐺 pic.twitter.com/t175eK8rG0
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 13, 2025
The second goal from Wolf showed off some of his two-way ability while engaging as a member of NYCFC's press, which eventually forced Atlanta into a turnover, allowing center-back Justin Haak to find Wolf streaking upfield with a long pass out of the defense.
It's three braces on the season for Wolf who hit 10 goal contributions (eight goals, two assists) with this breakout game against Atlanta. This was also the second brace he'd scored against Atlanta United this season, and the fact that it helped deliver a huge home win for his team in a tricky midweek match made it worthy of my Player of the Matchday vote.
2. João Klauss, St. Louis City SC
He scored the first hat trick in St. Louis franchise history, and the third goal came in second-half stoppage time and rescued a draw for his team.
It all came while St. Louis faced the lowly LA Galaxy at home, who you may remember as owners of the worst record in MLS this season and with just one win during the calendar year. Still, Klauss finished with authority on two of those three goals, blasting shots home past Novak Micovic in the Galaxy goal.
Klauss played a nice give-and-go in the build-up on his first goal, slicing through a woeful Galaxy defense – he did similar to score his second, running past the Los Angeles backline to get in clear on goal, though at a somewhat difficult shooting angle.
It was an incredible individual performance from the St. Louis No 9, who played like he knew he'd have to be the one reason his struggling team didn't lose to the Galaxy. The fact that I gave Hannes Wolf my vote over Klauss has more to do with the result and the all-around contributions provided by Wolf in a big win. That said, there's no disputing that Klauss scored a stunning and historic hat trick and has an excellent case for Player of the Matchday.
Official Player of the Matchday: Klauss
Not much of a surprise to see Klauss win this. My vote was always going to be in the minority in the face of this kind of hat trick, but I stand by my belief that Wolf delivering a win for his team in the manner he did it deserved the recognition.
MLS Team of the Matchday
Starters: Joe Willis (NSH) - Guilherme Biro (ATX), Jalen Neal (MTL), Juan Mosquera (POR) - Hannes Wolf (NYC), Luciano Acosta (DAL), Marco Reus (LA), Anders Dreyer (SD) - João Klauss (STL), Prince Owusu (MTL), Milan Iloski (SD)
Coach: Bradley Carnell (PHI)
Bench: Roman Celentano (CIN), Rodrigo Schlegel (ORL), Jeppe Tverskov (SD), Maxi Moralez (NYC), Gabriel Pec (LA), Diego Rossi (CLB), Sam Surridge (NSH), Markus Anderson (PHI), Kévin Denkey (CIN)
Two New York City FC players in the team for that 4-0 win with Wolf in the Starting XI and his attacking co-pilot Maxi Moralez on the bench as a substitute. Moralez had one of his best games since coming back to MLS in the summer of 2023 against Atlanta, a turn-back-the-clock night against his former head coach perhaps. Out west, Anders Dreyer continued to make a case for MLS MVP with another big performance for San Diego – including a ridiculous goal scored from the halfway line.
