 |
| My feelings are complex... |
When you’ve watched soccer a damned long time, it’s nice to see something you haven’t before. It’s even better when that
something plays footsie with absurdity, a la Tiago Calvano’s attempt to get
into Danni Konig’s head and/or fuck with the ref’s request that the two players
“kiss-and-make-up” early in the game. They need a different color card for this
one…when Calvano actually went for Konig’s lips…in another setting, mandatory
training would have followed therefrom. Damn.
It’s nice, in a sense, that Penn FC got at least a little of
theirs back in this game, because they got…boned in this game. Not to get hung
up on sexualized metaphors, but I didn’t come up with Corben Bone’s surname,
and there aren’t a lot of verbs that better capture a player who had been
theretofore invisible (Bone) stealing the ball from a dallying Aaron Dennis and
curling in the game winner. That goal, when added to Emanuel Ledesma’s
equalizer, lifted FC Cincinnati to a 2-1 road win over Penn FC, a result I’d
call more unfortunate than unfair for Penn; or, FC Cincy’s side, fortunate…and
still a little unfair. Not undeserved, mind, just unfair to Penn FC.
On the other hand, screw Penn FC because I wasn’t pulling for
them. Still, my condolences. Man, it’s like there’s a devil in one ear and an
angel in the other…moving on…
My notes from last night (at least the ones I can read; this
was a late, second feature for me yesterday), the teams played fairly even game
- and the numbers, read in the clearer light of morning, back up the impression
(the link above takes you to The Match Center, aka, The World of Your Imagination).
If they decided games by decision like they do in boxing, I could even be
persuaded to call the game for Penn. (As my notes in the first half have it, and
this is verbatim, “PEN has been better, but not much…meh; good on crosses, not
great.”) That doesn’t matter, of course, as demonstrated/symbolized by the way
(I think) Richard Menjivar had Cincy ‘keeper Spencer beat for a late Penn FC equalizer,
only to have Forrest Lasso perfectly position to head away the shot.
If the game turned on anything in particular, I offer the
old cliché, “that little bit of quality.” Cincy’s attackers fired more
accurately at Penn’s Sean Lewis, and they forced great saves out of him - with
Ledesman leading the list. There are also the kinds of players Cincinnati can
call from its bench: it was Emery Welshman’s shot, after all, that Lewis
spilled to Ledesma for the Orange and Blue’s first goal. If either Nazmi
Albadawi or Kenney Walker changed the game, I missed it, but I do think that
Welshman’s running, in terms of both speed and distance, might have given Penn
the new look they finally couldn’t handle. And, again, Cincinnati has held that
advantage all season - i.e., having real quality on the bench, as well as
different varieties of it. Moreover, even if Albabawi and Walker don’t come on
and change the game (for the record, still shrugging at that one), Cincinnati
can rest almost all of their players without giving up much in quality - at
least at the USL level. And that is a luxury…trust me on that one.
Anyway, these are the kinds of wins that having better than
average personnel makes possible, and good for FC Cincy for building this team.
It’s a hell of a blow to Penn’s season, and I can only imagine how gently Dennis’
teammates approached him in the locker room after the game. Then again, maybe
they didn’t. Maybe they rounded out the poor bastard’s night with a chocolate
swirly. Sometimes a team makes a cameo as a victim in the history books.
I’m going to stray into the weeds a little for the rest of
this post, with the focus going to the midfield. As much as I’ve watched FC
Cincinnati (more than some, less than many), I’m not sure I could name what they’d
call their first-choice pairing in defensive midfield; I only know that they almost
always go with a pairing. The team might not even have a first-choice pairing,
and that’s both a luxury and a little wild. That said, I’ve developed a preference
for Michael Lahoud and his approach to the role. He’s a man with a mission, and
that mission is spraying the ball around and keeping it moving, a more or less
constant search to find a player with a cleaner passing option than his own. On
that, I continue to be impressed - blown away, even - by how quickly Lahoud
sees his options. Lahoud’s never perfect, but he nearly always finds his pass,
and it’s usually a good one. Having a player who can play a pivot/facilitator
role does wonders for playing out of trouble and just getting the ball to
people who can do the next good thing with it.
I don’t have much of a hierarchy after that, honestly, and
not least because there are no bad options. I’m partial to Walker, for reasons
I probably can’t back up too (but some of them go back to him doing for
Cincinnati what David Guzman doesn’t quite look up for doing for the Portland
Timbers), and that’s a little unfair to Tyler Gibson, who I simply haven’t seen
enough this season. Fatai Alashe will give you presence in that position that
no other FC Cincy player can give you, but I’m not sure that makes him the
answer to any particular question.
When I looked at the USL standings before typing this up, a
couple things jumped out - those “(e)s” chewing up the bottom of the standings,
for starters, especially in the Western Conference. Something else I noticed in
the Western Conference standings: Portland Timbers 2 has already made the cut
for the USL post-season. Now, theoretically, that means that Timbers 2 could
face FC Cincinnati in the USL final. While that isn’t a conflict I would
cherish (and I’m not about to confess where my rooting interests would lie
until I have to), almost nothing could satisfy the burning itch of curiosity I
have quite like seeing MLS’s Portland Timbers play this FC Cincinnati team. Because
these are the teams I know best, that would give the clearest possible answer
to the questions I’ve got about how this Cincinnati team would stack up in MLS
next season…
…then they’d have to play the game a second time using other
FC Cincinnati players and that’s sort of a pain in the ass.
Well, all done. With my apologies to the dignity of the
Richmond Kickers, I see FC Cincinnati has one more semi-soft game before the
real challenges start to pile up (then again, don’t suck, Richmond). Ideally,
they’ll roll into the playoffs and then into MLS wearing the USL crown. Till
next time…
No comments:
Post a Comment