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 |
