Alonso Martínez is putting up best-in-Major League Soccer goal numbers in the games played after 2024 Leagues Cup.

Martinez has eight goals in eight post-Leagues Cup matches, one more than MLS Golden Boot leader Christian Benteke of DC United. The about-to-turn-26-year-old Costa Rican’s rate of scoring 1.28 goals per 90 minutes since Leagues Cup also leads all MLS players.

MLS | Most Goals Since Leagues Cup

MLS | Most Goals/90 Since Leagues Cup

It’s not just in this small sample size of games played since Leagues Cup that Martínez has shined, though this has been the most consistent goal-scoring stretch of his breakout season.

For the entire MLS regular season, he leads all players in non-penalty goals per 90 minutes. Martínez’s 1.03 places him above Benteke, above Inter Miami CF duo Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, and even above Columbus Crew star Cucho Hernández.

Martínez ranks eighth in total MLS goals scored this season with 16, a single-year amount that ranks as the fifth-most ever scored in one season by a New York City player.

Is Alonso Martínez the most clinical finisher in MLS?

The converted winger is scoring goals at a pace that puts him at the top of New York City FC’s record books — and at the top of Major League Soccer this year.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

Alonso Martínez: Depth piece to locked-in starter

It's been an exceptional year for Martínez, who went from the least-heralded, least-used player signed during the team’s busy summer transfer window in 2023 to a candidate for team MVP by the end of 2024, and one who ranks among the elite goalscorers in MLS.

His season has been doubly impressive because Martínez packed his best-in-the-league production into just 18 league starts and 25 appearances, still filling the stat sheets despite being an unused substitute in eight New York City MLS matches played this season.

He's now a locked-in starter, and how Martínez performs in the upcoming MLS Cup Playoffs might determine how far New York City advances in the tournament — an astonishing reality when you consider that Martínez only got his chance in MLS after NYCFC unsuccessfully tried to play with numerous other players last striker this season.

Remember, Martínez didn’t even see a minute of competitive action in 2024 until New York City's fifth match of the season.

He wasn’t injured, he was often just not picked, stuck behind Julián Fernández, Agustín Ojeda, and Andres Jasson on the wings, while not getting a chance at striker with Mounsef Bakrar and Jovan Mijatović preferred there.

For Martínez to get his first minutes of this season, it took a match played away to FC Cincinnati during an international break in March in which NYCFC was without nine players due to injuries, suspensions, and call-ups. He got just 24 minutes to impress at TQL Stadium and did just that, putting two shots on target (unsuccessfully) in those minutes, the most of any New York City player in that 1-0 road defeat.

That cameo earned Martínez a start the following weekend, in which he scored his first of 17 total NYCFC goals in all competitions this season on the road against Inter Miami. That goal wasn't scored as a striker — Martínez started on NYCFC's right wing that night.

A first goal while his team was scuffling with three points through five games played still wasn't enough to guarantee Martínez a longer look in the lineup. Head Coach Nick Cushing kept trying to get something out of Ojeda, Fernández, Bakrar, and Mijatović, and gave Jasson a final run-out before letting him leave for Aalborg in Denmark. 

After starting and scoring in Miami, Martínez only saw 96 combined minutes in NYCFC's next five matches, with one start. He scored possibly his most important goal of the 2024 season during that five-match stretch, coming off the bench at home against Charlotte FC and scoring the match-winner in the 90+3' minute to earn New York City their first-ever victory over Charlotte.

Scoring a late winner still didn't cement Martínez's spot, but he did get two starts during New York City's perfect May week of three wins over three rivals – Toronto FC, Philadelphia Union, and the Red Bulls – with Martínez scoring one of his patented super-early goals in the road win over Philadelphia.

Most importantly, he was finally seeing more time as striker, coinciding with Mounsef Bakrar continuing to start — and continuing to not score goals.

That Martínez goal in Philadelphia was scored as a striker and in the match's second minute, one of six goals Martínez scored this year inside the first 15 minutes of a match. He's a player of some extremes because he also has scored four goals after the 80th minute – which included completing an entire hat trick against San Jose Earthquakes starting at the 85th minute.

The typical Alonso Martínez goal, though, gets scored in the first half. His median time of goal for all 17 goals this season was the 34th minute, with 11 of his 17 successful strikes occurring in the first half of matches.

His goals tend to get scored from close range, as the average distance from goal for all of Martínez's goals this season has been just 12.7 yards. The vast majority of his goals were right-footed shots, scoring once with his left and once with his torso — that torso goal was Martínez's most recent, off a corner kick in NYCFC's 3-1 win over Nashville SC at Red Bull Arena.

