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| It comes with dessert. No way. |
Just to note it, I’m reminded that I know something less
than fuck-all about the Western Conference every time I check scores for the USL.
Please get to MLS soon, FC Cincinnati; because ignorance pains me…
To stick with the subject, the general…mien of FC Cincinnati’s
2-1 win over New York Red Bulls II (“RBII” hereafter) also pained me a little:
elegant as an elephant on roller blades, refined as a Salisbury Steak TV dinner,
this game played out as pure bumper cars until around the 40th minute (what? I
feel like “Salisbury Steak” should be capitalized). It slipped in and out of looking
like two teams playing soccer instead of Aussie Rules Football for the rest of
the game, but, full credit to them, Cincinnati did look the better team at the
sharper ends of the field (i.e., defense and offense). The numbers bear me out
on that “slop-fest” theory, btw; I’ve never seen passing accuracy numbers that
low, and holy shit, how did anything positive happen out there with that much
fuck-uppery going on?
To note something else, RBII was the toughest team (per
their record) that FC Cincy has played in a while, and maybe that accounts for
all the gore on the field…am I? Yeah, I’m exaggerating that a bit. All I’m
saying is the game was physical, and I think Blake Smith could easily have been
sent off when he rose from a rough challenge and shoved an RBII player to the
dirt. What would have transpired from there is anyone’s guess, but that didn’t
happen, and that’s a counter-factual, and I don’t deal in that crap. Back to
the factual, RBII came within one wispy whisker of tying the game in stoppage
time (and you can see that, and “the numbers” referred to above, via The Match Center). Cincinnati came within one defender’s mid-section of growing their
lead one minute later, so the galactic wheels of virtue continue to spin true.
In fewer words, this game was close, but it wasn’t. RBII
attacked relentlessly, while FC Cincy attacked ruthlessly, and won the game as
a result. The only place Cincinnati came out clearly ahead was the score-line,
and that means why is at least one of the questions in play. Having been
introduced to RBII just now, I can’t address their side of things - though I
will say that Andrew Tinari, Amando Moreno and (especially) Lucas Stauffer
showed up for them throughout the game. As for Cincinnati, they flipped a chunk
of their line-up in the midst of a busy week and futzed with the formation (not
a big fan of that 4-3-3), and part of me blames the inelegance of the close
result for that. On the flipside of that, seeing the players who stuck to the
roster - e.g., your Manny Ledesmas, your Blake Smiths, your Forrest Lassos - could
say something about who FC Cincy views as useful, if not indispensable. (Hold
up: I neither watched nor checked on FC Cincinnati’s midweek win over Charlotte
Independence; that said, just did and just confirmed the noteworthy rotations.)
None of that mattered enough because, as noted above, FC
Cincy performed well where it mattered most - in the defense and the attack. They
blended them a little, in fact, in that Cincinnati’s defenders wound up being
the best part of its attack, with the first goal scored by Lasso and the second
scored by human-tank hybrid Paddy (Patrick, right?) Barrett. Both goals share
the commonality of, what the fuck was with that marking? On his goal, Lasso
stood near-post on a corner kick with at least two other FC Cincinnati players
around him, from which position he needed only a yard or two to nod home. Later
in the game, Barrett managed a run wide-open, unblocked and otherwise
undeterred enough to render the tight angle irrelevant. In other words, all of
RBII’s effort didn’t matter, and all because they failed to manage a couple
set-pieces. On the other hand, given the few shots that Cincinnati put on goal,
those openings mattered a little more than immensely. That’s bad (not good),
but it doesn’t cheapen the win or anything. Like I said above, Cincy defended
better and attacked sharper than RBII, thereby making the most of the most
important opportunities. Moreover, when the game got rough, they had no problem
keeping up. Hell, it’s possible they played the aggressor’s role, but the game
required a little aggression.
Whoops! Before I forget it, let the record show that RBII
scored absolutely no goals yesterday. Sure, maybe (was it) Moreno would have
scored the ball that bounced off Danni Konig’s shoulder and into the net for
RBII’s lone goal, own-goal yesterday. What are you gonna do? Some guys just
have that nose for goal, wherever it may be…
Call it a good win all in all, even if FC Cincy hasn’t had a
20-game unbeaten streak, as alleged by a graphic at the end of the game
broadcast. All the same, the broadcast got their 7-0-3 record over the last 10
right, and that takes them back to a May 26 loss at home to dreaded (and
soon-to-be-parted) rivals Louisville City FC. Not a lot hurts this team, in
other words, not considerable squad rotation or playing around with team
layout. These are good times for FC Cincinnati, seeing as they have players who
they can start, and more that they can summon from the bench and still get
wins. The only question, as always, is how many of those same players can
continue after the team joins Major League Soccer in 2019.
On that, I have a list of suspects (e.g., Lasso and Smith),
and that exists alongside a list of pointed questions about certain players on
FC Cincinnati’s roster (Albadawi, Konig, Ledesma, and Corben Bone among them) as to
whether or not they can make the jump. Those lists are neither conclusive nor
final, but I wanted to talk about one player today, someone who has left me
unimpressed in the past, but whose upside really stood out last night: Kenney
Walker. Often as I’ve dismissed him as too slow to step up a level, he delivers
set-pieces solidly and consistently enough to make an open-minded coach
overlook that and think hard about how to make him fit. In last night’s game,
though, Walker produced a couple complete moments, particularly in the defense,
to make understand 1) why he served as team captain last night, and 2) why he
hangs on at the edges of this roster.
Michael Lahoud (out last night with a messed-up butt) plays the
simpler game and, to me, covers ground and holds down the central defensive
area better than Walker. All the same, Walker can do at least a couple things
more effectively than Lahoud - with long passes and set-pieces topping the list. If I start seeing enough defensive solidity from
Walker, that’ll keep open the question of who should start at or around that
role when crunch time rolls around at the end of this season. The question of who comes up with FC Cincy, meanwhile, is and is not different.
That’s all for this one and, to anyone who cares, my
apologies for skipping Cincinnati’s win over Charlotte. I’ve got a couple balls
I’m juggling, and that means sometimes things’ll drop. Till next time! (That
is, after the international friendly against RCD Espanyol, because I don’t care
how any team does in a game that leads to nothing.)
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