RBNY v Colorado: The Post-Mortem

By: Martha | May 14th, 2007

Out standing in the field. Here’s a for-real good thing about that dismal result: Everyone on the team freely admitted they were crap, as did Bruce (and the club website). While I realize it seems logical to own up to something so obvious, this is New York we’re talking about, and in a city with a coach as delusional as Isiah Thomas blabbing in the press, any sign of accountability should be applauded. Arena didn’t go easy on anyone, saying “We were very poor. I think we got outplayed in the first half in terms of the effort aspect of the game. In the second half, I thought our performance on the technical side was horrible. … I don’t think there was one aspect of our game that was impressive today.” Take that, you useless bastards. And, to be honest, the team deserved every word of that, and more. (And, for those of you who follow basketball, please compare that to Isiah Thomas praising his team for showing up when they lose to Toronto by 30. For example. Yes, my respect for Bruce is growing.)

The players, too, were hard on themselves, with Mathis essentially condemning team (himself included) for not showing up, while my Dema Kovalenko — who ended the day with both a loss and a broken nose — said “It almost looked like we didn’t want to play.” Damn. To make things worse, as I mentioned in yesterday’s report, the handful of people who bothered to show up for the game could see that attitude from miles away, and it pissed everyone off.

While this is only one game, the combination of dismal performance and pitiful attendance (Announced at 7,802, the number of butts in the seats was even lower than that — that may be tickets sold.) has a lot of people talking, both at Big Soccer and elsewhere, about everything from Red Bull’s commitment to the team (What’ve they spend on advertising this season, $12.50?) to the state of American soccer in general. I’m not ready to draw any huge conclusion from that single match, but one must admit that anyone wandering into Giants Stadium yesterday for their first MLS game would have gone away horrified on several different levels. Me, I’m in for the long haul — once I start going to games and get emotionally involved, I’ll never stop as long as I still live in NYC. But what is there to bring the idly interested to the ground? Reyna’s not doing it. Angel sure as hell didn’t do it. The quality of play? Based on yesterday, that’s a long-shot and a half. Anyone got any suggestions? Will only excellence really work? And, if that’s the only option, does the league have that kind of time?