Last night NYCFC lost 1-0 in Toyota Park to the Chicago Fire

Where To Begin/MLS

After last night’s performance we wondered if this game was even worth writing about.

With Josh Saunders serving an interesting suspension, Ryan Meara, the young promising goalkeeper, was given a chance to shine. In the 20th minute he did exactly the opposite.

In what can only be explained as stunning, Meara tried to keep a ball from going out for a corner and somehow gifted the ball to the Fire’s Ghanian DP, Accam, only for him to find an open net waiting. It’s plays like those that the MLS will try to forget about, because they show just how far behind other leagues they are.

Of course, one moment of stupidity does not merit such a claim, but that entire game is a good example. Chicago were up a man the entire match, had copious opportunities to end this game, and the only goal they could get was a fuck-up from a keeper?

Look at some MLS highlights from these past few weeks. It’s astonishing how many of them are just really bad goals. A player will mishit a ball and it will luckily go in. The ball will take a massive deflection and go in. These just aren’t quality goals.

Look at Omar Gonzalez’s late equalizer last week. It was heralded as the superstar American center back saving his team late in the match, what a hero. But it was clearly an own goal off a lucky deflection in a crowded penalty box. That goal belonged more to physics than it did the LA Galaxy.

Point is, Chicago Fire’s only goal came from a defensive blunder. They had opportunity after opportunity to improve on that and they failed. This is not only representative of this match, but this league in general.

From Bad To Worse. And Then Someone Shot Us In The Face With a 12-Gauge Shotgun

Okay, so Ryan Meara messed up.

Oh, also Jacobson got a deserved red card for a last man tackle on Accam. In the 23rd minute.

Oh, and Adam Nemec and Javier Calle got injured in the first half.

This game was terribly difficult to sit through as an NYCFC fan. We were unlucky, yes, but we also played horribly.

Kreis will attribute much of that poor play to our being down a man, but that’s unjust. We couldn’t even pass the ball well amongst ourselves in the back. Mix gave the ball away, Watson-Siriboe almost pulled a Meara, and Brovsky deserved 7 yellow cards.

It is not worth writing about the individual failures out there last night, because everyone failed.

On To The Next One

Oh, did we mention that our next game is against Obafemi Martins, Dempsey, and the Seattle Sounders?

I’m sure we’ll be great.

On to the next one, I guess.