SpongeBob night at MCU Park didn’t help New York in this contest. NCFC goals from Austin da Luz and Renan Gorne gave the visitors three points, and left the Cosmos winless in their last five matches.

Starting Lineup:

Match Recap

It looked as if the Cosmos were going to start off strong. In the 6th minute, Eugene Starikov squared the ball towards Bledi Bardic who took a touch, but sent his shot off of the post. North Carolina goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre had it covered anyways.

Just six minutes after Bardic’s glorious chance, the Cosmos would go down early again. The 12th minute featured a long ball played towards NCFC forward Renan Gorne. It’s hard to believe the amount of space Gorne had to run towards goal and slide it past Brian Holt. The Cosmos backline either thought he was offside, or they just had no idea what was going on.

Brian Sylvestre proved to be strong between the pipes for North Carolina in this one. New York’s Pablo Vranjican attempted a strong header on goal in the 36th minute that was only to be stopped by a sprawling Sylvestre.

Things would only get worse for the Cosmos in first half stoppage time. Midfielder Nazmi Albadawi fought off Carlos Mendes and centered the ball for attacker Austin da Luz who took a touch, and boomed the ball past Brian Holt. Again, da Luz had all sorts of time within the box, which is a massive problem. The whole Cosmos backline was on one side of the pitch, when da Luz was on the other.

It would be a stand still for the Cosmos until the 77th minute, when Eric Calvillo took a shot from distance which got deflected by a returning Emmanuel Ledesma. As usual, Brain Sylvestre played it perfectly keeping the Cosmos off the board.

The most dangerous lead in soccer would prove to be no danger for NCFC. North Carolina came into MCU Park and simply outplayed the Originals, beating them 2-0.

What does the result mean?

There wasn’t any Cardiac Cosmos in this fixture. The Cosmos really can’t avoid giving up that early goal, which as of late, is the base for opponents to build off of. It only gets worse for New York after that first bulge of the net. In this match, they couldn’t break the brilliance of Brian Sylvestre.

This is probably the worst performance from the defence that I’ve seen this season. It’s not that the opposition is pulling Real Madrid tactics on the backline. It’s really the fundamental things that seem to be dominating the four at the back.

The hole is only getting deeper for the Cosmos at this point. Things need to change quickly if they want a shot at making the NASL playoffs.

Next Match

New York looks to get back into form on October 1 against Puerto Rico FC. It will be the final game of the homestand at MCU Park before the Cosmos hit the road. Get your coverage for the match right here on Twice A Cosmo.