Earlier this week, the longest unbeaten streak of the season for the Cosmos came to an end at the hands of fellow USL League One expansion side Sarasota Paradise.
A 2-0 loss in Paterson, New Jersey, on Wednesday snapped a four-game unbeaten run and brought New York back to earth.
Overall, the attack couldn't threaten and the goalkeeping situation has gotten worse. Head coach head coach Davide Corti said after the match that his group came into the game more positive, but missed chances are going to be the focus of training going ahead.
"We are coming from a positive moment. I guess the team is definitely playing better, so the good vibes were there even tonight," Corti said. "Unfortunately, the chances that we had didn't turn into goals. That's something we need to get better at. It depends on how, during the game, we can turn those good plays into goals, and that's going to make a lot of difference. They had two chances and scored two goals. We had six chances, and we scored only one."
With the loss, the Cosmos (5W-4D-14L, 19 points) are still 16th out of 17 teams in USL League One thanks to the Richmond Kickers also losing this week on the road against Fort Wayne FC.
The team is 14 points out of the playoffs with nine games to play, so that is essentially out of the question. But table placement may still matter down the line. The team can still play for 2027 US Open Cup qualification, with a higher final table spot giving more security to a tournament berth.
The Cosmos next play a road match against Fort Wayne FC, a team just inside the USL1 playoff picture with two wins in its last two games. One of the five USL1 wins earned by the Cosmos this season came in the year's first meeting with Fort Wayne back on March 28 at Hinchliffe Stadium. That was a 2-0 Cosmos victory with Sebastián Guenzatti and Davide Galazzini scoring the goals, and with each goal assisted by Ajmeer Spengler.
The road has been particularly unkind to the Cosmos this season. New York holds a record of 1W-2D-9L away from home, though all three of their positive away results, the win and two draws, have occurred across their last three road matches. The Cosmos snapped a nine-game road losing streak on August 19 when they won at Corpus Christi FC on August 19, and the squad followed that up with back-to-back draws at Chattanooga Red Wolves and Union Omaha.
Road form improving made the unbeaten run possible, and the Cosmos now will try to get back to those not-losing ways after a setback against Sarasota.
Cosmos: 2.39 xG, 20 shots, 8 shots on target, 53% possession, 403 passes, 85% pass accuracy, 14 fouls, 7 corners, 0 saves
Sarasota: 0.80 xG, 6 shots, 2 shots on target, 47% possession, 370 passes, 82% pass accuracy, 16 fouls, 3 corners, 7 saves
Goals:
• Sarasota, Brendan Krueger, 51'
Sarasota, Anderson Rosa, 77'
Cosmos, Lamin Jawneh, 83'
Attendance: 1,505
Offense struggles
New York finished the match with 20 shots and 2.39 expected goals but scored only once. New York's offense tried to push forward in the first half, with a noticeable openness in the back. The entire team seemed to be in the Sarasota end lest for two defenders who hung back. It opened up the chance for counter-attacks, but Sarasota didn't get much of that early on.
Instead, Sebastián Guenzatti, Lamin Jawneh, Ajmeer Spengler and Frankie Ljucovic tried to control the game for New York up top. The Cosmos controlled possession and had more shots, but only put one on target.
Their best moment came in the 37th, when Shamit Shome sent a long ball down the right side and found Ajmeer Spengler on a run. He fed Lamin Jawneh on the left side, who shot above Paradise keeper Alex Sutton but off the crossbar. The rebound attempt by Frankie Ljucovic was saved by an advancing Sutton.
The second half saw New York get more shots on target, but nothing was threatening. Most of them were simple low shots that were directed right at Sarasota goalkeeper Alex Sutton. The offense focused on the sides and Corti said afterwards that was because Sarasota was congesting the middle.
"We prepared the game to go on the wings, and I guess most of the dangerous balls came from the wings," Corti said. "In the middle, we knew that they were very congested, so we decided to go wide."
Jawneh also praised Sarasota for its game plan, noting how they knew what he and the team liked to do on the right side.
"They did their homework on us. They knew we could break them through my speed and my pace going in behind them, so the first thing they did was avoid us playing the ball in behind," he said. "They knew where we could hurt them, so they defended it. They had a pretty good game plan."
After going down in the 51st minute, the Cosmos tried to push up in attack. Spengler nearly tied it in the 60th minute when a long ball from the right side found his head in the box, but the shot ricochet off the crossbar. Another long pass a few minutes later fell to Shome at the top of the box, but his attempt was easily covered by Sutton.
