FIRE: We can complain about the pitch and/or the fact New York City FC is allowed to bounce between baseball stadiums. We can complain about the harsh application of the handball rule as it related to the penalty on Gaston Gimenez. But the end result is that the Fire are bottom of the league and are winless in their last ten in all competitions. Fire head coach Ezra Hendrickson may need to tweak things in order to get his team refreshed or reset starting with Saturday at Toronto FC (6pm CT, WGN-TV).
Too often this season, the Fire look like eleven players wearing the badge rather than a team and getting on the same page will be a must if the Fire are to move off the bottom and anyplace forward.
“We need to turn over, we need to think and talk to each other and be very honest, I think that’s the most important,” said Fire forward Kacper Przybylko after Sunday’s match.
“Right now it seems like everyone is defending himself. We are a team. We have to go through it together and it starts in the back and goes up to the front, to me. Today was not good enough from everyone. So we need to be first of all honest with each other. You know, get our confidence back because we really are not doing, like, that bad. So I think right now we need to have, like, a big talk and be honest with each other, and then stay positive and then work our ass off because it’s not good enough, you know, from everyone, and especially we have to work our asses off for the team and for the Club.”
RED STARS: Same old Red Stars could mean that despite everything thrown at them–mostly injuries–the team will more often than not get a result. Case in point, Sunday at Orlando, the Red Stars got a 4-2 decision over the Pride which featured the return of Mallory Pugh and she wasted little time in getting on the scoresheet with a pair of goals. The second goal came in the middle of an extraordinary sequence which saw a penalty save by Alyssa Naeher on Sydney Leroux, the Pride scoring after a free kick shortly thereafter, Pugh having a penalty saved but scoring on the rebound, and a Pride netting a second.
Still, it was the Red Stars on top and in the top six after just three matches with two wins. The Red Stars return home on Saturday to take on a struggling Portland Thorns side (7pm, Paramount+).
USL LEAGUE TWO: Chicago City SC played Chicago FC United to a 3-3 draw Sunday at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. Robert Matel scored twice for City SC and Billy Hency scored twice for FC United. Nick Fernandez put City SC ahead in the 85th minute, but Marc Torrellas rescued a point for FC United in the 88th.
City SC next play away to St. Louis Lions on Saturday. Chicago FC United go to Wheaton College to play Chicago Dutch Lions on Thursday. Dutch Lions open on Tuesday at Springfield ASC. FC United are playing its home games at SeatGeek Stadium while City SC will be playing at Speer Academy in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
