Somewhere in the bowels of Brooklyn or in the dark corners of the Bronx that Martin Scorsese likes to haunt, one imagines there are places where one could place wagers on sporting events. And it would be a distinctly New York measure of the city’s acceptance and embrace of NYCFC that something relevant to the boys in blue would be there. Of course, the more obvious wagers would have already been decided – who would score the first goal (Mix); who would their first draw be against (Orlando); who would the first win come against (the Revs). But long before you worked your way down to the truly arcane offerings – e.g., “How long until Adam Nemec bails on the Mohawk?” for example, or “How many times will Mix brush his hair out of his face during an away game?”, you would come to “Who will get the first red card?”
Had you put your money on Shea Facey, the Man City Academy product who went out in the 82nd minute in NYCFC’s third game, you probably could have pocketed enough coin to make walking out of that establishment – should such an establishment actually, you know, exist – a challenging proposition. Shea Facey, who Jason Kreis put into the starting eleven because Josh Williams struggled against New England. Shea Facey, who, let’s face it, wasn’t even on your shortlist for that honor, right? Certainly after the way Jacobsen got in Brek Shea’s face in the Orlando opener, the smart money had to be on him. Maybe have Chris Wingert, who’s been carded in each of the last two games, in the “place” slot. Hell, even Jeb Brovsky would have been a better bet than Facey, because you know that crazy moustache is gonna be the last straw for some clean cut ref after a couple of strong challenges and dubious tackles (the smart money says Ricardo Salazar. You know, if there were money to be, um…).
But no. Shea Facey. A kid. A guest on our shores! Manchester born and bred – he probably bleeds baby blue! Ah well, he was getting torched by Badji anyway.
Facey’s ejection was just one of the weird “Firsts” the Citizens accomplished in their nil-nil draw against Colorado on March 21st. The draw – or rather, the nil-nilness of it – was the second. Three games in and they’ve finally been held scoreless (as in, they didn’t score a goal. For the full 90. You know, like New England has done. All season. Ouch). And while a draw on the road is fine, it was worrisome for two reasons.
First because this was not a first rate Colorado’s defense that NYCFC were playing. Burling was sitting out thanks to the red he got in week one against Philadelphia (City of Brotherly Love, indeed), and captain Drew Moor is still recovering from tearing his ACL and lateral meniscus against D.C. United back in August. In other words, just as they did against the Revolution the preceding week, NYCFC were catching a struggling team at an opportune moment, a team who was ripe to give up a goal (Clint Irwin’s great play notwithstanding) and who would finish the day near the bottom of their conference.
The second reason it was worrying was because aside from whatever woes Colorado was experiencing, NYCFC didn’t have any of the energy or creativity they demonstrated in either of their previous games. The defense looked wobbly as usual (except, of course, Josh Saunders. Again. Really, did ANYONE see this guy playing this well to start the season?). Beyond a few flashes of brilliance (the combination of Diskerud to Nemec to Villa in the 53rd minute, for example) the attack looked lethargic, disconnected and confused.
The team also looked tired, actually. Which leads to the third first – because this was NYCFC’s first game outside the eastern time zone. The first game in which they took their game into the jaws of the dreaded Western Conference. Yes “dreaded.” Now that SKC and Houston have taken their hardware back across the Mississippi, the East can claim the cup a grand total of 6 times out of 19 seasons. Perhaps “dreaded” is too weak a word.
Was it the altitude that made the team play poorly? Kreis mentioned in the post-game that it might have been more of a factor than they had anticipated. Was the distance from the Big Apple to the Mile High City a little more draining than the players let on? In spite of the great pictures on twitter of David Villa and crew boarding their flight, this was the longest they’d traveled for a match. Everyone looking forward to that VAN > D.C. > ORL road trip in late September/early October raise your hand.
Maybe it was just the fact that in spite of effectively selling out the Dick (isn’t that what they call Dick’s Sporting Goods Park?), 18,000 fans is a fraction of the 62k and 43k NYCFC played in front of in their previous two matches. Maybe NYCFC need the energy that a big screaming crowd brings. Maybe they felt like they were back in Charleston playing in the Carolina Cup, and played accordingly. Who knows.
What one does know is that a draw with Colorado was enough to land NYCFC at the top of the Eastern Conference this week.
You know. In first.
