Losses like the Chicago Fire FC one remains frustrating for NYCFC fans

On Saturday afternoon, New York City FC had the lead against Chicago Fire FC entering halftime. Hannes Wolf scored a beautiful goal in which it looked like it floated into the goal. Then, Djé D'Avilla was sent off via a red card after he earned his second yellow card. However, the Bronx side did not win despite the advantage, as the Pigoens fell 2-1.

So, entering the second half, NYCFC had the game in their hands. But the Boys in Blue allowed Chicago to control the match, and that eventually led to the tying goal from Anton Salétros and the winning goal from Maren Haile-Selassie. Now, the Pigeons likely would have left with a draw, which still would not have been good enough. However, a mistake by Matt Freese, who misplayed a pass while trying to play out of the back, led to the second goal.

A mistake is once again why NYCFC failed to leave with any points, and a poor second half is why the team failed to win. This is frustrating because the Boys in Blue are better than this.

NYCFC is better than their mistakes and results

When one watches NYCFC play, there are many games where they play well, but self-inflicted errors lead to the Pigeons’ losses or draws. They also might play well in one half and look like a top team, but then struggle in the other half. Regardless of the mistakes and the injuries that plagued the Queens side this season, the team is better than that.

Part of the evidence of why that is the case lies with the 2025 season. Many of the players from the campaign that saw the Boys in Blue finish in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 56 points returned for the 2026 campaign. They had a year under Pascal Jansen and understood his methods and tactics. Many were already used to playing together.

So, why is NYCFC struggling this year? Why do they keep making mistakes? Sure, and this has been repeated often, but the injuries have impacted them a little bit. Alas, the players should be higher up the table and could have easily had more points.

In fact, back in early September, it was thought that without the mistakes, they could have had a possible 10 to 15 more points. Now, one could even say that they missed out on a possible five to eight more points based on the results against the New England Revolution, the New York Red Bulls, Atlanta United FC, and now Chicago Fire FC. So, NYCFC maybe could have had a minimum of 15 more points or a maximum of 23 more points.

That would have brought the team, at this time, to 48 points to 56 points, which would have put them in fourth place, up to second place. Of course, errors happen, and sometimes teams cannot hold on to leads. But even ten more points would have put NYCFC in sixth place.

When one looks at this, it adds to the frustration of the 2026 season. It also does not help when players like Freese, who should not make silly mistakes, do so in games when the Pigeons desperately need wins.

In the end, it is hard to understand why NYCFC continues to make these errors or fail to play at a high level for the entire 90 minutes. Is there something going on behind the scenes? Is there an issue with chemistry? What about mental fortitude? What changed from last season? Hence, it is understandable that fans are frustrated, and likely the players are as well.

Sadly, though, the loss to the Fire shows that these issues are persistent. The why might be the question, but this is NYCFC’s reality. Maybe the only thing that is needed is for the season to end.

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