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| Well, it ain't gonna fill itself, dipshit... |
I have to start with this, mostly because I heard the name over and over: is the Louisville City FC broadcast team contractually obligated to
say, “George Davis the Fourth” every time the guy touches the ball? Does George
Davis the Third own Louisville, or something?
It’s not so bad to start with George Davis the Fourth -
beats the howlers I had lined up about how Louisville closed out the first half
with a flurry of goals, and it ended 72 hours and 38 minutes later (and don’t check
me math, I barely did) - because the man with the long, formal name wreaked
havoc down Louisville’s right. Or, rather, Blake Smith’s left side of FC Cincinnati’s
defense. I’ve been high on Smith for as long as I’ve watched FC Cincinnati, and
I’ve never seen a player make him work and/or guess as hard as…sigh, George
Davis the Fourth (treat?). Fortunately, FC Cincy’s defense held, even where
Blake did not - though they did have a trouser-filler around the 51st minute that
neither I, nor Louisville can’t believe they didn’t put away - and FC Cincinnati
walks away from this absurdist 90 with the 1-0 win.
Who knew they’d make The Puddle Goal hold
up? (On that, I can’t wait till I can easily find isolated highlights for FC Cincy
games, so I can show the water-logged freakshow that won this game for them. I mean, sure, sit
through the highlights (at the Match Center, along with everything else you
need!)). As goals go, it’s pretty fortunate and messed up. Corben Bone is
clearly among the blessed.
For all the truth of “they all count” when it comes to
goals, this game, along with the one before it, should make fairly clear that FC Cincinnati has real
work ahead on its way to the 2018 USL Championship. (Also, has the league named
its trophy? Shit, has MLS? If not, they both need to get on that shit.) I’m
looking at the top eight in the USL East right now, and I’m seeing a healthy
share of teams who gave FC Cincy a run for its money this season - not just Louisville
and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (both of whom played well enough to get all three
points), but teams like Bethlehem Steel FC and Nashville SC.
Back to the game(s) at hand (is it accurate to call these
two games, were they that different?), Louisville’s best chances to win it
dried up around the 58th minute, when Speedy Williams (who also received
full-name treatment) skied what I and the broadcast agreed was a sitter. They
had at least two great shots in the Saturday’s “first half” - both ably parried
by a rock-solid Spencer Richey - and Louisville squeezed FC Cincy’s defense
over at least two distressingly extended periods, once in Second First Half
(i.e., the rest of the first half played earlier tonight), but also during this
rather fascinating time in the actual second half that wound up turning the
game.
