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| Like that, but a painful reality and not a well-staged stunt. |
Yesterday evening, FC Cincinnati took three unwelcome strides toward raising the bar for goals allowed in a single season, plus another one toward the single-season record number of losses. With six games left on their 2019 schedule, they’re just eight goals allowed shy of one record and, comfortingly(?), five losses away from the record for losses. What’s left to say after that one besides, do your best to stay out of the record books, Cincy. Fail less often or more gently?
After playing FC Dallas to a relatively even first half – they finished with six shots each, even if Dallas held a 3-1 edge on shots on goal – the game fell apart one piece at a time to ultimately end in a 3-1 win for Dallas. First came two goals three minutes apart – the first a turnover that caught Greg Garza too far upfield thinking Cincy would keep the ball, the second an early cross to a wide-open Zdenek Ondrasek outside Justin Hoyte – then came Kekuta Manneh’s moment of dumbassery and subsequent ejection. Whatever thin hope lingered from Emmanuel Ledesma’s 64th-minute penalty kick (and it was a good call and a rare coherent attack for Cincy) evaporated in the split-second when Manneh shoved his hand into Bryan Acosta’s face, off the ball, and almost certainly provoked, but, when you suck as thoroughly as Cincinnati does, a cool head is just about all you have left.
Before anyone assumes they had a chance, Cincy added just one shot/shot on goal to their first half total – even with a full allotment of players on the field for 30 minutes of the second half. There are no positives left, only the hope of avoiding record-breaking negatives. COYFCC, etc.
Is it worth mulling over what might have been when it clearly didn’t happen? Did a scenario ever exist when a healthy, more sober/tuned-in Fanendo Adi lead a basically competent FC Cincinnati attack? Could having Greg Garza for the entire season would have added a goal or two, or kept four or five goals out? What if Fatai Alashe remained healthy all season? A question hangs over every position and the only answer is, none of it happened.
After playing FC Dallas to a relatively even first half – they finished with six shots each, even if Dallas held a 3-1 edge on shots on goal – the game fell apart one piece at a time to ultimately end in a 3-1 win for Dallas. First came two goals three minutes apart – the first a turnover that caught Greg Garza too far upfield thinking Cincy would keep the ball, the second an early cross to a wide-open Zdenek Ondrasek outside Justin Hoyte – then came Kekuta Manneh’s moment of dumbassery and subsequent ejection. Whatever thin hope lingered from Emmanuel Ledesma’s 64th-minute penalty kick (and it was a good call and a rare coherent attack for Cincy) evaporated in the split-second when Manneh shoved his hand into Bryan Acosta’s face, off the ball, and almost certainly provoked, but, when you suck as thoroughly as Cincinnati does, a cool head is just about all you have left.
Before anyone assumes they had a chance, Cincy added just one shot/shot on goal to their first half total – even with a full allotment of players on the field for 30 minutes of the second half. There are no positives left, only the hope of avoiding record-breaking negatives. COYFCC, etc.
Is it worth mulling over what might have been when it clearly didn’t happen? Did a scenario ever exist when a healthy, more sober/tuned-in Fanendo Adi lead a basically competent FC Cincinnati attack? Could having Greg Garza for the entire season would have added a goal or two, or kept four or five goals out? What if Fatai Alashe remained healthy all season? A question hangs over every position and the only answer is, none of it happened.
Is it worth breaking down each of Dallas’ goals? What teachable moment follows from knowing Garza didn’t register the danger of the turnover until he was 10 yards behind Barrios? You think he doesn’t know that? Maybe you review Dallas’ opener – a smart finish by former striker Ryan Hollingshead that arguably never should have happened – and amplify the importance of following through your tackles and then work on better coordination between Kendall Waston and Maikel van der Werff, but there’s not much more to do with Ondrasek’s goal but mourn it.
As Cincinnati’s 2019 season drags itself toward its end, I’m mostly struck by the thought that they seem to have about 45 minutes of competent soccer in them every week, plus maybe five minutes of good soccer depending on the weekend. A team alleged built to defend has failed in that goal, and may yet fail spectacularly, and it lost that without gaining anything on the attacking side; FC Cincy isn’t getting punished for taking risks; incompetence is their calling card.
To run the ruler against the task at hand, FC Cincinnati’s remaining schedule includes: v Toronto (9/7); at Montreal (9/14); v Atlanta (9/18); v Chicago (9/21); v Orlando (9/29), and at DC (10/6). Just two (2) draws will keep them safe from the record for losses – that’s IT – and, apart from the crush of games in the middle of its remaining schedule, the lay of that is favorable as it’s going to get. I mean, I’m counting on losses to Toronto, Atlanta, and probably Chicago, but with Montreal and DC both struggling (Montreal perhaps more than DC), a team could face taller odds on road games. Or, to rephrase the premise, if Cincinnati can’t get two draws – or, God forbid, a win or two – out of that stretch, they’ll have earned their infamy.
And now I’m contemplating the absolute worst scenario – e.g., Cincy starting with a win over Toronto only to the lose the rest of those games and by wide margins. That’s a throw-up scenario if I’ve ever seen one, folks…
Last…and quite probably least, who are the players you hold onto from this bunch? Has anyone navigated the possibility that even Cincinnati’s more reliable players are MLS-average guys at best – e.g., (and no specific disrespect to him) does Victor Ulloa have what it takes to hold a midfield together in today’s MLS? Will another year in the States be enough to get van der Werff and Waston close enough to the same page to be effective, or to get the most out of, to pull a name out of the hat, Leonardo Bertone? Is Roland Lamah enough on one wing, and is Ledesma enough on the other?
I never expected a win against Dallas, especially in Dallas. I wasn’t sure I expected 45 minutes of decent soccer either, but it wasn’t enough to buy Cincinnati anything – not even some spare confidence. I don’t expect strong post-season from Dallas either – even if Ondrasek could have something to say about that – and that’s yet another lens through which I’m looking over FC Cincinnati: Dallas isn’t even one of MLS’s best teams and I don’t think anyone thought Cincinnati had a chance in this one. And that begs the question I’m going to close on:
Is FC Cincinnati even good enough to bunker through the rest of 2019 and stay out of the record books?
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