From NYCFC
Pre-Match Press Conference Quotes
New York City FC Head Coach Pascal Jansen
On the squad rotation with three matches in a week...
“Rotating players is one of the tools that you have as a coach. So going into games is something that is always on my mind. But we'll have to see. We've prepared for this game against Houston [Dynamo FC] coming out of the previous one against Chicago [Fire FC]. Of course, today was another training day, so we'll have to see after this training session if there are any things that we have to consider. Otherwise, we'll just go into this game as good as we can.”
On finishing on a high to close out the home slate this month...
“That's an interesting one, because being in MLS now for a while, you see that home games obviously have a huge part in everybody's performance in the league. So, that goes for us as well. We're looking forward to playing for our home crowd again and making sure we stick to our routines and hopefully get a good win again, which will keep us in a good place.”
New York City FC Defender Tayvon Gray
On building momentum after the latest run of form...
"I think we’re just building on [the team]. Confidence is a big part. We also have a couple new guys compared to last year. [Midfielder] Jonny [Shore] is integrated—so it’s new. Aiden O’Neill is integrated—so that’s new, too. Like I said, we’re just building that confidence. It’s really growing, and I think we’re coming together as a team.”
On knowing when to be offensive and defensive...
"It's about knowing when to join the attack and when to hold back—just taking what the opponent gives me. I think I’ve learned that—I really got the hang of that last year. That’s definitely a big part of my game: knowing when to be aggressive offensively and when to take it back and focus on defending.”
Key Points
ALL-TIME AGAINST HOUSTON DYNAMO FC
New York City FC will face off against Houston Dynamo FC for the seventh time in series history, playing them in The Bronx for the first time since August 2019.
- New York City has played Houston on six prior occasions over the following seasons: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023.
o The team did not play Houston in the years between 2019 and 2023, nor did they face off last season.
- Over six matches in the series, New York City’s record stands at 2-2-2 (W-L-D).
o New York City FC scored eight goals but also conceded eight over six matches.
- For home matches, the team’s record is 1-0-2 over three matches played.
The Club has played two matches at Yankee Stadium, and one at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT after a game previously scheduled for play in the Bronx had to be moved.
New York City scored five goals but conceded four at home against the Houston Dynamo.
- Only four New York City FC players have scored against Houston: Forwards David Villa (4) and Valentín ‘Taty’ Castellanos (2) and Midfielders Alexandru Mitriță (1) and Maxi Moralez (1).
Moralez is the only player on the current roster to have scored against Houston.
Villa is the leading scorer in the series overall for both sides, with four.
- The most goals scored by a New York City player in a single game against Houston is two, which has happened on two different occasions, with both leading to victories for the Club:
In the second meeting in the series in September 2016, Villa scored two goals in the second half to help lead the team to victory in what ended as a two to nil win at Houston’s Shell Energy Stadium.
In August 2019, which was the most recent game in the series played at Yankee Stadium, Castellanos scored two goals in the span of ten minutes to spark the comeback that won New York City the game 3-2.
When New York City scored at least two goals against Houston, the Club won the game on both occasions.
- Eight different players have recorded assists in the series: Midfielders Federico Bravo, Jack Harrison, Jesús Medina, Keaton Parks, and Andrea Pirlo; Defender Andraž Struna, and Forwards Héber and Tony Taylor.
All of the aforementioned players have recorded one assist each.
Parks is the only active player to have assisted against Houston.
- Only Maxi Moralez and Keaton Parks on the team’s current roster have made goal contributions against Houston (1G for Moralez, 1A for Parks).
- Eight current New York City FC players have played against Houston in their careers: Moralez, Parks, Defenders Tayvon Gray, Thiago Martins, and Kevin O’Toole, Midfielder Andrés Perea, and Goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh.
Perea recorded 21 minutes as a substitute against Houston in 2022 when he played with Orlando City SC.
Ranjitsingh started one game against Houston in 2020 when he played for Minnesota United FC. In this game, he faced 11 shots, made eight saves, and conceded three goals.
- Moralez has recorded the most minutes of the squad against Houston (192), the most shots taken (4), and the most games played (3).
o Parks is second, with 180 minutes, two games played, and three shots taken.
- When playing Houston Dynamo all time, New York City has evenly recorded four goals in the first half of games, and four goals in the second.
- New York City has scored the most goals against Houston in the minute interval of 76-90, with three goals over that stretch. In other periods of 15 minutes, the Club has scored:
Two goals in minutes 1-15.
One goal in minutes 16-30.
And two goals in minutes 46-60.
- New York City takes more shots in the second half of games than the first (50 to 35).
o The Club also has more shots on goal in the second half (20 to 16) of matches.
