Post-match Thoughts - Game 4 - Skc 1, Nycfc 0

[beaucoup_movement]

Little late this week. Having a game at 7 on a Saturday isn't ideal from that standpoint, gets mixed up with the rest of the weekend. Fortunately there aren't many of those on the schedule. Wasn't the best game to watch, especially considering the weather. Still a fun night though:

KANSAS CITY 1, NEW YORK 0

Belated thoughts after the first loss in New York City FC history.

It’s a small sample size but thus far the club has gone on the road for draws, while saving the results for home. With nearly three weeks to go until the next home game (Philadelphia Union, April 16th) it’s likely that last night was the last cold weather setting we’ll have to endure – at least until the playoffs.

New York’s crowd is a work in progress. There was a different atmosphere in the building last night. The opener two weeks ago felt like a major event, this time around things were more subdued. The game was officially a sell-out with 27,454 in attendance but the upper deck was closed off so it still felt fairly empty. Obviously drawing 25,000+ is great, the club and league will be thrilled if that keeps up all season, but it just highlights another drawback of playing in Yankee Stadium. The place is simply too big for the usual MLS crowd.

I don’t know if the club has announced if/when they’re planning to open the upper deck again this season. If it’s something they’re willing to consider game to game based on demand then we might see 40,000+ a few more times in 2015. The obvious candidates are Seattle on May 3 (Clint Dempsey), Red Bulls on June 28 (local rival) and Orlando on July 26 (Kaka). Toronto is another with US National Team fixtures Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore on the roster, but they’ll both be away at Gold Cup when the club visits on July 12. Frank Lampard’s first game is a good candidate along with any playoff games. 27,454 is the realistic ceiling for most of the season so we’ll have to get used to the empty upper deck.

Link to the rest: http://www.theowngoal.com/?p=915

 

[NYCFC 12th man]

Little late this week. Having a game at 7 on a Saturday isn't ideal from that standpoint, gets mixed up with the rest of the weekend. Fortunately there aren't many of those on the schedule. Wasn't the best game to watch, especially considering the weather. Still a fun night though:



Link to the rest: http://www.theowngoal.com/?p=915

I didn't catch the difference in the goals used. Do you have an illustration of both goal types? Do you know why NYCFC selected the goals for the inaugural home match in the first place?

 

[beaucoup_movement]

Couldn't find great pictures but you can tell the difference here. I think the look last night is just more standard/professional. Not sure why they didn't have that setup for the first game.

Game 1, New England:

Game 2, SKC:

 

[obsession600]

I feel like the game on the field has been pretty well analyzed so I will mention some of the off the field things that I noticed.
I was impressed by how well the club and the stadium reacted to problems that occurred at the first home game. It seemed like the amount of metal detectors was doubled and the ropes to organize the ticket lines were effective. I didn't have any line at Gate 6 when I entered the stadium at 6:15. Merchandise was available everywhere including outside the stadium and from the folks who would typically just be selling programs and yearbooks. Cold weather apparel was in abundance and in multiple styles. It also seemed to me that there were more small beer stands and less roving vendors which I think is a real positive.
The non-licensed vendors outside the stadium have also stepped up their game. I saw more tables this time and more items available.
DJ Mode did a great job again providing a backing track to warm ups and the stadium filling up.

 

[roxfontaine]

There also about half the people, so everything was more efficient by default.

 

[beaucoup_movement]

Things definitely ran a lot smoother. As Rox said, ~15K fewer people in attendance which obviously helped. Didn't have any problems getting in the building though, and as you mentioned the merch stands were a lot more accessible as well. The first game was probably more than they expected, hopefully it'll be fine from here.

 

[mgarbowski]

Good point about fans razzing the injured. A boor in my section was doing this, interspersed with his general random profanity. He's part of a large group of 8-10 folks, half of whom are friendly and pleasant, the rest friendly but jerks. Not sure how best to deal with them.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Good point about fans razzing the injured. A boor in my section was doing this, interspersed with his general random profanity. He's part of a large group of 8-10 folks, half of whom are friendly and pleasant, the rest friendly but jerks. Not sure how best to deal with them.

I was more surprised by the booing at the conclusion of the game. Team lost, but played their heart out. That embarrassed me.

As for Zusi, it is too hard to tell if they are flopping for a foul to see who is injured and clap them off. I don't boo as a rule, but if the fans clapped off every player who pretended to be hurt only to return a second later our hands would fall off.

 

[Paul]

I was more surprised by the booing at the conclusion of the game. Team lost, but played their heart out. That embarrassed me.

As for Zusi, it is too hard to tell if they are flopping for a foul to see who is injured and clap them off. I don't boo as a rule, but if the fans clapped off every player who pretended to be hurt only to return a second later our hands would fall off.

I could be wrong, but I thought the booing at the end of the game was more towards the ref and SKC than at our team. Some fans stayed for a few minutes after the final whistle to applaud our guys. Like I said, I could be wrong about it, but it just seemed like people were venting their frustration at the terrible ref.

