Carolina RailHawks 1 - New York Cosmos 0: Initial reaction

Week four resembled week three for the New York Cosmos, in both the performance and the score. Like last weekend, the Cosmos lost 1-0 in a game in which they dominated both possession and the number of chances, ad like last week, the loan goal conceded was on a rebound following some great individual play. The Cosmos now sit on just six points after four games, and have lost two straight for the fist time since they rejoined the NASL.

While the lone Carolina goal was very much deserved, the Cosmos have to feel a bit unlucky not to have found the back of the net on Saturday night. They tested Akira Fitzgerald quite a few times, but the keeper was up to the task. It's now two losses in two trips to Carolina for the club, and they'll likely find themselves six points back at the end of the evening.

Thoughts:

• The Cosmos could use Hans Denissen in the lineup as soon as humanly possible. Here's hoping he gets healthy sooner rather than later.
• The blue socks the squad wore tonight would probably look better with the white uniforms than they do with the green.
• Jemal Johnson might want to take a few less shots from tough angles, and look to cross the ball into dangerous areas more. His work rate and movement was mostly excellent this evening, but some of his decisions could have been better.
• It's nice to see Mike Grella latching on with an NASL side after trialing with the Cosmos this winter.
• I don't think I've ever seen a goalkeeper as small as Akira Fitzgerald. He was awfully good tonight though.
• I'm not sure I love the 4-3-3 we used during the first half with the forward trio we had. There was just far too much empty space behind the runs of Mads Stokkelien that wasn't being exploited, and when a player attempted to fill that void, it was usually Joseph Nane. A traditional number ten would be nice.
• The flop from Kupono Low that earned Sebastian Guenzatti a red card was laughably awful, and deserves a suspension of it's own. There was clear contact there, but the reaction from the Carolina player was something you'd usually expect to see during a Barcelona/Real Madrid dive-fest.
• Speaking of refereeing, could the performance from the crew tonight have been any more opposite to what we saw from the CONCACAF World Cup crew last Saturday?
• If the Cosmos work on nothing else this week, they need to be putting tons of work into their shooting. Too many decent opportunities are being wasted.
• Next Monday against Minnesota has now become a must-win game if New York wants to win the spring title.