MLS - May 31 - San Jose (Home - YS)

That was incredible. Maxi Moralez came on the field having not played for 9 months and completely unlocked everything. What an incredible player. Such a nice ovation when he came on, and it's just a joy to watch him play.

I think we need to ride the hot hand and start Alonso after that performance. Though maybe next game the scoreboard can spell his name correctly.

Great, loud crowd tonight too. Friday night was fun. And I know Citi Field is nice, but man -- it just feels like home at Yankee Stadium.

Postgame in section 110 -- there was a ton of San Jose fans in that area; after the game Jeremy Ebobisse hopped over the wall and into the stands. Stayed there for maybe 20 minutes signing and taking pictures for all the fans who made the trip (and some NYCFC fans, obviously). Never seen a guy do that. Super classy of him, though, to recognize both his own fans and the NYCFC fans.
 
I also want to mention how much I loved Cushing's subs tonight. I was thinking early in the 2nd half about this -- last year we had to scratch and claw for every point we could. Risking losing a point to go for the win was much harder because we were right on the playoff line and every point was so important. Nick had to go defensive last year to get every point he could.

Because of this run of form, we're no longer on that cutline. We are near the top of the East and we can afford to risk the single point to go for two more. And Nick absolutely coached that way tonight. He talks in his media sessions about how badly he wants the team to score goals, to entertain -- especially at home. It must be so nice for him to be able to coach the team that way; to not have to be so pragmatic about trying to settle for every last point we can.
 
We bury the quakes and MLS website can't be bothered to even acknowledge we played other than the score at the top.

Shameful.

not convinced jovan can give us much? but i'm willing to give him more time, more games, more minutes. he sure didn't do much to impress in today's start.

thought parks was having an off game too. good on cushing to sub him out for more energy with perea.
Maybe their web intern had Friday night off. It's front page now.
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What happened to Thiago Martins? I could have sworn he announced as starting
 
NYCFC has 6 wins against San Jose, the most against any Western team. NYC has 4 wins against LA Galaxy, and 3 against 5 different teams. PPG against SJ is 2.71 in 7 games, NYCFC's highest against any team in MLS. The only other teams NYC has not lost to are LAFC in 3 games and Austin, who has never played NYCFC.
For about 27 minutes last night every NYCFC fan was thinking - are we really not going to stomp these guys?
I wonder if there has ever been a hat trick entirely in added time in top flight anywhere in the world.
Martinez's second goal was very 2023 St. Louis.
Jones came on and came close to an assist with a very nice play in less than a minute that did not quite connect with Martinez. I was hoping he'd connect with a goal or assist by end of game and he was granted a generous hockey assist on the last goal.
First time for NYCFC scoring 4 goals in MLS season play since June 29, 2022 against Cincinnati; first time scoring 5 since April 24, 2022 against Toronto.
 
Postgame in section 110 -- there was a ton of San Jose fans in that area; after the game Jeremy Ebobisse hopped over the wall and into the stands. Stayed there for maybe 20 minutes signing and taking pictures for all the fans who made the trip (and some NYCFC fans, obviously). Never seen a guy do that. Super classy of him, though, to recognize both his own fans and the NYCFC fans.
Apple had a brief shot of that during the post game wrap up. Classy indeed.
 
I also want to mention how much I loved Cushing's subs tonight. I was thinking early in the 2nd half about this -- last year we had to scratch and claw for every point we could. Risking losing a point to go for the win was much harder because we were right on the playoff line and every point was so important. Nick had to go defensive last year to get every point he could.

Because of this run of form, we're no longer on that cutline. We are near the top of the East and we can afford to risk the single point to go for two more. And Nick absolutely coached that way tonight. He talks in his media sessions about how badly he wants the team to score goals, to entertain -- especially at home. It must be so nice for him to be able to coach the team that way; to not have to be so pragmatic about trying to settle for every last point we can.
Spot on. He's unshackled now. He can coach to win, not to simply survive.
 
Well, there was another hat trick in MLS this week. Wish they’d reveal the voting behind player of the matchday.
 
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Well, there was another hat trick in MLS this week. Wish they’d reveal the voting behind player of the matchday.
Chicho had a banger over Stuver’s head from the midfield line to start things off. But he also capped his hat trick off with a penalty. I think because all three goals were from the run of play AND so quick in progression from a substitute, I think Alonso’s Hattie is more impressive
 
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Chicho had a banger over Stuver’s head from the midfield line to start things off. But he also capped his hat trick off with a penalty. I think because all three goals were from the run of play AND so quick in progression from a substitute, I think Alonso’s Hattie is more impressive
But Chico is leading the golden boot race. MLS narratives. You know.
 
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I still want to see us against top teams in the league. These matches have been fun but not a great barometer of being a contender.
You're right that the schedule has been easy. We've had the easiest so far, and the hardest remaining. But that's mostly a function of the Home/Away split and one quirk. In the East we have played the top teams, including every current playoff team but Columbus. The remaining teams we have not played are below the playoff line: Orlando 11, Montreal 12, and Chicago 14. Against the top 3 teams in the East besides us, we lost to Cincy Away, tied league leaders Miami Away, and beat RB in NYC, which is a pretty respectable record.

In the West we mostly were paired against poor teams - that's just how the schedule came out. We have games remaining against the Galaxy 4 and Austin 6.

Besides an unfavorable 8H 10A split, our remaining schedule also is hard because we have home games against the 3 best Away teams in the League in Cincy, Miami, and Philly, all of whom currently are better Away than at Home, with Cincy and Miami getting better than 2 PPG Away.
 
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