MyKhi Joyner, are you serious?
The 18-year-old Homegrown winger's four-goal outing on Friday led the way in St Louis CITY2's 6-3 win over Portland Timbers2, and he found the net in almost every way imaginable.
A Goal of the Year candidate? Check.
From the spot? Twice.
At point-blank? Yeah, he did that too.
"It was super special to me," Joyner said postgame. "It's my first time with this club scoring four goals. It's really surreal and just awesome."
"It's hard not to be proud of him," said CITY2 head coach David Critchley. "It demonstrates his attacking qualities."
Joyner's Friday night haul brings his goal tally to eight on the season, tied for tops in what's shaping up to be an MLS NEXT Pro Golden Boot race for the ages. What's even more impressive about his torrid 2025 scoring pace is that he was absent from league play helping the St. Louis first team in MLS for four weeks across April and early May.
He returned to CITY2 action last week and led the way with a brace in their 3-2 Matchweek 10 win over MNUFC2, making it a whopping six goals in his last two matches.
Joyner and CITY2 had to rally to earn their lopsided scoreline Friday night. At the halftime whistle, they were staring at a 2-1 deficit and dug deep to send the fans at Energizer Park home happy.
Not satisfied with his ninth-minute penalty to get CITY2 on the board, Joyner shared a little about the halftime conversations that fueled his second-half hat trick.
"We went into the locker room with a positive mindset," he said. "We were just like 'Hey, second half, we gotta bounce back, we're going to come in harder and get more goals,' and we did that exactly. So, props to the team."
Knowing which buttons to press from the coach's chair was obviously key as well.
"We adjusted the shape," added Critchley. "...I think the tactical adjustment was a big part of it, but the guys came out and had better energy and more quality on the ball, they worked harder, so all of these details were super important as well, which gave us the win tonight."
In MLS NEXT Pro history, Joyner becomes the fifth player all-time to bag a four-goal haul.
Player | Club | Date |
Rauf Salifu | Sporting KC II | 7/2/2022 |
John Denis | NYCFC II | 7/10/2022 |
Jacen Russell-Rowe | Columbus Crew 2 | 9/18/2022 |
Roald Mitchell | New York Red Bulls II | 4/14/2024 |
MyKhi Joyner | St Louis CITY2 | 5/23/2025 |
On the club side, it adds to a breakneck list of accolades Joyner is collecting. Joyner is a CITY Academy product who dazzled in MLS NEXT Pro 2024 on his way to earning his first professional contract and MLS debut. He finished second in the 2024 MLS NEXT Pro Golden Boot race and showed his flair for high-leverage moments with multiple stoppage-time goals in CITY2's playoff run.
And now he's the first player to score a professional haul in club history at any rank.
"It's an amazing feeling," Joyner said as he closed his postgame remarks. "I'm glad to be the first, but honestly, I can't thank my team enough because they push me every day."
