5:2 NY ''City'' New York Castellanos 3 Mackay-Steven Ring White Casseres 11.01.20 · League

All good things come to an end, and so did Metro's unbeaten run full of dramatic comebacks. Tonight, on a wet, sloppy field in the Bronx, they lost to the blue poseurs, 5:2, in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated.

It looks like the goalkeeper and defense have been set, but there was rotation elsewhere. Sean Davis, Florian Valot, Caden Clark, and Marc Rzatkowski made way for Cristian Casseres, Dru Yearwood, Alejandro Romero Gamarra, and Samuel Tetteh. Daniel Royer missed the game after suffering a knock in training.

Alas, it was the defense that was the problem tonight, and specifically Jason Pendant. Twelve minutes in, he was out-jumped by Valentín Castellanos, and the blue team opened the scoring. It only took Metro six minutes to reply, as Casseres fed White, whose shot from outside the box went through an empty penalty area and past the always-lame Sean Johnson.

Metro then took the lead in the 38th, with the scorers of the first goal reversing. This time, White, with his back to the net, fed Casseres at the top of the area. The Venezuelan's shot went off a defender and past the befuddled Johnson.

But then... Pendant struck. Four minutes later, a bad giveaway led to the blue poseurs evening the scoring. Six minutes into the second half, another giveaway led to a quick throw-in that Alexander Ring drill from far out, off the crossbar, and in.

Metro kept fighting, and had a great opportunity midway through the half off a corner kick. Sadly, Tim Parker, parked in front of the empty net, missed. The blue poseurs scored two afterwards, the last on a soft penalty, and that was that.

While nothing is settled at this point, it looks all but assured that Metro will finish either 7th or 8th in the East, meaning a home play-in game in the playoffs. Let's just hope they got bad defending out of their system tonight... You hear that, Pendant?

Lineup: Meara, Pendant, Long, Parker, Duncan, Yearwood, Casseres, Stroud, Romero Gamarra, Tetteh, White. Subs: Valot, Clark, Fernandez, Egbo, Barlow.