The 2023 season saw New York City FC sit 27th in Major League Soccer with just 34 goals scored, which worked out to 1.00 goals per game. We expected a step forward in 2024 for a newly-minted front line tricked out with young, unknown talent who had high potential. This year, New York City scored 54 goals, or 1.59 goals per game. That was good for 13th in the league, ahead of Seattle Sounders (51), but well behind Colorado Rapids (62) and Philadelphia Union (62), to say nothing of Inter Miami (79) and Columbus Crew (72).
After the offseason additions of Jovan Mijatović, Agustín Ojeda, and Hannes Wolf following the midseason arrivals of Mounsef Bakrar, Julián Fernández, and Alonso Martínez last year, fans looked for an uptick in goals and creativity going forward. At times, that front line delivered as advertised, shocking opposition defenses and wowing the NYCFC faithful. But at others, the attack lacked consistency and cohesion, even disappearing at times when the team needed them most.
The best pick of the bunch in 2024 was Martínez, who brings up the overall grade of the attack. The Costa Rican had a season for the ages in his first full MLS campaign in the Bronx, bagging 18 goals and four assists in all competitions despite spending much of the first half of the season on the bench. The remarkable thing about Martinez's campaign was just the sheer rate at which Costa Rican was scoring goals. At 0.83 goals per 90 minutes, Martinez finished third in the MLS, only behind the Barcelona Inter Miami dynamic duo of Luis Suarez (0.86) and Lionel Messi (1.08).
Andrew Leigh
But it was Bakrar who was expected to be the starting No 9 this year, not Martínez. After showing flashes of brilliance in 2023, Bakrar was supposed to take off in 2024. Suffice to say, this did not happen. Despite appearing in 35 games in all competitions, the Algerian grabbed just four goals and was dropped to the bench in favor of Martínez ahead of the MLS All-Star Break.
In Martínez, NYCFC found a source for goals — and compensated for the stagnating Bakrar. But the creativity around Martínez left a lot to be desired, especially during the second half of the campaign.
| Team | GF | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Inter Miami | 79 |
| 2. | Columbus Crew | 72 |
| 3. | LA Galaxy | 69 |
| 4. | Real Salt Lake | 65 |
| 5. | Portland Timbers | 65 |
| LAFC | 63 | |
| 7. | Philadelphia Union | 62 |
| 8. | Colorado Rapids | 61 |
| 9. | Orlando City | 59 |
| 10. | FC Cincinnati | 58 |
| Minnesota United | 58 | |
| 12. | NY Red Bulls | 55 |
| 13. | New York City FC | 54 |
| FC Dallas | 54 | |
| 15. | Vancouver | 52 |
| DC United | 52 | |
| 17. | Seattle Sounders | 51 |
| Sporting Kansas City | 51 | |
| 19. | St. Louis City | 50 |
| 20. | CF Montréal | 48 |
| 21. | Houston Dynamo | 47 |
| 22. | FC Charlotte | 46 |
| Atlanta United | 46 | |
| 24. | San Jose | 41 |
| 25. | Chicago Fire | 40 |
| Toronto FC | 40 | |
| 26. | Austin FC | 39 |
| 27. | Nashville SC | 38 |
| 29. | New England | 31 |
• Winger Malachi Jones was in the midst of a positive debut season in the Bronx following his selection as the eighth overall pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft before a freak collision vs Orlando City in June saw his season cut short with a leg injury.
• Santi Rodríguez usually slotted in to replace Jones on the left wing, and though he finished the year with 16 goals and six assists in all competitions, many feel that the Uruguayan could've offered even more if he remained in his natural, more central position.
• Hannes Wolf was another forward who looked set to catch fire in the MLS in 2024. That was the particularly true in first half of the season, when the Austrian bagging five goals and five assists between March and June. But from July 7th onward, Wolf managed zero goals and just one assist – which came in the 3-1 win over Nashville on October 6 – across 21 starts. That's over 1,600 minutes of soccer and only one goal involvement to show for it.
As for the young guns in Ojeda, Mijatović, and Fernández, nobody in the trio offered much in their sporadic cameos throughout the season. With Cushing giving none of them more than 1,000 minutes this season, it's difficult to blame them for not performing, as none were able to get any consistent string of games together to build form.
• Ojeda, a natural left winger, was given 921 minutes in the league this season and contributed with three goals and two assists, but was never going to dislodge Santi from the Starting XI.
• Fernández was given just 623 minutes in the league this season, providing two goals and two assists, and will feel hard done by his lack of involvement given how poorly Wolf finished this campaign on his preferred right wing.
• Mijatović is still far off from the heights expected of him by the club, which was reflected in his relative minute 262 league minutes in 2024. That said, he's still only 19 years old and has plenty more time to learn and grow in Major League Soccer. Besides, NYCFC won't be moving on from him just yet, considering the club isn't even finished paying his $8.6 million transfer fee to Red Star Belgrade.
Oh, and don't think we forgot about Talles Magno, who brings down the overall grade for this crew. One goal in four appearances before being loaned out to Corinthians in Brazil? Even after the Jones injury in June, Talles Magno still couldn't break into Cushing's Starting XI, signaling that an exit was inevitable. A seemingly disappointing end to what could've been a prolific and legendary career in the Bronx.
All in all, New York City FC finished the 2024 MLS Season with 54 goals scored, averaging 1.5 goals per 90 minutes. This worked out to be the 11th most goals total, and 15th best goals per 90 ratio in the MLS.
But the lack of creativity ultimately doomed the team. The Boys in Blue managed to make it to the Eastern Conferences Semifinal of the MLS Cup Playoffs, where the usually clinical Martínez failed to score and the rest of the attack failed to step up. For now, that will be the legacy this front line until proven otherwise next season.