As for yelling at the "injured" SKC players, I'm sure you are aware Tom that section 14A and the other sections right behind the goal were giving Besler, Marin and some others a lot of shit during the second half for time wasting, including staying on the ground way too long just to let the clock run. I don't recall anyone around me booing Zusi for pulling his hamstring in the cold weather, but I may have missed that.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I could be wrong, but I thought the booing at the end of the game was more towards the ref and SKC than at our team. Some fans stayed for a few minutes after the final whistle to applaud our guys. Like I said, I could be wrong about it, but it just seemed like people were venting their frustration at the terrible ref.

As for yelling at the "injured" SKC players, I'm sure you are aware Tom that section 14A and the other sections right behind the goal were giving Besler, Marin and some others a lot of shit during the second half for time wasting, including staying on the ground way too long just to let the clock run. I don't recall anyone around me booing Zusi for pulling his hamstring in the cold weather, but I may have missed that.

I don't remember anyone around us booing zusi, but I did hear if from other sections, as was mentioned above. There was one guy in our section yelling faggot at the KC keeper, though that was bothering me.

 

[NYC_JC]

I don't remember anyone around us booing zusi, but I did hear if from other sections, as was mentioned above. There was one guy in our section yelling faggot at the KC keeper, though that was bothering me.

Yeah, it was a guy right behind me in 236. Didn't catch his face but everyone scolded him as soon as he said it.

 

[NYCFCfan]

Someone in my section was yelling "the keeper strongly supports the idea of a one party system"

That's about as offensive as it got. Aside from me cursing at the referee of course.

 

[Paul]

I don't remember anyone around us booing zusi, but I did hear if from other sections, as was mentioned above. There was one guy in our section yelling faggot at the KC keeper, though that was bothering me.

I remember that too Tom. I think he was in 14B or maybe 15A (not sure how the sections closer to home plate are designated). Whatever the section is to the left of 14A as you are looking at the field. The guys that I sit around in the middle to back of 14A (including Kevin) approach trash-talking the opposing GK as a sport of creativity. It's really about trying to be as imaginative and humorous as possible. There's nothing humorous or creative about what that particular guy was yelling though. That's not ok.

 

[roxfontaine]

Paul, you're absolutely right about people booing the refs. I always stay after the game to cheer our boys as they walk into the tunnel. For both games, I've seen a large crowd sticking around in all sections to cheer for them. That's great.

 

[Kevin]

I remember that too Tom. I think he was in 14B or maybe 15A (not sure how the sections closer to home plate are designated). Whatever the section is to the left of 14A as you are looking at the field. The guys that I sit around in the middle to back of 14A (including Kevin) approach trash-talking the opposing GK as a sport of creativity. It's really about trying to be as imaginative and humorous as possible. There's nothing humorous or creative about what that particular guy was yelling though. That's not ok.

I heard homophobic slurs from the section to my left as well Paul . We try to just distract the goalie as much as possible. I'll make it my mission to keep yelling " Look at me" every game just and see if we can get the goalies attention.

 

[Paul]

I heard homophobic slurs from the section to my left as well Paul . We try to just distract the goalie as much as possible. I'll make it my mission to keep yelling " Look at me" every game just and see if we can get the goalies attention.

Marin didn't look too happy when he turned and stared in our direction in section 14A when you yelled "LOOK AT ME, MARIN!!!" Then again, he was probably (a) tired of hearing his name being screamed at him, (b) freezing his ass off and (c) was not looking forward to returning to a second class city such as KC. It was great fun even if we did lose the match.

 

[Kevin]

Marin didn't look too happy when he turned and stared in our direction in section 14A when you yelled "LOOK AT ME, MARIN!!!" Then again, he was probably (a) tired of hearing his name being screamed at him, (b) freezing his ass off and (c) was not looking forward to returning to a second class city such as KC. It was great fun even if we did lose the match.

Never had so much fun in a losing effort

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

My wife claims that Dom Dwyer smiled when I chanted Sydney is better after one of his misses

 

[MagnusPax]

It was a decent match, but SKC got lucky on a tried and true method of goal scoring. Throw or cross the ball hard at the goal and have Aurellin Collin... I mean Ike Opara go nuts.

NYC would have been better served to have the true starting 11 there and if their DPs showed up (hope Villa returns soon). It is what it is.

 

[beaucoup_movement]

They were certainly wasting time at the end, especially Luis Marin. Zuni was booed pretty loudly when he was on the ground. As I said it was just silence as he was taken off. I tweeted about it then and wrote about it afterwards because it was so foreign to me, I've never seen something like that at a sporting event that I can remember. Just struck me as wrong. You always hear the crowd applauding/cheering for injured players, home team or visitor.

Other than that poorly-timed booing though I didn't really hear anything bad on Saturday. Certainly none of the shit that was supposedly going on in the supporter's section, if that other thread is accurate. Glad to see people addressing that though.

There's a culture developing here game to game. Kreis and Reyna are responsible for what the on-field culture/style looks like. We're all responsible for what the culture becomes around the team.