Columbus Crew's Moreira named 2024 MLS Defender of the Year
Steven Moreira has been named the 2024 MLS Defender of the Year, following his outstanding season for Columbus Crew. Moreira made 27 regular-season appearances (23 starts) in 2024 and logged just over 2,100 minutes in his fourth season with the Crew. Moreira beat out fellow finalists Jordi Alba (Inter Miami CF) and Jackson Ragen (Seattle Sounders FC).
With the international break at hand, we figured we’d take a look at each remaining playoff team and gauge their hopes of winning an MLS Cup. We’ll go from lowest seed to highest seed, starting with the East. Yesterday, New York Red Bulls. Today, New York City FC
The path behind
New York City FC have had the kind of year you’d expect from a young team that’s struggled to find their way in attack. Over the second half of the season, they were a totally average 1.24 points per game team that didn’t do much particularly well. But they did start to figure things out at striker for the first time since Taty Castellanos left. Alonso Martínez scored 10 times over that 17-game stretch on his way to a 16-goal, three-assist regular season.
He hasn’t fixed every problem for NYCFC, but he has made them a more viable threat in the postseason. That’s especially true at home, where NYCFC have been an entirely different team in 2024. They earned 33 points over 17 home games compared to just 17 points on the road. Martínez has been different in the five boroughs too. 12 of his 17 MLS goals came at home this year. You can add two more to that tally if you’re willing to count his two goals in NYCFC’s 5-1 beatdown of the Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena.
You could see that difference on display in Round One against FC Cincinnati. NYCFC got smacked in Game 1 in Cincy, then turned it around to pummel Cincy in Game 2. It helped that they plugged Maxi Moralez back into the starting lineup of that one. And, it helped that Martínez found the back of the net for his first playoff goal.
In Game 3…they did enough. There’s no reason to pretend they were good. They only generated 0.4 xG worth of chances on seven shots. They put one shot on target. In general, they put together a typical NYCFC road performance. At home this season, they scored 2.06 goals per game on 1.86 xG per game. On the road, they scored 1.12 goals per game on 1.27 xG per game.
They held on to force a penalty shootout though. Matt Freese did Matt Freese things in goal. And now, they get a home game against their biggest rival for a shot at the Conference Final.
The path ahead
I have great news for NYCFC. They get their next game at home. And it’s against the team they just thumped 5-1 a few weeks ago. I have bad news for NYCFC. Odds are it’s the last home game of the year for them unless Atlanta United upsets Orlando City. If they have to go on the road for two more games, there’s no reason to like their odds.
Can they do it?
Still, we know it’s a team with plenty of quality. Youth and inconsistency aside, there are clearly talented pieces all over the field. It’s not wild to think they can coalesce at the right time and put together three more great performances. They aren’t quite as talented as the 2021 side that won MLS Cup—Taty Castellanos is one of the best strikers we’ve seen in MLS don’t forget it—but the path is clear now that Inter Miami, Columbus and FC Cincinnati are out of the way. They’ll just need at least one great road performance in MLS Cup to make it happen.
Why won’t they do it?
It’s not clear if they have that great road performance in them. And what if they have to win two road games? Plus, they have to get past a Red Bulls side that suddenly figured everything out against Columbus. It’s not a given. Not against a team that will be seeing red after what happened in the last meeting between these two. The bottom line is that NYCFC are just too inconsistent to be confident in.
What will decide whether or not they do it?
Which version of their attack is going to show up? When they’re on, they’re excellent. They’re off a little too often though. Do they have three great games in them? Or three good enough games?
- Sacha Kljestan gave us his Conference Semifinal predictions.
- USMNT players are keeping a close eye on the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.
- Bruce Arena has taken the reins at San Jose.
- Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan is shaking off Inter Miami.
- Matt Doyle let us know what we learned from Real Salt Lake and Vancouver’s 2024 seasons. And then he did the same with Charlotte and Columbus.
Good luck out there. Be an all-around contributor.
