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| One of you ordered the salmon pate, right? |
FC Cincinnati has shown fans a couple looks over this short, weird 2020, but joylessly organized on defense and a combination of clueless and inept in the attack has remained the go-to since they surprised a couple teams (the New York Red Bulls, mostly) back in the Orlando bubble.
At least that’s where I left off with them about a month ago after that win over (again) the Red Bulls. I’d kept tabs while I was checked out, even took a longer look at a couple results. The results didn’t look great - they’d gone 0-4-1 over that time - even if all the results mostly made sense (e.g., losing 0-4 away to New York City FC and 0-3 on the road to the Philadelphia Union, both of which still hold double-digit leads over Cincy, even in a low-points season). Frustration mounted among the fan-base, or at least the corner of it I see on twitter, often to the point where thinking ahead to the 2021 season felt better than living through 2020…and I realize, as I typed those words, what a very low bar that is. So, so pervasively, consumingly low….
When I finally decided to tune back in for last night’s game against Columbus Crew SC, in a match-up I still can’t bring myself to call “Hell Is Real” (I mean, if just one of the teams has taken up full-time residence in hell, aren’t they just hosting at that point?), someone on the twitters pointed out that FC Cincy’s supporters’ groups had packed up all the banners and tifos with an eye to sending the team a message. I don’t know whether or not the players received it, but I had one hell of a laugh when a player alluding to it in an post-game interview. (Something like, “yeah, I noticed that. I heard they were trying to tell us something.” Ach, priceless…)
In fewer words, I’d missed more games than I’d noticed (FC Cincy went to Minnesota? huh), while getting the clear, steady message that not much of meaning had changed. As such, I tuned in last night bracing for more of the same. FC Cincinnati delivered something else. A 2-1 home win, for starters, but also more coherence on the attacking side than I’d seen since…well, let’s call it a while, because that could be 2019 on the phone for all I know. (Wait! You’re not gonna believe this, but it’s a guy telling me I won a prize! All I have to do is give him my bank account and routing numbers! Yaayyyyyy!)
Because I checked out for as long as I did, I don’t feel comfortable calling anything but the bare result a success. Instead, I’ll close this with five things I saw last night and take a stab at what they might mean - with the caveat that I was wrapping up dinner and searching frantically for a dirty feed on Real Salt Lake v. Portland, which started, like, immediately after Cincinnati and Columbus wrapped up. Basically, if it happened in the past 20 minutes, I only caught a glimpse of it.
1) I’d call that Yuya Kubo’s best night as a starter (never mind a DP). Though far from perfect, Kubo found lots of space - mostly behind Harrison Afful on the right - and kept pulling Columbus’ defense with smart runs on both sides of the attacking third. I didn’t like every choice (his combination play needs…a couple things), but he made a couple shots for himself and pushed Cincy’s attack as hard as any player out there. Also, he took a cool penalty kick to give them a rare, early lead.
2) To go out on one limb, I’m going to credit Kamohelo Mokotjo for Columbus’ absence in the center of the field, if with a healthy assist from Allan Cruz. That argument comes with one huge caveat - Columbus looked like shit the past two times I’ve looked at them and they’re dropping points to prove it - but Cincinnati’s ability to hold the center of midfield (as opposed to holding together in defense) gave the attack a rare thing: firm ground to stand on. So leaving open the clear question of how great a role a slumping Crew team played in that, having a good defensive midfield would go miles to making Cincinnati a competitive team. And that leads to…
3) Haris Medunjanin reprised his role from his Philly days - e.g., play-making from deep. At his best (or the best I’ve seen him), Haris plays best as a deep-lying free-radical, operating in a space where he can find the game and pick teams apart from a variety of lobs and through-balls; he breaks teams down with the ball before the final ball. His need to find the game means he doesn’t defend much, which raises the importance of the players around him - in this case, Cruz and Mokotjo. Again, I don’t want to talk up this angle too much - a one-game sample size in not a sample - but the mechanics make sense. That said, this worked wonderfully last night to neutralize Columbus’ early press; Cincy played over it again and again. One more on Haris…
4) Enough with the olimpico bullshit. Play normal set-pieces, like the one Nick “COVID-slayer” Hagglund nodded home so beautifully. (And how about that goal celebration? Worth the price of admission alone…)
5) Alvaro Barreal looked pretty damn handy last night - and he paired nicely with Saad Abdul-Salaam. I didn’t need to see him take a star turn out there last night, so much as I wanted to see a succession of good, individual decisions with the ball and the space around him. He looked better than expected in that regard…
And those are my notes. I’ll come back for the next one…ooh, DC United. Hmm, I’m dialing expectations to good or ugly; bad will just piss me off.