- The most goals scored by the team overall in a single game against Houston is three, which happened just one time on August 8, 2019:
o Castellanos scored two late in the second half, while Mitriță opened the game’s scoring in the 16th minute.
o New York City also conceded two goals from Houston in the same game.
o New York City took 27 shots overall, the most in any game in the series.
o Additionally, they dominated Houston in every other category:
Nine shots on target to two
76% to 24% possession rate.
691 passes to 220.
88% pass accuracy to 57%.
- New York City has scored in five straight games against Houston, before being shutout in their most recent meeting, which was in March 2023 at Shell Energy Stadium.
o In that match, New York City took five shots and recorded one shot on target.
COMEBACK KINGS
With three goals scored to overcome the initial deficit of one to nil, New York City FC completed a comeback against Chicago Fire FC on Matchday 15 to win the game. The team has fought back in other matches this season to come back and claim points.
- Against Chicago Fire, New England Revolution, Inter Miami CF, Orlando City SC, and Atlanta United, the Club made comebacks at some point throughout the match.
However, they did not all lead to victories, as the Club drew against Miami and lost to Atlanta.
New York City recorded wins against Chicago, New England, and Orlando City.
Against these teams, New York City scored 12 but conceded nine.
- When playing Chicago, New England, and Miami, the opponents scored first, but New York City rallied to capture at least one point from all three for a record of 2-0-1 (W-L-D).
In total, they received seven points from these matches.
Three different players scored in these matches to put New York City back in the fight: Defender Mitja Ilenič and Forwards Mounsef Bakrar and Julián Fernández.
- Similarly, three players provided assists to those goals: Maxi Moralez, Forward Hannes Wolf (2, including a second assist), and Defender Justin Haak (1).
o Other players that scored in these matches to extend the leads New York City fought to retain include Forward Alonso Martínez (3) and Wolf.
- Against Orlando and Atlanta, New York City scored first, but the opponent tied afterwards.
o Against these two teams, the Club won one match (v. Orlando, 2-1) and lost the other (v. Atlanta, 4-3), capturing three points.
However, New York City scored to hold the lead after overcoming the tie in both matches, despite the result in the Atlanta match.
In these matches, two different players scored the openers: Alonso Martínez (v. Orlando) and Hannes Wolf (v. Atlanta).
The same two players also scored to break the tie: Martínez (v. Atlanta) and Wolf (v. Orlando).
Martínez scored a penalty kick against Atlanta, and Fernández provided an assist to Wolf’s goal against Orlando.
Through these five matches, New York City scored 12 but conceded nine goals. This approximates to a goals scored average of 2.4 and a goals conceded average of 1.8 through these comeback matches. Overall, this season New York City FC has scored 18 goals and conceded 15.
- New York City FC is tied with Atlanta United for the fifth fewest goals scored in the Eastern Conference, with 18 goals. Despite this, New York City FC sits sixth in the conference standings. There are five teams who are ranked below them in the Eastern Conference, and they tallied 21 or more goals this season (Inter Miami CF, Chicago Fire, Charlotte FC, New York Red Bulls, and FC Cincinnati).
- New York City has the second fewest goals conceded in the Eastern Conference. New England has the fewest (13) with 13 games played.
In all-time MLS Regular Season matches, New York City FC has won 30 games in which they trailed at any point and they have come back to tie 40 games.
In the 30 matches where New York City FC came from behind to secure a win, 18 different players have scored the equalizing goal that sparked the comeback.
- Current squad members who have done so include: Mounsef Bakrar, Julián Fernández, Maxi Moralez, and Keaton Parks.
- Former players who contributed in similar fashion are: Thiago Andrade, Jo Inge Berget, Alexander Callens, Valentín Castellanos, Maxime Chanot, Héber, Jack Harrison, Yangel Herrera, Gary Mackay-Steven, Tommy McNamara, Jesús Medina, Santiago Rodríguez, Anton Tinnerholm, and David Villa.
In matches where New York City FC has taken the lead, the team has recorded 147 wins and 41 draws.
So far this season, three players have scored the game-winning goal, including Alonso Martínez (four times), Hannes Wolf (twice), and Julián Fernández (once).
- Martínez is one of four players in the MLS Regular Season to have scored four or more game winning goals within a team’s first 15 games this season and is one off the lead (which is 5, set by FC Cincinnati Forward Kevin Denkey, with five game opening goals).
o Martínez is the first ever player in Club history to score four game winning goals in the first 15 games of the team’s season.
Additionally, New York City has three players who have scored the game openers this season.
- Alonso Martínez (four times), Hannes Wolf (once), and Julián Fernández (once).
