On January 7th, NYCFC’s Schedule was released to a fanbase eager to revisit the pain we endured last year. Would we see NYCFC enjoy an afternoon tilt in Houston in August, then hop a Greyhound for another one in Dallas? How far would the team travel? Would the Yankees limit our home games to a mere handful? What would the Centenario break do for us? Oh yes, it’s a mighty rabbit hole one can climb down, and that’s just what I did.
So in the interest of sanity, let’s limit this piece to illuminating some compelling and occasionally horrifying observations about NYCFC’s schedule for the 2016 Season.
Days Like This: NYCFC’s Schedule
For starters, the games feel weirdly unevenly distributed, and break down month by month this way: 4-5-5-3-6-4-5-2. But a quick check of the schedules of RBNY (3-6-5-3-6-4-4-3), the Union (3-5-5-4-5-5-4-3), the Revs (4-6-4-2-6-5-4-3) and DC United (4-5-4-3-5-5-5-3) shows it’s not that different from theirs. And remember, we have the added obstacle (pardon me, “benefit”; ahem) of having to schedule around the Yankees.
In our first seven fixtures, we play four times against teams in our own division who didn’t make the playoffs last year (including 2 against the league’s worst, Chicago). But then, of the remaining 10 matches in the first half of the season, we face playoff teams 70% of the time, with a run of six in a row that includes a visit to League Champions Portland.
Which means it is vitally important NYCFC get off to a fast start. None of this dropping points in March and April that will bite us in the ass in October.
And that’s not impossible, at least from a weather standpoint. Sure, NYCFC’s schedule kicks off in Chicago in March. But the value of weather is its use as a homefield advantage, and since it’s the first game of the season I don’t believe the Fire will be any more acclimated to the Hawk than we are. More concerning are fixtures later on – like the one in Houston in September. Kick off is about sunset local time, and while Houston isn’t as humid as its neighbor the Big Easy, it oughta be a nice punch in the gut for Pirlo and Lampard.
And then there’s the August 28th match in Orlando. Kicking off an hour before sunset, on a day predicted to be in the 90s. Hoo boy. Lets remember to hydrate, lads.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Because the focus needs to be on taking as many points as possible from those first seven matches, and generally beating last year’s record in the first half of the season. (Fun fact: we took 6 points out of the first eight matches last year. Yeah. I know.)
Why? Because NYCFC’s schedule for the second half of the season kicks off with a month that could break us into tiny little sky blue pieces. For a number of reasons.
Like that we play six matches. Like that two of them are against the Red Bulls. Like that we have a brutal three matches in seven days that takes us from Yankee Stadium (against RBNY) to Foxboro and then to Blue Hell in Kansas City. And you will note that all three of those teams were playoff teams. (And the fun doesn’t end there. Before the lads visit the Bronx again, they’ll see lovely Montreal and then head to Harrison – often considered the Montreal of New Jersey – before hosting the Rapids on the final Saturday of the month. Pablo Mastroeni’s moustache will never have looked so good.)
And speaking of weird little things, there’s an odd aspect to NYCFC’s schedule which I am sure my commenting upon will irk my good friend Ned Joyce to no end. Starting in May and continuing through the end of the season, once a month, NYCFC play on an artificial surface. Weird, right? Like clockwork – DC, Seattle, New England, Orlando, New England and DC. Can’t be a coincidence, can it?
Are there any good things in NYCFC’s schedule? Well yes, a few. There are no games at altitude this year – both Colorado and RSL are coming to the Bronx. As are Vancouver and Dallas and LA, so while there’s a late night match in San Jose in August, and a ridiculous PDX to TFC three day shuttle in May, the travel seems more or less manageable. Plus there are some nice long layoffs that will give the team time to regroup, rest, recover and, if I know anything about City Football Group, recruit some aging superstars to make news on the backpages. (15 days in March-April, 16 days in June, and 17 days in September-October).
But that July? Ah well. Momma said there’d be days like this.
