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| No actual intention to go political. The rest were about prayer? |
The original title for this post was, “The Maddest I’ve Ever
Seen Matt Pickens,” so called because FC Cincinnati scored one of those
glass-jaw specials that soccer punditry warns you of in every single broadcast immediately
after Nashville SC drew the score level at 2-2. Corben Bone got free on
Nashville’s right, cut back inside and fired to Pickens’ far side. Shot fired,
shit lost, etc. 3-2 to FC Cincy, and in their last road game of 2018.
Cincinnati would feel a similar let-down (and a chink in the
armor?) when Bolu Akinboye returned the favor via express service just as
regular time drew its last (robust) breath (good game), and this game ended
3-3, and with a world of possibility, good and wish-that-hadn’t-happened for
both teams on the field. (See The Match Center for all data.)
On the universal plus-side, both teams will get the chance
to do it all over again, only this time in Nippert Stadium/Ohio. With all the
points counted and the playoffs set to begin, 1st seed FC Cincy will face 8th
seed Nashville in the first round of the USL Eastern Conference Playoffs, the
day after tomorrow, effectively, 3 p.m., after school, at the flag-pole and in
front of the entire motherfucking school. Place your bets now, and juice-box
and orange wedges are your currency, people.
Where to begin? Even getting back to tonight is complicated,
and for both teams. On FC Cincy’s side, I was about to say, when was the last
time Cincinnati allowed three goals, only to realize that it happened just one
month before, and against Toronto FC II. The point is, prior to that, it hadn’t
happened since June and…against TFC II. (So, I guess the formula is not playing
TFC II?) Another fun fact: that June 3-3 draw against TFC II came only five
games into FC Cincinnati’s now-history-making-USL-unbeaten streak and, that
lands my point: you’re not used to seeing FC Cincinnati give up three goals in
one game because they don’t do it a lot. But they just did it against
Nashville, the same team they’ll play in the first round of the playoffs. Sure,
that happened in Nashville, but I’m at DEFCON 2, minimum. I mean, dumber things
than a first-round flame-out for the regular season champs have happened in the
history of sports…
I have some other loose notes - there was Forrest Lasso’s
hook shot toward goal in the midst of the Cincinnati rally (good to know he can
do that, and wow), and (for me) still trying to parse the team’s opinion as to
which players count as its starting eleven for the playoff’s first round. To
shorthand that idea, what does it mean that Nazmi Albadawi came off the field
at the 76th minute, while Emanuel Ledesma - i.e., the player I’d assume the
team would most want to protect - stayed on the field for the entire game? The
same goes for the other subs - Richie Ryan for Michael Lahoud and Danni Konig
for Fanendo Adi at the 72nd - and, just to ask the question, what did everyone
watching think of Adi’s night by the time he came off? (Speaking for myself…the
team and Adi aren’t yet there, between them.) Just to note it, Jimmy McLaughlin
came on for Albadawi, and I’ve been impressed by McLaughlin lately…look, I just
hate not knowing where all this is going, or, worse, not having my own personal
theory as to how to maximize FC Cincinnati. I’m used to having ideas…
The one thing contained in every idea mentioned above is
that FC Cincinnati is a very good team. They posted a draw on the road against
the team they’ll play at home next week, and they’ve got plenty of tricks up
the sleeve in case the first couple don’t wow the crowd/win the game, and that’s
on top of home-field advantage. And all that piles on top of the aforementioned
longest unbeaten streak in USL history, one that, for the unlearned, beat the Richmond Kickers equally ridiculous unbeaten streak.
And yet, am I anxious about next week? Yes.
For one, Alan Winn absolutely drew a penalty late in the first
half. The highlights decided to bury that missed call (why?), so I don’t
remember which FC Cincy player committed the foul, only that Winn left Blake
Smith for dead out wide, and that that forced the foul. The call was never
made, obviously, and that’s how soccer works, but had Nashville ended the first
half up 2-0, who knows what would’ve happened?
This is where the bright side comes in: Ledesma forced a great save out of Pickens (that one made the highlights) before that blown
penalty call, but, and more significantly, Cincinnati roared back into this
game a la Tiger Woods back in his inevitable/pre-scandal days. And that follows a pattern I've seen all season: FC Cincy has come back into games the same way that
the Los Angeles Galaxy and, more recently, the Seattle Sounders have come back
into MLS seasons; it’s as if, at a certain point, each of them says, “oh, wow,
I’m in the middle of a game/season, better get going.” And they do, and it all
works out pretty, to very, to Championship-winning well. Some teams have either
the talent for turning it on, or the knack for it: Cincinnati falls firmly into
the former camp, and, again, in a way you don’t see much.
Tonight’s game provided a case-study on that theory. When Michael
Reed, Nashville’s captain, limped off at the 20th minute, a sense of dread
crept into the broadcast commentary. That could have been real too, given that
Cincinnati “took over” this game starting around the 32nd minute (by my count) and didn’t…fully let go till the end (yeah, yeah, but Nashville
scored its first equalizer 30 seconds after Cincy almost forced an own-goal). Everything
- the stats, the broadcast team, the evidence of your own lying eyes - should
argue that Cincinnati was the better, more confident team, but only by game’s
end and that’s your one, true source of horror. FC Cincy will eventually play in a competitive game where its charms and/or good looks won’t bail it
out. And I, like you, hope that comes some time after 2018.
To finally wrap up this game, when Bone scored his second
and FC Cincy’s third, I would have called for the priest. That Nashville came
back - and how capably they did that (watch the build-up to Nashville’s third
goal) - fires a warning flair across FC Cincinnati’s bow. A constructive
tweaking from Nashville and a couple misfires by FC Cincy could spell the difference
between destiny and a first-round exit for the team that now holds the title
for the longest streak in USL history. Still, forcing a smile, FC Cincinnati is stacked against its
competition in a way I haven’t seen since DC United’s 2nd campaign in MLS. And
I think FC Cincy 2018 is less reliant on one sub-set of talent than DC 1997 (e.g., Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno, and Raul Diaz Arce),
besides. As noted in the penumbra of the above, depth lurks within the depth
for FC Cincinnati for all of the above. Tyler Gibson started for FC Cincy
tonight, for crissakes, and I’d bet my house against that guy coming up with the
team and into MLS.
OK, think I covered everything, no matter how
indirectly. Good night, and good luck to FC Cincinnati in the first round of
the USL playoffs, whenever they happen!
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