The chances he converted have ranged from tap-ins to ones with high degrees of difficulty. If you go by expected goals, his least-likely strikes are coming during his hot streak after Leagues Cup.

Martínez's opening goal vs. Chicago Fire at Citi Field, and his stunning bar-down finish on the break in the win over FC Cincinnati, were rated as the two lowest xG chances from which Alonso found the back of the net this season.

El Clínico: Alonso Martínez is the striker NYCFC need

The Costa Rican forward has turned into a ruthless, efficient finisher and has grabbed control of the New York City FC striker spot on the back of a team-leading eight goals.

Hudson River BlueAndrew Leigh

Outperforming xG

Both those goals highlight what qualifies Martínez so well for that El Clínico nickname I attempted to bestow on him back in July after his brace against CF Montréal — he is rarely caught in-between or indecisive when the ball falls to him in front of goal. Instead, he is one of the more ruthless and precise players when it comes to getting accurate shots off that threaten or beat MLS goalkeepers.

This finish past Chris Brady of Chicago could not have been placed any better, and the fact that Martínez could pick out that far corner and whip his shot to it with power after creating a bit of space for himself by shifting past Kellyn Acosta is a testament to Martínez's creativity and great talent as a finisher.

Take it yourself, Alonso Martínez 😮‍💨

📺 Free on Apple TV: https://t.co/SVJuZNC3NO pic.twitter.com/jMVU0z5XRP

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 25, 2024

The shot against Chicago was from 25 yards out and was worth 0.02 expected goals, according to Opta. Weeks later he'd one-up himself against Cincinnati, even if the expected goal number for his strike at Red Bull Arena was actually slightly higher at 0.07 xG.

New York City counters, and Alonso Martinez finds his 15th of the year to double the lead. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/ZIrN8Xm8Ch

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 3, 2024

Martínez didn't have to create space in this instance, since his team was on the counter and he was running behind the defense. Martínez still needed to get that finish right and did it with aplomb from 21 yards out, not sacrificing any power for accuracy and getting some help from the crossbar.

These two finishes exemplify what Martínez can do with the ball at his feet, though they're not a complete representation of what he has brought to the striker position. Martínez has been a huge cog in the NYCFC pressing setup, and he's scored a few goals – notably the fastest-ever in New York City history in Columbus in Leagues Cup – by simply pressing his opponents into mistakes.

Martínez is in the 94th percentile among MLS forwards this season for interceptions per 90 minutes, his 0.64 interceptions per 90 are a sign of how effective Martínez and the NYCFC press have been at disrupting MLS defenses this season.

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Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

On target = El Clínico

NYCFC evolved into more of a pressing team this season, and Martínez has helped with that evolution. The pressing responsibilities always seemed like a strength of Martínez's main competition at striker, Mounsef Bakrar, but Bakrar has 0.20 interceptions per 90 minutes this year, in the 36th percentile of MLS forwards.

Bakrar was supposed to be the one tallying double-digit goals this season, and he had his chances, leading New York City players by averaging four shot attempts per 90 minutes, a shot rate that places him seventh among all MLS players.

Martínez has attempted a slightly lower 3.41 shots per 90, a rate outside the MLS Top 10, but he – unlike Bakrar – has been extremely accurate with his shooting.

Bakrar has put 33.3% of his shots on target this season while Martínez holds a significant advantage with a 49.1% shots on target percentage. These two have only taken a difference of seven shots, with Bakrar credited with 60 to Martínez's 53, according to FBRef.com.

Martínez's accuracy has helped him put 1.67 shots on target per 90 minutes, good for sixth best among MLS players. His accuracy and his ability to make the most of his opportunities, be they playing time or scoring chances, have set Martínez apart this season.

He won't win the MLS Golden Boot — unless he scores eight goals in Montréal on Decision Day). And he won't finish with single-season NYCFC scoring records, and he's not even a nominee for MLS MVP.

Yet Alonso El Clínico Martínez is easily one of the most important parts of New York City's success this season. If he continues this ridiculous run of late-season scoring, the team might be able to make noise in the MLS Cup Playoffs. After all, New York City's record is 7 W-3 D-2 L when Martínez has found the back of the net this season.

His production in 2024 has earned him mention alongside the league's best strikers, and now Alonso Martínez is tasked with maintaining this level as the games get bigger and the attention on him, and shutting him down, intensifies.