If pathetic fallacy is a literary device whereby authors use weather to express a mood, then the MLS scriptwriters surely used it during NYCFC’s dour 3-0 defeat against the Houston Dynamo in a sodden Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
The rain relentlessly poured, the wind howled, the small pocket of NYCFC supporters who braved the conditions beat ceaselessly on their drums, and, in the end, NYCFC and Houston produced one of the most forgettable games in recent memory.
It was beyond fitting, therefore, that Houston took the lead through an NYCFC error rather than a moment of quality when New York defender Justin Haak planted a header beyond Matt Freese on 25 minutes when he miscued a clearance from a Jack McGlynn cross.
It was beyond predictable, meanwhile, that former NYCFC striker Gabe Segal would come back to haunt his former club, with the Houston striker scoring at both ends of the second half to seal a deserved victory for the visitors.
As if to underline just how forgettable the game was, it took 40 minutes for the game’s first shot on target when Segal outmuscled NYCFC captain Thiago Martins and raced through on goal. In an effort fitting of the game, however, Segal’s shot was tame, allowing the outstretched Matt Freese to make a smart save.
The hosts did not manage a shot on target in the first half and it took 58 before they finally tested Jonathan Bond in the Houston goal when the ‘keeper parried a long-range strike from Aiden O’Neill.
Spurning clear-cut opportunities has been a problem for NYCFC all season, but if there was to be one positive from Wednesday night, it is that spurning clear-cut chances was not an issue, albeit only because the hosts failed to create a single clear-cut chance throughout.
“We didn’t create anything, nothing at all,” NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen said afterwards.
Jansen’s side came into Wednesday’s game on the back of consecutive home wins against New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire, but Houston had taken seven points from their past three games and were full value for their victory in the Bronx on Wednesday.
The visitors, who were missing several starters including top scorer Ezequiel Ponce, thrived in the damp conditions by setting out their stall and making themselves difficult to break down. NYCFC simply had no answer, with the wet weather proving unconducive to their style of playing balls in behind for Alonso Martinez to run onto.
Jansen, however, refused to blame conditions and said his side played “too slow” throughout. Jansen also offered his “full compliments” to Houston for their performance on Wednesday.
“They made it really tough on us,” Jansen said. They were defending very, very aggressive, with a lot of bodies in the middle.”
