If one were to look up team on fire and team on the uprise in the dictionary there as of the month of June would be a picture of New York City FC right next to it.
Putting all of themselves onto the pitch and just going for it the Boys in Blue wearing the 24/7 kit, which thus far has brought them a ton of great energy were able to stretch the unbeaten streak to five games in the 5-1 victory against the San Jose Earthquakes.
It was moves made by Head Coach Nick Cushing in the later moments of the match that gave the squad the extra elevation that they were looking for even though the overall play by the team fared well.
NYCFC were able to have goal scoring performances by Hannes Wolf, Santiago Rodriguez, and a hat trick by Alonso Martínez in sending the crowd of 20,188 in attendance as well as those on the team at Yankee Stadium into an enthusiastic celebration.
The clash against San Jose is a rare one as the West Coast MLS club does not come into the NYC area that often. Thus far the Boys in Blue are playing very well against the Earthquakes though as they have a 6W-0L and 1D record.
Fans of NYCFC are encouraged to check out our photo gallery from the match….
NYCFC fans are encouraged to give a click to the following video as Coach Cushing shares these thoughts:
With the victory NYCFC is tied with the team’s longest regular season winning streak in club history. The longest thus far is from September to October that was achieved during the 2022 season.
Getting to some of the impressive stats from the match as the MLS season progressed Coach talks highly and positively of all of the guys that are on his roster and he is one of many that believed that Martínez was bound to get into a scoring groove into his own way.
It was not only Coach Cushing but goalkeeper Luis Barraza that saw Alonso scoring eventually, and the forward rewarded the franchise with the fastest hat trick in club history, as he found the net in 10 minutes of play.
Fans that were in attendance at Yankee Stadium got to see the return of one of the great in MLS as Maxi Moralez made his triumphant return to the squad.
Moralez coming back to the team from an ACL injury put in a lot of time and training into making sure that he’d get back to the field healthy and looked fantastic in the match against San Jose as his passing touch found Martínez in the 85′.
Coach Cushing beamed with pride with the return of Maxi to the team as he had this to say to members of the New York media after the match, “I love talking about the game, right? I mean you could sit here now for the next five hours and talk about Maxi Moralez. Since I’ve been here, he is the greatest player to ever play for our football club. He’s had the biggest impact. He’s almost like having a coach on the field when he plays like he did tonight. It’s an absolute masterclass. I think you have certain players in the game that can literally just pick the game up and just put it in his pocket and just almost conduct the game like the conductor conducts the orchestra. He’s that guy, you know, on 70 minutes or whatever minute I put him in, I was frustrated because I thought the game is hanging on the balance. Tonight was masterclass vintage Maxi Moralez. He played like a 21-year-old. When we were in the locker room, we said he played like he’s 21. So important to us. When I was given the opportunity last year to bring him back, I sent the plane and the car and everything to pick him up to bring him. I’m so happy for him because he’s worked incredibly hard to get back to where he is.”
Overall, the energy around New York City FC is something that can only be seen by attending the matches in person, seeing the expressions by guys like Santi after scoring in the 80′ and the passion by Tayvon Gray, Malachi Jones to name a few is something that is getting the rest of the believers of the franchise to believe as well.
The biggest challenge for the squad though is how to keep the energy going as the franchise has a bit of a breather as the team is going to be on an international break due to the FIFA Tournament, then after that the guys return to Yankee Stadium to host the Columbus Crew in a match to be played on June 14 with the start of the night scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
For more information on New York City FC fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here: