NYCFC Presser Ahead of Chicago

By Anonymous (not verified), May 23, 2025

From NYCFC

Pre-Match Press Conference Quotes

New York City FC Head Coach Pascal Jansen

On what role Justin Haak plays on defense...
“We played with [Justin Haak] in midfield at the beginning of the season. He dropped back into the back four, but he gives us the flexibility we're looking for. So, having him play on the left side of Thiago [Martins]—it looks good at the moment. It looks stable, decent, and it gives us the attacking threat on the ball, but it also gives us the defensive stability we're looking for. That is something we work on really hard as a team, and Justin in particular. So, I'm hoping to see his progression continue as it is.”

On how high-pressure situations can create consistency...
“It helps, for sure. On the other hand, that game has already been played, so it doesn't give you any guarantees for the next one. We had our review, like we always do. We took a good look at what happened against the New York Red Bulls and the way it happened. We make sure to take out the positives from that game, that we’re aware of the things that need to be addressed and improved on and then get ready for the next game.”

New York City FC Midfielder Maxi Moralez

On the team defending together...
“When the opponent has the ball, we need to defend together. We need to make the team compact [to make it hard for them] to cross the line. We've scored many times [after we had recovered the] ball quick and transitioned to play forward. This is what we try to do every game. So, if we defend all together [as a unit] we can win every single match.”

On his thoughts on Jonny Shore...
“Jonny [Shore] is important for us— a strong player—and he has a lot of quality. You know, now he’s starting a lot of games, so he plays very well. So, for us, he’s important, for sure. We have to help him since he’s a younger player.”

Key Points

All-Time Against Chicago Fire FC
New York City FC will host Eastern Conference foe Chicago Fire FC for the first time of two scheduled meetings this regular season.

This Sunday’s matchup will be the 23^rd meeting in all-time regular season play between these two sides from the East.
New York City FC leads significantly in this series with their record of 11-3-8 (W-L-D) over 22 matches played.

The most recent loss suffered against Chicago Fire was in September 2021, where the Club lost 2-0 at SeatGeek Stadium through two second half goals scored by the opposition.
The other two losses came prior to that match: once in June 2018 (3-2 loss) and another in April 2015 (1-0 loss).
Other than those matches, New York City has captured at least one point against Chicago in 19 matches out of a possible 22.

Midfielder Maxi Moralez played the most matches against Chicago, with 13.

He has played 1,060 minutes with the Club against Chicago, started 12 games, and assisted 10 times.
He leads in assists against Chicago on this current roster, having eight more than the player in second (Midfielder Keaton Parks, with two).

Parks has played the second most number of games, with 12.

Against Chicago, Parks has logged 751 minutes, started nine times, played eleven games, scored once, and assisted twice.

Other players who had played at least five times against Chicago include: Defender Thiago Martins (6 GP, 6 GS) and Midfielder Andrés Perea (he recorded four appearances and one goal with Orlando, along with two appearances for City).
The Club has scored 34 goals against Chicago but conceded 22.
The player that has scored the most goals against Chicago on the current roster is Forward Alonso Martínez, who has two in two games played.

That means he averages one goal per game against Chicago Fire.

Three other players have scored against Chicago, with all of them tallying one each: Forward Julián Fernández, Parks, and Perea.

Additionally, Parks has two assists against Chicago, while Perea has one.

Goalkeeper Matt Freese has played three times against this weekend’s opponent.

He has recorded 270 minutes, nine shots, seven saves, and a GAA of 0.67.

New York City has never lost at home to the Chicago Fire, for a solid home record of 8-0-3 through 11 games.

New York City FC has scored 19 goals at home against this team and only conceded seven.
That tallies to a goals scored average of 1.727, and a goals conceded average of 0.636 through 11 home matches.

On the road, the record slides to 3W-3L-5D through 11 games as well.

City both scored and conceded 15 goals in away games against Chicago.

New York City FC has scored more goals in each half compared to Chicago.

In the first half of games, New York City has 21 goals scored to the opponent’s 12.
And in the second half of games, the Club has 13 compared to Chicago’s 10.
They also have more shots tallied in both halves, with 153 (57 on goal) in the first half of games and 151 (53 on goal) in the second.

New York City FC scores the most goals against Chicago in the minute interval of 31-45, with nine of their goals coming from that stretch of time. In other periods of time, the Club has scored:

Six goals in minutes 1-15.
Five goals in minutes 16-30.
Eight goals in minutes 46-60.
Three goals in minutes 61-75.
And three goals in minutes 76-90.

Back in the Bronx
New York City FC returns to The Bronx for the fifth time this season, playing at Yankee Stadium for two straight home games.

This is the second time this season that New York City FC will play a string of at least two games in The Bronx.

