How We Voted is our weekly look at the two top-performing players from every Major League Soccer Matchday of the season.
It's essentially me telling you why I picked the two players appearing on each of my MLS Player of the Week ballots cast with the North American Soccer Reporters.
I also share the identity of the final winner of the MLS Player of the Matchday vote and give you all the names highlighted on the latest MLS Team of the Matchday.
This week it's all about a pair of multiple-goal-scoring strikers responsible for delivering big home wins for their Western Conference teams.
The HRB Ballot, Matchday 7
1. Josef Martínez, San Jose Earthquakes
To solve the slight mystery of this column's headline, Martínez is now sixth on the all-time MLS goals leaderboard. His hat trick powered San Jose to a 6-1 win over DC United and it also pushed Josef past Bradley Wright-Phillips, giving Martínez 120 MLS goals across his nine seasons in the league.
The three-goal performance from Martínez was fitting in that this match at PayPal Park marked the anniversary of the first-ever MLS game, played on April 6, 1996, and also pitting San Jose (then the Clash) against DC United.
Martínez put on a vintage display here in 2025, showing he can still pour in goals even while playing with his fourth different MLS team in four seasons. The third goal Martínez scored was the best of the bunch, a perfectly weighted chip over the goalkeeper after a pinpoint long forward pass found Josef while occupying a valuable pocket of space between DC's central defenders. His first touch made his finish more impressive because he had to get the timing just right to properly chip the goalkeeper right – which he did.
JOSEF HAT TRICK!
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 6, 2025
Pure class to cap off an incredible day for the Quakes. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RO8RIk52N1
2. Dejan Joveljić, Sporting Kansas City
Leading up to their derby match with St. Louis City SC, Sporting Kansas City fired Peter Vermes, who'd been the longest-tenured coach in MLS and one of the longest-tenured managers in the entire sport.
The team hadn't won all season (0 W-1 D-5 L in MLS) and the pressure was raised heading into a home match against SKC's biggest rivals. Turned out to be one of the last additions made by Vermes before his firing who came through in the first game played under new interim coach Kerry Zavagnin. Dejan Joveljić scored twice and each strike came late in the second half, in the 71st and 88th minutes, snapping what had been a tense scoreless draw between the Midwestern rivals.
His brace would have earned him my vote for Player of the Matchday had he not been one-upped by Martínez's Ur-striker performance for the Quakes. Joveljić's brace included a great instinctive redirection of a finish for his second goal, which came via rebound after a teammate blasted a shot off the crossbar, and it all but iced Kansas City's victory. Joveljić could have picked up another goal or two in this game, all part of a late-match flurry as momentum swung in his team's favor following his breakthrough. Strong performance for him to kick off a whole new post-Vermes era of Sporting's existence.
WE ASKED FOR TWO & DEJAN DELIVERED!! Watch #SKCvSTL on Apple TV 🖥️: apple.co/3YgvcyQ
— Sporting Kansas City (@sportingkc.com) April 5, 2025 at 10:31 PM
[image or embed]
Official Player of the Matchday: Josef Martínez
Congratulations to Josef Martínez of the San Jose Earthquakes, who has been named as the #MLS Player of the Matchday after winning both the media and fan votes.
— North American Soccer Reporters (@soccerreporters.bsky.social) April 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
[image or embed]
Can't say it comes as much of a surprise to see the only player in the league to score a hat trick this weekend earn Player of the Matchday. Josef won by a wide margin, and now five of my seven votes this season have ended up going to the player who would ultimately win the honor of Player of the Matchday. He's such a classic MLS striker, even if he isn't the same player he was during his peak 20-plus goal seasons with Atlanta United FC when he first took the league by storm and won MLS Cup, the Golden Boot, and MLS MVP. Nice to see him still able to steal the show at age 31 and deep into his MLS career.
MLS Team of the Matchday
Starters: Carlos Coronel (RBNY) - Lukas Engel (CIN), Tristan Blackmon (VAN), Griffin Dorsey (HOU) - Federico Bernardeschi (TOR), Diego Luna (RSL), Wil Trapp (MIN), Chucky Lozano (SD) - Josef Martínez (SJ), Dejan Joveljić (SKC), Jacen Russell-Rowe (CLB)
Coach: Kerry Zavagnin (SKC)
Bench: Brad Stuver (ATX), Omar Valencia (RBNY), Jeppe Tverskov (SD), Joaquín Pereyra (MIN), Jack McGlynn (HOU), Manu García (SKC), Cristian Espinoza (SJ), Idan Toklomati (CLT), Petar Musa (DAL)
Wild that the Peter Vermes interim replacement in Kansas City gets named coach of Team of the Matchday for his very first match in charge. Rivalry wins can do that for you, as can beating New York City FC – two Minnesota United players made the Team of Matchday 7 for their win at Yankee Stadium shortly after two Atlanta United players placed in the Team of Matchday 6 for defeating NYCFC in Atlanta. There's a distinctive Western Conference flavor to this week's Team, with 14 of the 20 players plus the head coach hailing from that side of the league.
