NYCFC suffers atrocious loss despite being up a man against Chicago Fire

It was a beautiful Saturday in the Windy City when New York City FC played against Chicago Fire FC. It was the first game of the final seven in the regular season, and the Pigeons knew they had to play extremely well if they wanted a chance to end the season strongly.

Alas, in a game that the Pigeons should have won, once again, the same old story came to fruition. NYCFC fell 2-1 in what was another disappointing result.

They knew the match was going to be tough. The Boys in Blue were clearly the underdogs since they were the visitors and the home team entered the game in fourth place, while they were in ninth.

The good news is that Alonso Martínez was back in the starting lineup for the first time since 2025. He made his return to the squad during the Nashville SC match, and made his official return to the pitch in the Real Salt Lake win. Seeing him doing what he loves was good to see.

Same old story, same old NYCFC

Unquestionably, NYCFC spent a good portion of the game with their backs against the wall. The Fire made sure that the Pigeons knew that this was their home, and they would control the pace of play.

While Chicago maintained most of the possession, it was NYCFC who struck first on a counterattack in the 19th minute. Agustín Ojeda received the ball on the right side, as he has done often throughout the year. His pass into the box was not the best, but the Argentine sent the ball into open space, and Hannes Wolf realized this right away. With a lack of Chicago defenders near him, the Austrian hit the ball and sent a floater into the goal.

Offensively, NYCFC played a solid first half and were more threatening in front of the goal. Chicago pressured the backline, but the Boys in Blue protected Matt Freese. As a result, the home side did not have a shot on goal in the first 45 minutes. More importantly, the visitors had a gift given to them right before halftime.

In the 43rd minute, Djé D'Avilla committed a clear foul with a late tackle, bringing James Sands to the ground. As such, with him already on a yellow card, the Ivorian player received his second yellow card to earn a red card. As such, he was sent off, and NYCFC was up a man for the rest of the game.

That meant that anything less than three points would not be acceptable. However, they were not doing themselves any favors as the teams entered the second half. Chicago still had the majority of the possession despite being down a man. NYCFC was spending too much time in their defensive third, and in the 55th minute, this came back to haunt them.

Maren Haile-Selassie had a great look into the box and sent the ball toward Anton Salétros. The Swedish international headed the ball to curl it over Freese into the goal. The backline, which had been so good, broke down and absolutely failed to do what they were supposed to do.

Pascal Jansen realized that his team was in shambles, and not too long after, he brought on Luighi and Raul Gustavo. This meant that Martínez played about 60 minutes in his first start back, and James Sands moved into the midfield until he eventually came off for Jonathan Shore.

Notably, the Pigeons did not just give in and had some promising moments in the attack. But as the minutes ticked by, the overwhelming feeling that NYCFC was again going to drop points in a game that they should have won slowly rose. This was especially the case when Raul Gustavo headed the ball right over the bar in the 82nd minute, when Chris Brady came off his line during a corner kick.

Then, in the 86th minute, Freese had to make a big save, diving to his right to keep the Boys in Blue in the game and at least leave with a point. But that was null and void, as the goalkeeper gave the ball away in front of him a minute later. Haile-Selassie pounced on the ball to put the Fire in front. Freese's individual mistake, which was not normal for the keeper in sky blue, led to the loss.

It was the same old story for NYCFC. They gave up the lead, and then a mistake caused the team to leave with nothing. At this rate, there are no words. What can one say when the team keeps on doing the same things over and over again?

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