Did NYCFC legend Maxi Moralez play in a sky blue shirt for the final time? | OneFootball

After Saturday night’s 1-1 Hudson River Derby draw against crosstown rivals New York Red Bulls, veteran leader and the heartbeat of New York City FC, midfielder Maxi Moralez sustained a leg injury after trying to regain possession of the ball in the first half of the match. As he lay there wincing in pain, he was eventually carried off on a stretcher.

While the fan base awaits official information on Moralez’s injury, this begs the question: Will this be the last time the NYCFC supporters see him in the NYCFC kit?

There are a few names in the New York sports atmosphere that one thinks of when considering a player’s impact on a franchise. Walt Frazier and Carmelo Anthony are notoriously associated with the New York Knicks, Mark Messier and Henrik Lundqvist for the New York Rangers, Eli Manning and Victor Cruz for the New York Giants, and Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera for the New York Yankees, are just a few of those players.

Maxi Moralez and the impact on NYCFC

In the 2010s, as the buzz around soccer began to spread widely across the city, the New York sports scene gained a new identity and community when NYCFC arrived in 2015. For the past 11 years, there have been many players who have come through the doors of Yankee Stadium and collectively cemented the club's football legacy in the city’s sports community.

In 2017, Argentine midfielder Maximiliano Nicolás Moralez, more commonly known as “Maxi” Moralez, would wear the sky blue jersey for the first time in his career after a journey that led him to stops in countries like Mexico, Italy, Argentina, and Russia before finally deciding to come stateside and join NYCFC. Throughout the years, he wasted no time showcasing his elite vision, impeccable ball-handling, and overall soccer IQ, which helped elevate the Bronx side's identity on the pitch.

What he lacks in size, only standing at 5-foot-3, he makes up for with tenacity and a defensive relentlessness that is unlike any other player at his position. He can dictate the pace of games and thread the needle with crisp passes in the opponent’s final third, helping orchestrate many goals and scoring opportunities with his spatial awareness. Only after watching him play can one understand the value that he brings.

Memories like Moralez’s title-clinching 2022 Campeones Cup goal against Atlas F.C. in front of 24,853 fans will forever be ingrained in the minds of core die-hard NYCFC supporters. When a player can lead his team and club, like winning the 2021 MLS Cup, not only is he planting the seed for future trophies to be won, but he also does his part in keeping New York City as one of the greatest sports cities. This is something that so many New Yorkers will remember.

Even a brief departure from NYCFC after the 2022 campaign was not enough to keep him away for long. He re-signed in the summer of 2023, remaining a household name within the franchise and the vocal leader on and off the pitch.

Is this it for Maxi Moralez?

With a career that spans 21 years, Moralez leaves everything he has on the pitch, win, lose, or draw. Unfortunately, while mentally he is as sharp as anyone in Major League Soccer and the greater soccer world, the body catches up with players, especially after a few leg injuries throughout his NYCFC tenure dating back to 2017.

This current injury, suffered on Saturday night, may very well be the injury that forces him to walk away from this beautiful game for good. At 39 years of age, many fans understood that the Argentine did not have much time left in an NYCFC jersey, especially when Head Coach Pascal Jansen does not give Moralez proper rest. As such, he was forced to put his aging body on the line against younger, quicker players night in and night out.

If the club has not devised a contingency plan for who will eventually take over his Starting XI spot, Saturday night’s injury is definitely a wake-up call for management and Jansen now more than ever.

As he was carried away from the field, a pin could drop in Sports Illustrated Stadium, and fans would hear it. A visibly emotional Moralez lay there with so much passion left to give to a game that his body can no longer physically meet the demands of.

Whatever the next chapter of his journey after this may be, and whether he returns for another season, if one person were to ask the NYCFC fan base, “Is NYCFC the house that Maxi Moralez built?” then for many fans, it would be a resounding yes. For a player and a person who has become the heartbeat of an organization, supporters wait anxiously for his future.