Andres Flores: “We lost two points even though we had a good game, had possession of the ball.” (Andy Mead/YCJ)

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

BROOKLYN,  N.Y. — For the Cosmos, their 1-1 home draw with the Jacksonville Armada was one of a missed opportunity due to their missed scoring opportunities in the North American Soccer League match.

Instead of walking out of MCU Park with three points, the Cosmos had to settle for but one Saturday night. Of course, the result was much better than their home opener three weeks ago on April 1, when they were soundly beaten by Miami FC, 3-0.

Javi Marquez tallied his first goal of the Cosmos in the 22nd minute before J.C. Banks equalized in the 67th.

Cosmos forward Eugene Starikov had three opportunities to put the hosts on the scoreboard and was denied by either errant shooting or stellar goalkeeping by Caleb Patterson-Sewell.

Starikov’s point-blank attempt was saved by Patterson-Sewell in the 33rd minute. His header from the right side was grabbed by Patterson-Sewell in the 53rd minute. Only two minutes later, the Ukrainian forward was at it again. This time he fired a right-footed blast wide of the target.

That left the door open for the visitors to knot things up.

Not surprisingly, the Cosmos were far from satisfied with the final score.

“For sure, we’re not happy with the result,” head coach Giovanni Savarese said. “We hoped to be able to earn the three points today. We did enough to be able to find the result that we wanted. but at the end of the day, the point is important for us.”

The result left the Cosmos winless at home at 0-1-1. In the past they were virtually unbeatable at their home. Yes, the season is still young and New York must correct that imbalance or suffer the consequences when playoff berths are determined.

“Every game at home will be important for us to get the three points and today we couldn’t,” midfielder Andres Flores said. “We lost two points even though we had a good game, had possession of the ball. We need to take advantage of the games here at home and try to get the maximum amount of points that we can.”

Still, Savarese saw improvement, which is his most important measuring stick.

“We are growing little by little,” he said. “We need time and I think we are showing now that we are a different team. We looked a lot better, we looked dynamic, we looked good. We created chances. I thought that we showed now that at home we’re a different team. Of course, if we had capitalized on the chances that we had, we could have seen a different result, but we didn’t.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.