The last time New York City had at least two games at Yankee Stadium was during Matchday 3 and 4 of this season, where the team played Orlando City SC and New England Revolution.
In that pair of games, New York City went 2-0-0 (W-L-D).
New York City FC outscored their opponents four to two.
Three players contributed in the pair of games at Yankee Stadium: Alonso Martínez, Julián Fernández, and Forward Hannes Wolf.

Martínez is the only player to score twice in this stretch, however, Wolf and Fernández both recorded assists on goals.

All the team's goals were scored in the second half (59’, 68’, 71’) aside from one (38’).
One goal conceded was in the 69th minute, while the other (that was an own goal) was conceded in the 26th.
Over those two wins at Yankee, New York City kept a combined 52.45% average in possession, 12 shots, and six shots on goal.

The team overall has played four games at Yankee, and the record then moves to 2-2-0.

Aside from Orlando and New England, the team has also hosted Minnesota United FC and CF Montréal in the Bronx.
The two wins occurred against Orlando and New England, while the team fell to Minnesota and Montréal.
Midfielder Keaton Parks scored in the 1-2 loss to Minnesota.
The loss to Montréal was the only time where the team was held scoreless at Yankee Stadium.

Four players contributed to five goals at Yankee Stadium overall: Martínez (two), Wolf (one), Fernández (one), and Parks (one).

Wolf and Fernández have one assist each in addition to their goals.

Some trends so far at Yankee Stadium include (W-L-D):

When the team scores first, their record is 1-0-0.
When they concede first, the record is 1–1-0.
When they are held scoreless, the record is 0-1-0.
When Martínez scores, the team’s record is 2-0-0.
In games where either Wolf or Fernandez have a goal contribution, the record is also 2-0-0.

Goalkeeper Matt Freese has played all four games at Yankee Stadium:

He has conceded five goals through four games for a GAA of 1.25 when playing in The Bronx this season.
The most he has conceded in a single game there this season was two (v. Minnesota).
He has made 17 saves in total over four games and has a record of approximately 4.25 saves per game at Yankee.
The most shots on goal he faced were against Minnesota (nine) while the most shots overall from an opponent was against Montréal (22).
He has yet to collect a clean sheet at Yankee Stadium this season thus far.

From games at Yankee Stadium, the Club has captured six points out of a possible 12.

Milestones
New York City FC players are setting new milestones, not only for the Club but within the league as well.

In the most recent match, Maxi Moralez scored his 28th goal for the Club in regular season play.

This milestone was reached after Moralez had played 197 games over nine years for New York City in MLS play.
In that timespan, he has recorded 28 goals and six assists.
He has the third most goals in Club history with 28, with former New York City FC Forwards Valentín ‘Taty’ Castellanos and David Villa ahead with 50 and 77, respectively.
Additionally, Moralez is now the oldest player to have scored in Major League Soccer during the 2025 Regular Season, at 38 years and 79 days. 
Now joining former New York City FC Midfielder Frank Lampard, Moralez becomes the second player in Club history to have recorded a goal at the age of 38 or over.

Quickly moving up the ranks is Alonso Martínez, who has 23 goals over three active years, and 42 games played.

This was Martínez’s seventh goal of the season, keeping him firmly in the league wide race for most goals scored.
In the Golden Boot race as of now, he is tied for fourth and is only four goals off the lead.
With his goals scored during his time at the Club, Martínez has the sixth most goals scored in Club history. He is one off fifth (24 goals, set by former Midfielder Santiago Rodríguez and Forward Héber) and three off fourth (26 goals, set by former Midfielder Ismael Tajouri-Shradi).
However, Martínez reached 23 goals quicker than many other top scorers in Club history.
In comparison to players that reached 42 games with the Club, by the time they got there, Héber had 16, Tajouri-Shradi had 15, Castellanos had 12, Moralez had 10, and Rodríguez had five.

Matt Freese recorded his sixth clean sheet of the season against the New York Red Bulls, keeping the opponent’s side of the scoresheet empty in an important derby.

His six clean sheets this season ties his career high of six from last season, which he completed by the end of 2024.

During one of his clean sheets (v. Columbus Crew in August) Freese was substituted off in the match and the Club eventually conceded a goal afterwards, contributing to his six clean sheets and the team’s total of five on the season.

Freese has played 58 games and kept 16 total clean sheets. That ties him with former Goalkeeper Sean Johnson for most clean sheets in their first 58 matches of play. Former Goalkeeper Josh Saunders is second in that statistic, with 10 clean sheets through 58 games.

Midfielder Justin Haak provided his first-ever assist for the Club in the most recent match day.

Through 61 games played, Haak has one goal and one assist.
He is the fourth homegrown in Club history to mark his first debut, start, goal, and assist with New York City FC. The only other players to do so are Defender Tayvon Gray and former Midfielders Andres Jasson and James Sands.