NYCFC captain James Sands got into it with some fans of the team earlier this week.
After losing to Cincinnati 3-1 on Wednesday, NYCFC are 0-5-1 in their last six games, and fans were letting them hear about it on their way off the pitch.
One fan yelled to Sands that their performance “wasn’t good enough,” while another fan told him he was there for the team through “thick and thin” but that their play was “not enough.”
This fan told him to “do something about it” as the captain, speaking for fans who were “sick and tired” of the losing efforts.
“You don’t think we come in every day and f–king work?” Rodriguez asked one fan.
Another fan yelled, “We don’t feel it, bro!”
Warning: Explicit language
Rodriguez responded, “Hey, hey! Listen … I will tell you something right now. Everyone who’s on that field hurts more than you do. It’s a fact, ok! You think anyone is happy with that?
“Just listen, listen to me. No one out there is happy with that. We are f–king working, OK?”
A fan answered, “Seven games, bro,” referring to the team’s losing streak.
Rodriguez kept engaging.
“Listen, last year, how many games in a row?”
The fan was unswayed, as Rodriguez continued to speak, “The year we won the Cup, how many games?”
The fan said he had been following Rodriguez since his “Academy” days, and Rodriguez admonished, “It’s disrespectful to everyone out there when you talk like that.”
As security was trying to get the fan to knock it off, he and Rodriguez shook hands, but Rodriguez again said, “Don’t say we don’t care, OK? Because that’s f–king disrespectful.”
