We are fans of the Volt Kit, the electric orange and indigo shirt that New York City FC introduced at the start of the season. True, we might have been a little skeptical snarky at first and poked fun at the Shazam! motif (or is it David Bowie?), but we came around to the bold design, the thoughtful tribute to supporters’ groups The Third Rail and Los Templados. The Volt kit is lit, as they say in the Bronx.
But we need to kick all those warm fuzzies to the curb and ask beseech beg that the team wear Bronx Blue when they face Inter Miami CF in the First Round of the 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs on Monday. This isn’t the editors of Hudson River Blue voicing a sartorial opinion as much as it is a statistical certainty: NYCFC must wear blue if they are to win.
Ok, it’s more a deeply-held superstitious belief that we will back up with cherry-picked facts, but we sincerely believe that NYCFC play better in blue. Not only do NYCFC have a stronger record when playing in Bronx Blue, and a vastly superior goal differential, virtually all of NYCFC’s key performances this year have occurred when the team are in their classic celeste.
Exhibit one: The 4-1 home win over CF Montréal at the start of the season? It was the first win for NYCFC in MLS league play after registering a loss and a draw while wearing orange. Exhibit two: The 1-1 draw against Seattle Sounders in the CONCACAF Champions league might not have been a win, but it gave us a glimpse of the quality of play New York City were capable of producing this year. The boys were dressed in blue that night:
• The 6-0 win over Real Salt Lake that corrected course for the club, and launched a nine-game undefeated streak? Blue.
• The gritty win over an in-form FC Dallas in the blistering Texas heat? Blue.
• The triumph over New Jersey Red Bulls that was NYCFC’s first away win in Harrison since 2017? Blue.
• The 2-0 win against the run of recent form over Liga MX champions Atlas FC in the Campeones Cup? Blue.
• The crystal-clear home home win over the Red Bulls that set up NYCFC to take the No 3 seed in the Eastern Conference? Blue.
By the same token, NYCFC were wearing their Volt Kits during the games that frustrated the team the most this year: There was the 4-2 loss to Communications FC in Guatemala City in the CONCACAF Champions League, and the 3-0 loss to New Jersey in the US Open Cup.
Even the two lonely wins NYCFC earned while in orange are suspect. First, there was the 5-4 unnecessarily close squeaker over Toronto FC. Then, there 1-0 home win over a feeble Chicago Fire that was decided by a Héber penalty kick. You wouldn’t call either of those orange-colored wins convincing.
True, NYCFC also posted some tragic results in Bronx Blue — nothing late-summer swoon was ugly. But the team are currently on a four-game winning streak while wearing blue, and we think it would be a mistake to mix it up and switch to orange at any point in the postseason. The data point in one direction, and that direction is blue.
Secretly, we also hope that Miami take to the field on Monday in their trademark flamingo pink so that this game will live up to its (not at all) official billing as the Gender Reveal Derby, blue vs pink.
In which case, let’s hope it’s a boy.