NYCFC named James Sands the Defensive Player of the Year | OneFootball

Major League Soccer teams will often name a goalkeeper, center-back, left-back, or right-back as their team's Defensive Player of the Year. The same goes for New York City FC, for the Pigeons' previous ones include but are not limited to Alexander Callens, Maxime Chanot, and Sean Johnson.

The club, similar to the MVP, has not named a Defensive Player of the Year for the last couple of seasons. That changed on Saturday.

James Sands is the NYCFC Defensive Player of the Year

After naming Matt Freese the team's MVP, NYCFC announced that James Sands is the Defensive Player of the Year. The defensive midfielder earned the club honor after he had a strong season.

For starters, he helped reduced lapses in the defense when he was in the Starting XI. It was noticeable when he was not on the pitch, for he often acted as a fifth defender in the backline when necessary.

Statistically, Sands did a lot to help his team. He was fourth on the team with 31 clearances and first out of the midfielders. He had the third most aerial duels with 81, winning 63% of them. In addition, he had the second-highest passing percentage on the NYCFC roster for those who played 15 games or more, with 89.6%.

Sands also had an assist in 2024, but more importantly, he scored his first MLS goal for NYCFC. It came at the best time too.

Entering the Inter Miami CF game in September, the Pigeons were on an eight-game winless streak. The Boys in Blue knew they had a tough match to play, and it was. It was a gritty fight, and Miami took the lead in the 75th minute. At that point, the focus became about not losing at home.

Fortunately, in the dying minutes of stoppage time, NYCFC was given a corner kick. The ball fell to Sands, and he headed it into the back of the net to rescue a point for NYCFC. His first goal came at the perfect time, and the draw felt like a win during the roughest part of the season. Looking back, it sparked them to win three of their final four matches in the regular season.

The defensive midfielder deserved to be named the Defensive Player of the Year for NYCFC. Since Freese was the MVP, it made sense that Sands should be the choice. Thiago Martins could have also been considered, but since Freese had to step up too many times for failures in the backline, Sands was ultimately the correct decision.