New York City FC’s loss to Orlando City in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals last night was bad. And when I say “bad”, I’m not strictly talking about performance — though that left something to be desired in and of itself. No, I’m talking about a different kind of “bad”; one that transcends a poor result.
In the lead-up to Wednesday’s OSOC match, NYCFC was very much running on fumes. A plethora of absences due to injury and international callups left City shorthanded during a stretch of 4 games over the course of 12 days.