NYCFC’s Malachi Jones may be in contention to feature again this season despite suffering a broken leg in the club’s 4-2 victory against Orlando City SC on June 28.
NYCFC Sporting Director David Lee said Jones immediately underwent surgery to repair a fractured tibia and fibula, adding that the 20-year-old is now walking without crutches.
“I saw him walk without crutches for the first time this morning, which is an amazing, amazing sight,” Lee said on July 10. “It was a really, really bad injury both for Malachi and also for Mason (Stajduhar),” he added, referring to the Orlando City goalkeeper who also suffered a double broken leg in the challenge.
Lee said Jones “will certainly miss some months” with the injury but said it is “not definitive” that he will miss the remainder of the campaign, with the regular season due to end on Oct. 19 and the play-offs due to conclude on December 7.
“I think we’re going to take it week by week and month by month to see how he’s progressing, but it will certainly probably be close as to whether he’ll be able to compete to play this season.”
Lee described Jones as “one of the most incredible individuals” that he has ever met and said the Sierra Leone native has taken the injury in his stride.
“He’s taken that positivity that he has naturally into attacking his rehab,” Lee said. “Our job now is to support him and help him.
“I know he’ll come back better than ever. He was already a super important player in our team coming out of the draft earlier this year and I can’t wait for him to back on the pitch and show what an amazing player he is.”
Assessing the season at large, Lee said he is “pleased” with NYCFC’s performance after the club overcame a difficult start, losing four of their opening five games.
“I think we’ve been relatively consistent overall and we’ve picked up a lot of points. To be fifth in the league is okay. We would like to be better, but we know it’s a huge amount of competition, particularly in the Eastern Conference this year. But we’re pleased.”
“After [23 games], I think we’re three points behind where we were in 2019 when we finished first place in the East, and I think we’ve got one more point at this point in the season than we had in 2021 when we won MLS Cup.”
NYCFC currently sits 12 points behind Eastern Conference leaders Cincinnati, but Lee remains hopeful that the club can challenge for the top spot in the conference with 11 games left to play.
“The MLS has shown for every team, it can be really streaky, and you can go on really good runs, and then you go on runs where you lose three games in a week and all of a sudden it tightens back up again.
“We are obviously some distance away from Miami and Cincinnati, and it will require both us being excellent over the last 12 games and them having a dip in their performance level, which we can’t predict.
“But the ambition is still to finish as high as possible in the league and I think that’s an option. What we can control is trying to win as many games over these last [11] in order to be able to put ourselves in that position, and then see how high we can get in the league.”
Lee praised the performances of club captain Thiago Martins, who was recently selected to the 2024 MLS All-Star team.
Lee said the accolade was “an amazing honor and achievement” for the 29-year-old defender, recognizing him as one of the best players in his position.
“I think it’s a deserved recognition for some really consistent, strong performances for us,” Lee said, adding that goalkeeper Matt Freese and attacking midfielder Santiago Rodriguez were both unlucky not to have been selected for the All-Star team.
“Santi has taken his game to the next level this year and has been a hugely important part of our team. He’s got eight goals and seven assists, which is a fantastic record for a number 10 in our league.
“I actually think Matt is maybe one of the most deserving players in the whole league,” he added. “His performances have been absolutely outstanding this year and I was disappointed for Matt that he didn’t get that recognition.”
Lee also looked ahead to NYCFC’s debut appearance in the Leagues Cup, which kicks off with a home game against Mexican side Querétaro at Yankee Stadium at the end of July before a trip to Cincinnati at the beginning of August. He described the upcoming Leagues Cup campaigns as a “big opportunity” and said the club is aiming to go as far as possible.
“It’s a trophy on the line, and it’s a possibility to qualify for Champions Cup. The goal is to go as far as we can in that tournament. It’s not an opportunity to rotate a huge bunch of players and rest players. The league stops for a reason so that teams can field the strongest teams that they possibly can.”