- Alonso Martínez is one of six players league-wide to have scored the opening goal of a game four times or more this season and is one off the lead (also set by Denkey of FC Cincinnati).
o In Club history specifically, Martínez is one of three New York City FC players to have scored the first goal four times within the team’s first 15 games of a season. The other New York City players who have done this are Jesús Medina (2021) and Santiago Rodríguez (2024).
VERSUS THE WILD WEST
Since 2015, New York City FC has played teams from the Western Conference a total of 79 times, for a record of 33-27-19.
- Of those 79 matches, New York City has scored 124 times while conceding 102.
- Breaking it down into home matches specifically, New York City has hosted Western Conference teams 39 different times.
o For games played at home against Western Conference teams, the Club’s record is 20-10-9.
o The team has scored 79 goals and conceded 47.
- The most wins at home against Western opponents have come against San Jose Earthquakes (5-0-0), where New York City has a perfect record.
o San Jose is the Western Conference opponent that New York City FC has faced the most (five times).
- Against San Jose (5-0-0) and LA Galaxy (2-0-0), New York City FC has gone undefeated with only wins when hosting.
o Other teams New York City has gone undefeated against including draws are Vancouver Whitecaps (1-0-2), Houston Dynamo (1-0-2), LAFC (0-0-1), and FC Dallas (2-0-2).
- The most goals scored at home against Western opponents is 15 against San Jose, followed by Real Salt Lake (12), FC Dallas (11), and Colorado Rapids (10).
o Opponents where New York City has scored the fewest goals against at home include Portland Timbers (1), LAFC (2), LA Galaxy (3), Minnesota United (4), Sporting Kansas City (4), and Houston Dynamo FC (5).
- New York City has conceded the fewest goals at home against LA Galaxy (1), Sporting Kansas City (2), LAFC (2), and Real Salt Lake (3).
o The most goals conceded at home were against FC Dallas (7), followed by San Jose Earthquakes (5), Vancouver Whitecaps (5), and Portland Timbers (5), Minnesota United (5).
- New York City FC holds the highest goal differential against San Jose (+10).
- Last season, the 'Boys in Blue’ recorded a 1-5-0 record against Western Conference teams, scoring seven goals and conceding 11.
o The team faced Austin FC, LA Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes, Colorado Rapids, Portland Timbers, and St. Louis CITYSC.
- New York City went 1-2-0 at home against the West last season, scoring six goals and conceding five.
o The opponents faced were the Portland Timbers, Colorado Rapids, and San Jose Earthquakes.
o The Club’s only win came in a 5-1 victory over San Jose on May 31, marking the highest goal tally and highest winning margin.
o Their highest losing margin was two, which occurred on May 5, against Colorado Rapids in a 2-0 loss.
o The most goals they conceded were two, which occurred twice—once against the Rapids and once against the Portland Timbers on March 9, resulting in a 2-1 loss.
- New York City FC has recorded eight clean sheets at home, achieved against San Jose, LA Galaxy, Colorado Rapids, Seattle Sounders, Sporting Kansas City (twice), and Real Salt Lake (twice).
- The highest margin of victory came on April 17, 2022, when New York City defeated Real Salt Lake 6-0 at Yankee Stadium.
- The most goals conceded at home were three, which occurred three times: a 3-2 loss to Real Salt Lake at Yankee Stadium, a 3-3 draw with FC Dallas at Red Bull Arena, and a 3-1 loss to the Seattle Sounders at Yankee Stadium.
o The highest losing margin was two goals, occurring in a 2-0 loss to Colorado Rapids, a 3-1 loss to Seattle Sounders, and a2-0 loss to Minnesota United FC.
- Current players that have scored against Western opponents are Midfielder Maxi Moralez (5), Forward Alonso Martínez (3), Midfielder Keaton Parks (3), Forward Mounsef Bakrar (1), and Midfielder Hannes Wolf (1).
- Current players that have provided an assist against the West are Maxi Moralez (8), Keaton Parks (1), Midfielder Malachi Jones (1), Midfielder Andrés Perea (1), and Defender Tayvon Gray (1).
- Moralez leads the squad with the most goal contributions against the Western Conference teams with 13.
- Goalkeeper Matt Freese has played five home matches against Western opponents (San Jose, Colorado Rapids, Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps, and Minnesota United), with a record of 1-3-1.
- Freese has recorded 13 saves, faced 21 shots on goal, and conceded eight goals over those matches.
- This season specifically, New York City has played two Western Conference teams: LAFC and Minnesota.
Both resulted in losses for the Club.
New York City conceded three goals and scored one over the pair of matches.
Keaton Parks is the only player to have scored against a Western Conference team this season thus far.