Unless Kyle Duncan somehow recovers and somehow scores, Metro is pretty much guaranteed to advance its amazing record: in its 29 seasons, there have been 29 different players who have scored the opening goal. Here is the rundown:

It all started in 1996 with Giovanni Savarese, of course, who scored the first game in Metro history at the Rose Bowl against the LA Galaxy in the 77th minute. That goal brought Metro to 2:1, and that's how it ended (sounds like the last game of last season, alas).

Metro failed to score in the 1997 season opener, when a scoreless draw at San Jose was followed by a shootout loss. In the second game, they went on the road to Tampa, when Mike Sorber scored on his debut to tie the game at one. Metro would lose on a last-minute goal, 2:1 again. A year later, Metro went to LA again, went down early, before Jim Rooney tied the game on his debut. Savarese would give Metro the lead, but LA scored two late goals to win 3:2.

We'd rather forget 1999, but it actually started out with a sort-of win, with Metro topping Miami in a shootout after a 2:2 tie. Both goals were scored by Eduardo Hurtado, who raced Metro out to a 2:0 lead before the hosts came back. A year later, it was at Miami again, with Alex Comas scoring on his debut to counteract the Fusion's opener. That was all Metro could muster in a 3:1 loss.

We finally got a home opener in 2001, and who else but Clint Mathis to open the scoring against New England. Metro needed a stoppage-time winner from Adolfo Valencia to take it, 2:1. A year later, another home game against the Revs, another win, this time 3:1, with Rodrigo Faria scoring the opener.

Metro was shutout in the 2003 opener, also at home, losing to Columbus on a late goal, in a game this website coined the term "Curse of Caricola". A week later, the fat bastard Jaime Moreno knocked home a penalty kick to tie LA 1:1 on Korean Heritage Night.

Metro went on the road in 2004, and easily dispatched Columbus 3:1, despite allowing the first against the run of play. Mike Magee quickly responded, and Metro breezed from there. In 2005, the opener was played at a monsoon, resulting with a scoreless draw against expansion Salt Lake. Metro went down two in its second game, at home versus Kansas City, but Sergio Galvan Rey somehow matched his entire previous season's total to make it 2:2.

The first game of the Red Bull era was played in DC, and it was Metro's turn to race to a two-goal lead, before the hosts came back to tie it. Youri Djorkaeff scored a perfect free kick for the opener. 2007 opened with a scoreless draw at snowy Columbus, but a week later Jozy Altidore opened the scoring in a 3:0 romp over Dallas. In the last ever home opener at Giants Stadium, Dave van den Bergh scored just 46 seconds into the 2008 season. Metro ran off 2:0 winners over Columbus. (The result in MLS Cup would be reversed, alas.)

2009 was simply miserable. Metro got trashed at expansion Seattle in the opener, 3:0, then came back home, tying New England, 1:1, with the score being an own goal by Jay Heaps. A 1:0 loss at Chicago and a scoreless tie at Houston followed. So it took the fifth game for an actual Metro to score, which Macoumba Kandji did in a 2:0 home win against Salt Lake.

Red Bull Arena era opened with perhaps the most famous season opener in team history, the long blast by Joel Lindpere to beat Chicago, 1:0. In 2011, it was 1:0 at RBA again, this time over Seattle, this time Juan Agudelo scoring his first Metro goal. (Thierry Henry had previously missed the only penalty he would ever take as a Metro.) Metro went to Dallas in the 2012 opener, with Kenny Cooper scoring the consolation tally in a 2:1 loss.

The first Shield season started with a crazy game at Portland, when Metro raced out to a two-goal lead before being lucky to end it, 3:3. Fabian Espindola became the first Metro to score twice on his debut, starting the goalfest in the 9th minute. The first goal of Bradley Wright-Phillips' then-league-record 27 came in an awful loss at Vancouver, the last goal of a 4:1 debacle to open 2014.

The second Shield's opener and the promise of up-tempo, winning soccer started with a goal by Lloyd Sam and a 1:1 tie at Kansas City. 2016 started with two bad losses, 2:0 at home to Toronto and 3:0 on the road to Montreal, but Metro woke up from the slumber with a 4:3 thriller over Houston at RBA. Sacha Kljestan scored the opener in a game Metro eventually won on two goals by Felipe Martins, the last on a free kick. Metro's first ever visit to Atlanta in 2017 ended with a 2:1 triumph, as Daniel Royer tied the game before a late own goal winner.

The third Shield's first goal was scored by... Ben Mines? Metro was deep into its Champions League run, so Jesse Marsch started a second-choice team, which was so good it destroyed Portland 4:0. The 17-year-old Mines scored in his only appearance of the whole year. Another Champions League involvement led to another second-choice lineup in 2019, when Andreas Ivan scored early at Columbus in what ended up a 1:1 tie.

The abbreviated 2020 season started when COVID was just a fever dream, with a 3:2 win over Cincinnati at Kyle Duncan scoring first at RBA. Fans were (sort of) back in 2021, as Caden Clark's golazo gave Metro a lead over KC, but two goals in a minute by the visitors turned it into a 2:1 loss.

Metro opened at San Jose in 2022, with Patryk Klimala scoring from the goalmouth in what would eventually become a 3:1 win. A year later, Metro was shutout 1:0 at Orlando and followed with a scoreless tie at home against Nashville. So it was up to Andres Reyes, in snowy Minnesota, to head in a John Tolkin corner to set the final score at 1:1.

Finally, 2024, when Metro got yet another scoreless draw at Nashville, before heading to Houston and surprising the hosts 2:1. Lewis Morgan returned from injury to set up Elias Manoel's opener, before scoring his own winner. Perhaps he will be the first scorer of 2025?