At least that’s where I left off with them about a month ago after that win over (again) the Red Bulls. I’d kept tabs while I was checked out, even took a longer look at a couple results. The results didn’t look great - they’d gone 0-4-1 over that time - even if all the results mostly made sense (e.g., losing 0-4 away to New York City FC and 0-3 on the road to the Philadelphia Union, both of which still hold double-digit leads over Cincy, even in a low-points season). Frustration mounted among the fan-base, or at least the corner of it I see on twitter, often to the point where thinking ahead to the 2021 season felt better than living through 2020…and I realize, as I typed those words, what a very low bar that is. So, so pervasively, consumingly low….
When I finally decided to tune back in for last night’s game against Columbus Crew SC, in a match-up I still can’t bring myself to call “Hell Is Real” (I mean, if just one of the teams has taken up full-time residence in hell, aren’t they just hosting at that point?), someone on the twitters pointed out that FC Cincy’s supporters’ groups had packed up all the banners and tifos with an eye to sending the team a message. I don’t know whether or not the players received it, but I had one hell of a laugh when a player alluding to it in an post-game interview. (Something like, “yeah, I noticed that. I heard they were trying to tell us something.” Ach, priceless…)
In fewer words, I’d missed more games than I’d noticed (FC Cincy went to Minnesota? huh), while getting the clear, steady message that not much of meaning had changed. As such, I tuned in last night bracing for more of the same. FC Cincinnati delivered something else. A 2-1 home win, for starters, but also more coherence on the attacking side than I’d seen since…well, let’s call it a while, because that could be 2019 on the phone for all I know. (Wait! You’re not gonna believe this, but it’s a guy telling me I won a prize! All I have to do is give him my bank account and routing numbers! Yaayyyyyy!)
Because I checked out for as long as I did, I don’t feel comfortable calling anything but the bare result a success. Instead, I’ll close this with five things I saw last night and take a stab at what they might mean - with the caveat that I was wrapping up dinner and searching frantically for a dirty feed on Real Salt Lake v. Portland, which started, like, immediately after Cincinnati and Columbus wrapped up. Basically, if it happened in the past 20 minutes, I only caught a glimpse of it.
1) I’d call that Yuya Kubo’s best night as a starter (never mind a DP). Though far from perfect, Kubo found lots of space - mostly behind Harrison Afful on the right - and kept pulling Columbus’ defense with smart runs on both sides of the attacking third. I didn’t like every choice (his combination play needs…a couple things), but he made a couple shots for himself and pushed Cincy’s attack as hard as any player out there. Also, he took a cool penalty kick to give them a rare, early lead.
2) To go out on one limb, I’m going to credit Kamohelo Mokotjo for Columbus’ absence in the center of the field, if with a healthy assist from Allan Cruz. That argument comes with one huge caveat - Columbus looked like shit the past two times I’ve looked at them and they’re dropping points to prove it - but Cincinnati’s ability to hold the center of midfield (as opposed to holding together in defense) gave the attack a rare thing: firm ground to stand on. So leaving open the clear question of how great a role a slumping Crew team played in that, having a good defensive midfield would go miles to making Cincinnati a competitive team. And that leads to…
3) Haris Medunjanin reprised his role from his Philly days - e.g., play-making from deep. At his best (or the best I’ve seen him), Haris plays best as a deep-lying free-radical, operating in a space where he can find the game and pick teams apart from a variety of lobs and through-balls; he breaks teams down with the ball before the final ball. His need to find the game means he doesn’t defend much, which raises the importance of the players around him - in this case, Cruz and Mokotjo. Again, I don’t want to talk up this angle too much - a one-game sample size in not a sample - but the mechanics make sense. That said, this worked wonderfully last night to neutralize Columbus’ early press; Cincy played over it again and again. One more on Haris…
4) Enough with the olimpico bullshit. Play normal set-pieces, like the one Nick “COVID-slayer” Hagglund nodded home so beautifully. (And how about that goal celebration? Worth the price of admission alone…)
5) Alvaro Barreal looked pretty damn handy last night - and he paired nicely with Saad Abdul-Salaam. I didn’t need to see him take a star turn out there last night, so much as I wanted to see a succession of good, individual decisions with the ball and the space around him. He looked better than expected in that regard…
And those are my notes. I’ll come back for the next one…ooh, DC United. Hmm, I’m dialing expectations to good or ugly; bad will just piss me off.
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