Before anything, our heartfelt sympathies go out to Ally Hassan and his family for the loss of his father.
They say bad things come in 3's but thus far the NY Cosmos have had not so good things in 3's & 4's. Below is a list and a better explanation.
1. 4 games all ties.
2. 3x caught from behind.
3. Times equalized late.
Not one of these is a positive, I am positive if it is not turned around and fast, their title hopes will be soon dashed. Last year there was but one team that kept them from the top, Detroit CIty FC. A few from NY have left, yes all have been replaced, now they and all others need to show improvement, not yet. To come into just a second year league and face many new teams thus far and not have a win is bad, you are the NY Cosmos all others are more pumped for your game than other games. When the chances are there to score, they must be finished, you must put space between yourselves and opponents, do not let them think they have a chance, keeping the scores close would give them what would hope to be false hope, nope, it has a goal maximum gap, and each time it was closed in the waning minutes of the game. There are a few reasons why this tends this happens, mostly mental. Focus may be lost as you are ahead, the game is almost over and become a bit lax, fitness wise may get tired, miscommunications on the field between players. These and more are eminemtly correctable, train to play 100 not just 90 minutes, play head games that you are tied or even down, understand your own and the others roles. Clearly they have been the better team in each of their games thus far, this most recent one had them peppering the goal early with no success then set into a bit of a lull, then late the other team had half a chance and captialized on it. This short season will feel much longer should this not get turned around.
Yes there are positives to pull from these games, having not given up more than one goal, I do not recall any major injuries, the play of Jesse Corke has been a revelation, Bledi found the back of the net in a start, the overall play of Ansi and his highlight reel goal. The rest of their opponents are beating up on each other so should they be able to right their ship it may just be clear sailing?