Eventually going down by two, the Cosmos did get a great consolation goal in the 83rd. After being set up by Frankie Ljucovic and Darren Sidoel, Jawneh took advantage of rare space and cut in toward the top corner of the box. A long left footed shot, one that seemed out of place on the night, turned out to be a world class goal to make it 2-1, though it wouldn't be enough for a Cosmos result.
WOW. JUST WOW. 😤🤯🫣
— USL League One (@USLLeagueOne) September 3, 2026
Lamin Jawneh with an 83rd-minute BANGER for @NYCosmos 🚀 pic.twitter.com/i9ujvm586G
Garcia error a Paradise for Sarasota
Three of the four positive Cosmos results last month came thanks to Tristan Stephani in goal, who won twice with a draw to his name. However, an injury ahead of the Union Omaha match last weekend forced Javier Garcia to step back into net.
The lack of Cosmos goalkeeper depth is rearing its head once again. Stephani is hurt, and former Red Bull II keeper Derrek Chan hasn't seen the field since June 20 after also going down hurt. That meant Cosmos goalkeeper coach Boris Del Valle, who started a match earlier this year, was a backup available on the bench Wednesday.
It doesn't help when the last goalkeeper standing, who just won USL League One save of the week honors for a stop in Fort Wayne, then has a terrible performance, allowing goals on both shots faced. In the 51st minute, Sarasota intercepted the ball in the Cosmos end, playing the ball around the box before Andres Rodriguez sent a long cross toward goal.
Brendan Krueger took advantage, getting past Shamit Shome and heading the ball into the net. Garcia stayed glued to his line, a moment where coming off could have covered more of the goal, including possibly the far post where Krueger's header went in.
It got worse in the 77th minute when Garcia allowed a nail-in-the-coffin goal. As New York pushed up to equalize, Sarasota's Ethan Bryant picked up the ball and charged forward. Under pressure by oncoming defenders, Bryant sent a great ball across the field to Anderson Rosa in the top-left corner of the box. Garcia came well off his line this time to challenge, but Rose sent a low shot through the keeper's legs and into the back of the net.
Ethan Bryant 🤝 Anderson Rosa@SRQ_Paradise doubles their lead!! pic.twitter.com/7dN2BTP6b0
— USL League One (@USLLeagueOne) September 3, 2026
Garcia played like someone who finished 2025 with a 64% save rate. As Nicolas Murray said in his preview for the 2026 League One season, back when Garcia was playing with AC Boise, "Garcia’s going to need to show off a more well-rounded game to be the starter or be relegated to penalty shootout specialist."
Shome debuts at home
Wednesday also marked the first home match for the latest Cosmos signing, Bangladesh national team player Shamit Shome. The crowd at Hinchliffe Stadium, even with weather keeping fans away, was noticeable for him. Behind the benches, the same side as the camera for the match, fans in national team jerseys and waving Bengali flags made noise all night.
That said, it wasn't a perfect night for him. After making his first start last weekend against Omaha, Shome finished the night quietly. He didn't make use of long ball plays, his pass accuracy was around 75%, and his defending was missing on the first Sarasota goal.
When Shome left the match midway through the second half, he was visibly upset, tossing his arm tape on the bench and covering his head.
After the match, Corti spoke on Shome's first game at home, including his early-ish exit, mentioning the national team player will need to work on conditioning.
"I guess it was good," Corti said. "Unfortunately, around the 70th minute, we had to take him out because he was tired. Hopefully, he'll be conditioned soon and will be able to last longer. It was a good game overall. I'm happy about it."
Shome, meanwhile, was more positive and visibly not upset after the game, noting how much the team has been working with him and how they need to lock in.
"The boys have been great welcoming me in. I’m pretty comfortable with everybody, feel pretty good with everybody and get along well with everybody," Shome said. "We're not at the beginning of the season. We've got to figure it out, put it together and start getting results cohesively as a team, get those three points and keep moving up the table."
While speaking to media, he made sure to thank the Bangladesh support for coming out to the game.
"Thank you to all the Bangladesh fans that came. I saw the flags, which was great. Keep supporting us. Hopefully, we can win for you next time. Hopefully, I can do more for you next time and more for the team. We'll get there, so keep supporting us. I appreciate everybody coming out, not just Bangladeshis, everybody, but especially the Bangladeshis, too."
