New York City FC played another Hudson River Derby at Citi Field but, unlike in the MLS Cup Playoffs in November, they beat the Red Bulls 2-0 behind goals from Alonso Martínez and Maxi Moralez.
The derby brought these teams together while they had identical records and point totals through 13 MLS matches, and it was the hosts who created a bit of separation in the Eastern Conference table with the win.
Now that the match has ended, here are 4 Thoughts on the biggest win of the season (to date) for New York City FC.
Attack (slowly) comes to life
New York City players Matt Freese and Aiden O'Neill both recently told the press that the team's struggles to score goals would start to disappear as soon as someone, anyone, broke the team's three-match goalless streak. Alonso Martínez broke that drought with authority in the 13th minute, unleashing a perfect top-corner strike well past Carlos Coronel.
The floodgates didn't open immediately, despite New York City's best efforts. The first half featured nine shot attempts by the hosts with two put on target – Martínez could have scored a second if not for a great leg save by Coronel to deny the Costa Rican in a 1-v-1 situation in the 19th minute.
New York City didn't get a second goal until the Red Bulls gifted them one early in the second half, but they looked more like scoring multiple goals of their own than they have in weeks. The limp performances against Pittsburgh, Montréal, and DC faded a bit from memory as Martínez got back to his most dangerous self in the most high-intensity game NYCFC have played to date. This was the first time NYCFC had multiple goals since losing 4-3 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to Atlanta United FC. This performance in the Derby was a positive step for a team that has played out many tight, tough 1-0 results through the season's first 15 games.
Reworked midfield makes it work
Keaton Parks remained missing with his foot injury and the New York City midfield looked different yet again with Jonathan Shore this time on the bench as a substitute. Aiden O'Neill and Andrés Perea were paired together as the deeper-lying central midfielders behind Maxi Moralez, with Pascal Jansen showing no hesitation to turn again to O'Neill, who made his second start and third appearance since joining from Standard de Liège. The decision to rest O'Neill for the first half at DC United at midweek preserved his legs for this game at Citi and the Australian put in his first complete 90-minute shift.
He's stepped off the plane and into a huge role in the NYCFC midfield, but O'Neill hasn't been alone in filling the midfield hole created by Parks. Justin Haak has been playing a flexible role that sees him mainly function as left-center-back, but also sees Haak step into the midfield to support O'Neill, Perea, and Maxi, when necessary. Haak and O'Neill teamed up to strip Emil Forsberg of possession and set Martínez up for his opening goal, a sign of the disruption and quick countering that's still possible despite the absence of Keaton Parks.
Always up for the occasion
Maxi Moralez remains a fixture in the Hudson River Derby even here in 2025 playing at age 38. This was his 18th game played for NYCFC against the Red Bulls and the lead-extending goal he scored was his fifth, making him joint-leading scorer for NYCFC against their rivals – Taty Castellanos and David Villa also scored five goals against the Red Bulls during their time leading the New York City attack.
Moralez isn't as prolific of a striker as those two names but he's tended to show up and be fully in the mix over the years of Hudson River Derby matches. It's fair to wonder how much the injury he was dealing with late last season hampered him and limited his effectiveness once the MLS Cup Playoffs rolled around and he had to face the Red Bulls for a third time.
Fast forward a few months and Moralez remains a key part of most of the success NYCFC enjoys. He hadn't had a goal contribution since Matchday 1 in Miami.
The State of the Derby
A legit crowd of 30,804 assembled in Queens on what turned into a sunny, warm afternoon following a dreary week of humidity and rain in the New York area. This fixture will be permanently played, at least when NYCFC hosts, in Queens come 2027. Making this another year where the NYCFC home derby is at Citi Field helps build the lore and the legacy in Queens after years of matches over in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium.
This game occurred while New York City is awash with big professional sports draws – the New York Knicks are on a run in the NBA Playoffs and the New York Yankees and New York Mets played the Subway Series over at Yankee Stadium hours before NYCFC and the Red Bulls kicked off.
The fact that over 30,000 fans turned out amid the busy spring sports calendar is impressive especially considering the relative low-wattage of star power currently involved, on both sides of the river, in the Hudson River Derby. NYCFC is rolling with one Designated Player while the Red Bulls have Emil Forsberg and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, but it's a far cry from the early days when NYCFC had their elder Designated Players, or when Bradley Wright-Phillips was the best striker in MLS and loved to torment NYCFC.
The intensity on the field is always high but the narratives and the characters that have dominated the Derby in the past aren't necessarily present here in 2025. In the first installment played this year it didn't matter – the fans showed up in numbers and the game delivered for the home crowd.
