Knee-Jerk Reactions: Sporting Kansas City vs. New York City FC

‘Knee-Jerk Reactions’ is Hudson River Blue’s new series of what we were thinking throughout the match. We’ll share our unfiltered thoughts on the game at hand — no editing, no revisions. Just raw, pure emotion.

Here is what I thought of New York City FC’s season-opening win Sunday night against Sporting Kansas City:

1st Half

• Maxi Moralez going up for a header. LOL!
• Jesus Medina has a really good touch
• Anton Tinnerholm isn’t afraid to push forward
• I want to see Maxi take a YOLO shot for once
• Tinnerholm showing that signature Swedish physicality
• Somebody tell me why Rodney Wallace is still starting
• Not enough shots in the first 15 minutes for my taste
• Even David Villa’s throwaway shots look deadly
• City is dominating — still no goals, though
• I’m just waiting for this to be like the season opener against Orlando City last year
• NYC need a spark, they’ve lost control for a bit
• Maxime Chanot hasn’t missed a beat, he looks as good as ever
• Medina gets his first yellow card
• Got away with one there
• Didn’t take long for Wallace to disappear entirely
• Got away with ANOTHER one!
• MAXI!!! Great ball from Villa, too. 1-0
• Welcome back to the book, Alex Ring
• Hard collision between Sean Johnson and Ike Opara, yikes
• SeanJohn is a tough mudder, though
• What the hell is Vermes angry about?
• Villa might’ve had Medina in the middle
• Yangel Herrera with the bad turnover. Lucky to still be up
• Is that a bWo logo on one of those drums? SMARK ALERT!
• NO YELLOW ON THAT STUDS-UP TACKLE!? NOT EVEN A FOUL!?
• I love Tinnerholm
• That needs to be a goal. Villa missed a wide open Ben Sweat to his left

2nd Half

• Great ball by Medina. Narrowly missed by Herrera
• Imagine having Chanot for all of last year
• Still think we should’ve bought Maxi down?
• If City were facing a more offensive team, they’d be in trouble
• MEDINA!!! 2-0
• Opara almost made NYC pay there
• If I had to take a shot for every time Chanot made a great play, I’d succumb to alcohol poisoning
• City look way more relaxed since scoring that second goal
• Maxi just made a defensive stop with his head. You won’t hear that too often
• SKC has already burned through two of their three subs prior to the 65th minute. Some obvious personnel issues
• Johnson has been a work horse in net tonight
• Don’t Chanot he’s at it again? I’ll see myself out
• Ismael Tajouri-Shradi in for Medina? Hmmm. Good game, kid
• Villa almost made it 3-0 there
• Alex Ring being Alex Ring. Always quality
• Ring with another clutch challenge
• City haven’t let off the gas. Still playing in the opposing half
• Herrera with a big steal in the box
• The defense has remained compact all game. Really good stuff
• Yikes. Penalty called on Chanot
• Referee Mark Geiger reverses the call after video review. No penalty
• Haven’t seen much of Tajouri-Shradi. He seems fast, though
• We get it, Meola. You don’t agree
• Nice to see you, Mata!
• And a DOGSO red card for Chanot. City down to 10 men
• HUGE save by SeanJohn
• Six minutes of stoppage time? Oh god
• City in park-the-bus mode
• Big stop by Sebastien Ibeagha off the bench
• Defense still looks solid, even down a man
• I see you, Ibeagha!
• Graham Zusi is still Zusi I see
• Big win to start the season!

Thank you for reading my rambling, mid-game thoughts. I’ll have my apologies at the ready.