New York City FC player ratings are determined by Hudson River Blue readers: Here are your NYCFC player ratings for the 2-1 home win over Orlando City in Matchday 3 at Yankee Stadium.
New York City rediscovered their home opener mojo with a win over Orlando on a freezing-cold Saturday night in The Bronx in front of more than 25,000 bundled-up fans. You liked what you saw, with just one player out of the Starting XI handed a rating lower than 6.0 — that belongs to Kevin O'Toole, who earned a 4.7 after leaving the game following his second yellow card.
What a difference a year makes. Last March, NYCFC suffered their first-ever home opener loss in club history when Portland Timbers scored a stoppage-time winner. Only two players received a rating above 6.0 that night.
You handed Head Coach Pascal Jansen a 7.5 after this win, which gives him an handed rating of 7.0 three games into his New York City tenure. The honeymoon vibes are strong.
Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.
Andrew Leigh
Alonso Martínez, off 72' (8.1) – 7.2
Hannes Wolf (7.6) – 6.2
Julián Fernández, off 72' (7.7) – 6.7
Maxi Moralez, off 90+4' (8.0) – 7.7
Keaton Parks (7.8) – 6.2
Jonny Shore (8.0) – 8.3
Mitja Ilenič, on 8' (7.1) – 6.8
Kevin O'Toole, red card 86' (6.2) – 4.7
Thiago Martins (7.4) – 6.7
Justin Haak (7.5) – 6.3
Matt Freese (7.0) – 7.5
Mounsef Bakrar, on 72' (6.3) – 5.1
Agustín Ojeda, on 72' (6.2) – 5.4
Nico Cavallo, on 90+4' (n/a) – 5.4
Player Spotlight
Hannes Wolf
Shoutout to the reader who gave Hannes Wolf a 2 for a player rating and their vote for Player of the Match. Both are deserved. Wolf could be maddening to watch on Saturday night: His costly turnovers, mistimed passes, and inability to dribble around his opponents (he was zero-for-three, per FotMob) did much to hobble the New York City attack.
At the same time, he was directly involved in both of NYCFC's goals. For the first, he jumped on a contested ball and then released Maxi Moralez with a well-placed pass just above the top of the box. Maxi's shot hit the post but then Alonso Martínez buried the deflection to take the lead. For the second, Wolf made a perfect run to get into position and ready himself to head in a scooped ball from Julián Fernández.
That hot-and-cold performance was reflected in your rating. Since when does the player who scored the game-winning goal get a 6.2 from Hudson River Blue readers, the joint second-lowest among starters? And it was picked up by Head Coach Pascal Jansen, who has high expectations for the midfielder. "Hannes has several qualities. He showed this during game number one and number two, in Miami and Los Angeles. He's very reliable, especially when we're not in possession. But I'm looking for more, and him scoring a goal might tonight might help just a little more," Jansen said.
We're all looking for more: More consistency, more control, more clinical finishing in front of goal. More brilliance, really. On paper, Wolf is the best player on this team – he has the potential to pick up where Santiago Rodríguez left off and put up shattering performances that leave the other team reeling – but we've only seen glimpses of that since he joined the squad last year.
Which is why Wolf is in the Player Spotlight for the second week in a row: We're keeping an eye on him. The midfielder certainly progressed since the loss to LAFC on Matchday 2. Will he take another step forward when New York City play New England Revolution on Saturday in Matchday 4?
Mark Radigan
Pascal Jansen – 7.5
The New York City head coach won the battle of the lineups when he made the decision to play Jonny Shore as a defensive midfielder and slot Justin Haak in at center-back defense. This despite having imperfect but plausible options in Birk Risa (who is recovering from a minor injury) and Strahinja Tanasijević (who isn't a natural at left-center-back) on the bench. Pascal Jansen went with youth over experience, and the gamble paid off.
We see how Jansen is making the most of a squad thinned by injuries and outgoing transfers. Now just imagine what he can do with a fully-fit roster, maybe a couple of rising players brought in from Europe or Latin America. A fan of this team can dream.
Pierre-Luc Lauziere – 6.9
Player of the Match
Jonny Shore
On opening day, Jonny Shore made his MLS debut against a stacked Inter Miami when he came on as a halftime substitute. Two weeks later, the 17-year-old made the first MLS start of his career, going the full 90 minutes and logging the best New York City performance of the night. No wonder he's your Player of the Match, taking 55% of the vote.
His defensive stats were exceptional: Six tackles, six recoveries, seven duels won, one interception, one clearance. Just as important, Shore passed the eye test as you can see from the highlight reel below. He's confident with the ball, picking out smart passes, and a menace when out of possession, dispossessing Orlando with intelligent challenges — the midfielder was whistled for just one foul, and looked to be completely integrated within this First Team lineup.
Shore wasn't just one of the most impressive players on the field, he put up a historically strong performance for a 17-year-old. Per Stathead, just one player younger than Shore ever had as strong a defensive performance. Let the comparisons to Gianluca Busio and Noel Buck begin.
How impressive was Jonny Shore's defensive work in midfield in his first MLS start? Per @stathead.com, 1 MLS player younger than Shore has ever equaled/bettered his tackles won, tackles+interceptions, ball recovery numbers vs. ORL (Justin Che, 88 days younger + a defender) stathead.com/tiny/I5NCP
— Hudson River Blue (@hudsonriverblue.com) 2025-03-09T19:15:29.403Z
Still, there is room for improvement. Shore played a role in Orlando's only goal when the midfielder was pulled out of position chasing the ball deep into the attacking third. It allowed Orlando to spring a counterattack that outnumbered New York City's defenders three-to-two, and Luis Muriel to pick out his shot from inside the box.
Lesson learned. He should gain confidence from a performance like this one, and New York City fans should find comfort that just two months after losing James Sands the team now have two legitimate holding midfielders in Justin Haak and Shore.
Andrew Leigh
