NEW YORK (Monday, July 28, 2025) – New York City FC forward Alonso Martínez was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday for Matchday 27 of the 2025 MLS season.
The Costa Rica international netted a hat trick to lift New York City FC to a thrilling back-and-forth 4-3 victory at FC Dallas on Friday night. After falling behind twice, Martínez responded quickly to tally two equalizers for the Pigeons before netting the game-winner in the 84th minute. Now at 38 points (11-8-5 record), the victory lifted New York City to seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings and out of the Wildcard positions.
Martínez is New York City’s leading scorer this season with 12 goals and ranks second on the team with 13 goal contributions. Friday marked his first multi-goal game of the year and second career regular season hat trick, joining club legend Valentín ‘Taty’ Castellanos (two) as the only players in club history with multiple regular season hat tricks.
The forward tallied the first of his three goals in the 22nd minute to equalize shortly after FC Dallas had snatched a 2-1 lead in the 17th minute. Pouncing on a misplayed pass, New York sprung an attack up the left side and midfielder Maxi Moralez played to Martínez cutting into the box where he took a touch to split two defenders and tapped home a shot past goalkeeper Maarten Paes for the equalizer. Dallas took the lead again, 3-2, just before the break, and Martínez answered on the other side of the half. On a quick counterattack, midfielder Aiden O’Neill flipped the field with a long pass to midfielder Hannes Wolf and he delivered it to a streaking Martínez, who one-timed his shot to the left post to knot things up again. A through ball in the 84th minute from new Designated Player Nicolás Fernández Mercau sprung Martínez for the game-winner. The Costa Rican timed his run well to beat the back line and dribbled around the onrushing Paes before firing a strike to the far-left post to put New York City on top for good.
Next up, New York City FC will kick off Leagues Cup 2025 play on Tuesday, July 29 against Puebla at Sports Illustrated Stadium (8 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, Apple TV+). Then, the Pigeons take on León at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 1 (6 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV) and Toluca on Tuesday, Aug. 5 at Yankee Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV) to round out Phase One of the competition.
It's the first Player of the Matchday award for New York City FC this season and Martínez’s second time taking home the weekly honors, last winning for Matchday 35 in 2024 after bagging a brace in a 5-1 Hudson River Derby win vs. the New York Red Bulls to clinch the club’s spot in the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while an Instagram fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
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