NYCFC In Playoffs After Clean Sheet Against Charlotte

 

It was a bright start to the day with the high noon kickoff. Photo by Jason Schott.

New York City Football Club shut out Charlotte, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium to clinch a spot in the 2025 MLS Playoffs.

NYCFC has now made the playoffs in nine of the last ten seasons, and as a franchise, they have only missed the playoffs in their debut season in 2015 and two years ago.

This was NYCFC's 16th win of the season, giving them a record of 16-5-6-9, with 53 points, as they move into a tie with Charlotte, who also has 53 points but a record of 17-2-12.

The 16 wins for NYCFC match the second-most in franchise history, achieved in 2017, '18, and '22. Their highest win total was the 19 in 2019.

Chatlotte's nine-game winning streak, which dates back to when they beat NYCFC on July 12 by the same 2-0 score, was broken in this one.

This was the eighth clean sheet of the season for NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese, tying him with Josh Saunders (NYCFC's goalkeeper in their inaugural season) for the fourth-most shutouts in team history in an MLS Regular Season.

Freese, who just signed a contract extension that will keep him with NYCFC through 2030, made two saves, as Charlotte had two shots on net and six overall. 

NYCFC's two goals came on penalty kicks from Alonso Martinez, in the 11th and 58th minutes. He now has 17 on the season, a new career-high as he surpassed the 16 he had in 2024.

Alonso Martinez converting his second penalty kick, firing it right over Chatlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina. Photo by Jason Schott.

This was Martinez's 10th game-winning goal of the year, and he becomes the first ever player to reach that number for NYCFC in a single season. He ranks second in MLS history, tied with former Atlanta FC Forward Josef Martinez, and just one away from tying San Jose Earthquakes Forward Chris Windolowski, who had 11 game-winners.

Charlotte got a penalty kick of their own in the 67th minute, but Freese turned away a shot from Zaha, known for his time playing with Crystal Palace and Manchester United.

When NYCFC scores at least two goals at home, they now have a perfect record of 9-0-0.

NYCFC has a game in hand on second-place Cincinnati, who has 58 points (18-4-9) and the first place Philadelphia Union, at 60 points with a record of 18-6-7.

Inter Miami (52 points, 15-7-6) is just one point behind NYCFC with two games in hand. Lionel Messi and Co. visit Citi Field this Wednesday at Citi Field to take on NYCFC.

COACH'S COMMENTS: NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen spoke on these topics in his postgame press conference:

On making the playoffs and expectations for the season: "Well, the things that I agreed with, taking on this project, we're playing for a top-four spot in general. It's about how you get there, of course, and how you build your roster. That's the interesting part. That's the first experience for me working in the MLS. When certain people were getting a little bit nervous that we didn't sign any players when Santi (former Midfielder Santiago Rodriguez) left, people were like, what's going on? There's not DP (Designated Player) coming in. Our strategy is very clear, and that's what I committed to, and that's why we got (Defender) Raul (Gustavo). Same goes for (Midfielder) Aiden (O'Neill), same goes for (Midfielder) Nico (Fernandez Mercau), because we believe that we can build a roster that can be competitive throughout the whole season and for many seasons. Now, we've clinched the playoff spot, which is obviously a success, but we want more. We still have a few games to go and still 12 points to gain, and then we'll see where we finish. Once the league is finished, the season is finished, then we will start to focus on the playoffs."

On his reflection of his first season with NCYFC: "I have to give credit to my team and my staff for that, because I can have the ideas, training schedule, approach, and the philosophy, but they have to do the work and understand which direction I want to go with them. As I said, that's a big credit to the team for understanding and also putting up with the hard stuff and the hard work that it takes in order to grow, because they're very open-minded and very coachable as well. If you look throughout the season, we've had some bumps. There's been a conversation around (that) we play better in the top games than we do when we play a team below us. But that's not my approach. The approach is every game should be a final. Every game you have to play like it's your last game on Earth, and that's the mentality. You won't be as good as your last game or maybe two games in a row, but you have to improve every time. That is the focus that we have. That's a big compliment to the team - sticking with me, listening to my ideas, and trying to improve. That's the basic story."