NYCFC vs Seattle Sounders FC preview: Decision Day 2025 | OneFootball

NYCFC vs Seattle Sounders FC preview: Decision Day 2025 | OneFootball

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·18 October 2025

NYCFC vs Seattle Sounders FC preview: Decision Day 2025

Article image:NYCFC vs Seattle Sounders FC preview: Decision Day 2025

Last year, New York City FC entered Decision Day in fifth place, needing a win to secure fourth or fifth in the Eastern Conference.  They could have finished in fourth, fifth, or sixth place, and, funny enough, the same situation as last season is happening again.  The Pigeons are in fifth right now and are relying on another team, Charlotte FC, to drop points to secure fourth place, if the Bronx side actually wins their match.

NYCFC will ideally not repeat what happened in 2024, when the team fell to CF Montréal and into sixth place.  But they have a tough challenge ahead of them with Seattle Sounders FC coming to Queens.  The two sides have previously faced off seven times, last meeting in 2022, and five of the seven matches occurred in Major League Soccer.  They are even with a 2-2-1 league record, but the Sounders have never been an easy opponent.


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At the very least, despite being in fifth place again, NYCFC is in a better position and arguably has a better head coach with Pascal Jansen leading the team.  The Queens side has 17 wins compared to 14 from 2024, and 56 points compared to 50.  Of course, there were a few games that came down to silly mistakes, meaning that they could have had a few more wins this year.

The good news is that NYCFC can tie their most wins from 2019, 18, if they win on Decision Day.  As such, here is a preview of the final match of the regular season.

NYCFC vs Seattle Sounders FC preview

Date

NYCFC and the Seattle Sounders will play each other on Saturday, October 18.

Time

The game will start at 6:00 PM ET.

Location

The match will occur at Citi Field in Flushing, Queens, NY       .

How to watch

Supporters can watch the regular-season finale on the MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

Weather

The last game will be 62 degrees and partly cloudy.  Rain is thankfully not in the forecast, and there will be 7 mph winds.

Injury report

Malachi Jones (leg) and Keaton Parks (leg) will be out for Decision Day.  This means Nico Cavallo is back.

Players to watch

NYCFC supporters should watch Alonso Martínez.  The team needs to score multiple goals if they want to beat Seattle, so the Costa Rican desperately needs to score.  He has already scored 17 goals, and it would be great to bring his tally up to 18 or 19.  If he does not score, then this could turn into a very nerve-racking game.

Fans should also watch Albert Rusnák.  The Seattle player missed the last match due to a red card suspension and will be eager to get back on the pitch.  He has 11 goals and seven assists in MLS, making him one of the bigger threats of the evening.  Still, the Sounders have multiple attackers who could cause problems for the Boys in Blue.

NYCFC can be streaky, but the players know what is on the line.  Sure, they could still end the season in fifth place, but clearly they want to control what they can.  Hence, the Pigeons will beat the Sounders, 3-2.  It will be a wild game and go down to the wire.

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