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| Sometimes it takes a while... |
I watched as much of FC Cincinnati’s latest loss as felt worthwhile - a little more than I should have, honestly, and, yes, “latest loss” is the phrasing I’m going with. Orlando City SC only beat them 3-0 in the end, a final score that felt like mercy after Cincy went down by two goals inside the first 20 minutes.
I’m not going to spend much time to picking through the entrails of this one, and on the grounds that, 1) the beast is well-dead and there’s not much mystery as to the cause of death, and 2) I don’t think it has much to tell Cincinnati fans about the future that they don’t already know. I do, however, have one thought to impart to a justifiable restless fan-base: what about this match up would make you expect anything but the result that happened? To put that another way, why would you expect a team that has most of its shit together - that’s Orlando - give away anything at home to a team that has yet to figure out even some of its shit?
Look, Orlando is a well-coached team with good players - e.g., Nani (who had time to thoroughly embarrass Yuya Kubo when scoring Orlando’s second goal), Mauricio Pereyra, Chris Mueller, Junior Urso, Pedro Gallese, Ruan, and, mind, that list is incomplete - that is both strong at home (heard some stat about one loss at home in their last 11 from the broadcast booth) and damned hard to score against (one goal allowed in three games this season and, again, I heard something about less than 1.0 goals per game allowed during the Oscar Pareja era). There’s nothing wrong with feeling (constant, borderline existential) disappointment with a result, or even rage, but there is something very unhealthy about, to torture an example, expecting to get a unicorn pony for Christmas when absolutely nothing in your prior experience points to ever getting one. Basically, keep a little perspective as you watch Cincinnati struggle out of the quicksand.
Given all the above, yeah, the game probably was over by the 35th second, when a clumsy back-pass by Nick Hagglund teed up the game-winner for Orlando’s Tesho Akindele. Cincinnati tried to settle down after and recover, naturally, but anyone who saw this game saw what I saw - a lot of tentative passes forward chased backwards by a middling Orlando press, a lot of kicking the ball around Cincinnati’s back-line, a lot of errant passes upfield, a number of desperate dribbles, and far too many instances of Orlando catching a Cincinnati player in possession (Kubo, often as not) and rushing a counter toward Pzremyslaw Tyton’s goal…and why the hell doesn’t MLSSoccer.com show saves as a stat anymore?
Cincinnati managed a moment or two, most of them random dribbles by Joe Gyau (who dribbles too much for meg), Kubo, and, once, Jurgen Locadia (who accidentally gave Brenner a decent look at goal....after a long, random dribble). Gyau found Ronald Mattarita on Orlando’s weak-side with a big cross (and after a long dribble) and that was decent, and Brandon Vazquez mistimed his runs after a couple decent balls over the top, but all that kicking and running didn’t amount to much. FC Cincinnati fired seven shots total, none of them on goal, and it’s rarely great when a central defender (Hagglund) ties a forward your front office dropped $15 million on for shots - especially errant ones.
With Cincy’s offense firing rarely and badly, this became yet another afternoon of seeing how many goals the other side could score…wait, I have I mentioned Orlando’s third goal yet? It was an ugly fucker, and even that gets to something: why can’t Cincinnati score even ugly goals? How is it that, after two full years in MLS, they can’t even create enough pressure to force unsightly scrambles in other teams’ penalty areas? Is it time to say, fuck it, and try Route One?
Overall, there’s nothing new to say about FC Cincinnati, at least not three games into 2021. They can’t get the ball up field easily and they don’t know what to do with it when they do get it up there, central midfield still looks like addled shit and gets spun coming and going, and the rickety defense and long-suffering goalkeeper can only bend so far that often before they repeatedly break. I see new names on the backs of some jerseys, but it's very much the team wearing them. I’m to where I’m wondering whether I should hold off on writing match reviews for FC Cincy games until they give something new to say. About that…
That brings me back to an earlier point in this post. Cincinnati will open The Big Tickle (their home stadium) two weeks from today against Inter Miami CF. While absolutely nothing - and I do mean, nothing - indicates that they will get anything out of that game, never mind win it, that still presents as a far safer time and place to invest hope and energy than a game on the road against Orlando. Or New York City FC, for that matter. While Cincinnati’s schedule isn’t exactly gentle between now and the end of June - they have Club du Foot Montreal on the road after Miami, then the New England Revolution and the Colorado Rapids at home the two games after that, followed by Chicago Fire FC and Toronto FC on the road - that’s still three home games, some softer opposition, time for some injured players to heal and, most important of all, nearly two full months for Jaap Stam, et. al. to figure some shit out.
And, if it’s still just carnage and 90 minutes of waiting for it to arrive every game between here and there, I might become fair and wise to consider what still strikes me as the worst possible thing FC Cincinnati can do right now: risk blowing it all and starting over. Again.
In all seriousness, enjoy the next week off. Hug your family, get outside, don’t think about soccer, remember what it feels like to be happy. Till Miami comes a-callin’.
I’m not going to spend much time to picking through the entrails of this one, and on the grounds that, 1) the beast is well-dead and there’s not much mystery as to the cause of death, and 2) I don’t think it has much to tell Cincinnati fans about the future that they don’t already know. I do, however, have one thought to impart to a justifiable restless fan-base: what about this match up would make you expect anything but the result that happened? To put that another way, why would you expect a team that has most of its shit together - that’s Orlando - give away anything at home to a team that has yet to figure out even some of its shit?
Look, Orlando is a well-coached team with good players - e.g., Nani (who had time to thoroughly embarrass Yuya Kubo when scoring Orlando’s second goal), Mauricio Pereyra, Chris Mueller, Junior Urso, Pedro Gallese, Ruan, and, mind, that list is incomplete - that is both strong at home (heard some stat about one loss at home in their last 11 from the broadcast booth) and damned hard to score against (one goal allowed in three games this season and, again, I heard something about less than 1.0 goals per game allowed during the Oscar Pareja era). There’s nothing wrong with feeling (constant, borderline existential) disappointment with a result, or even rage, but there is something very unhealthy about, to torture an example, expecting to get a unicorn pony for Christmas when absolutely nothing in your prior experience points to ever getting one. Basically, keep a little perspective as you watch Cincinnati struggle out of the quicksand.
Given all the above, yeah, the game probably was over by the 35th second, when a clumsy back-pass by Nick Hagglund teed up the game-winner for Orlando’s Tesho Akindele. Cincinnati tried to settle down after and recover, naturally, but anyone who saw this game saw what I saw - a lot of tentative passes forward chased backwards by a middling Orlando press, a lot of kicking the ball around Cincinnati’s back-line, a lot of errant passes upfield, a number of desperate dribbles, and far too many instances of Orlando catching a Cincinnati player in possession (Kubo, often as not) and rushing a counter toward Pzremyslaw Tyton’s goal…and why the hell doesn’t MLSSoccer.com show saves as a stat anymore?
Cincinnati managed a moment or two, most of them random dribbles by Joe Gyau (who dribbles too much for meg), Kubo, and, once, Jurgen Locadia (who accidentally gave Brenner a decent look at goal....after a long, random dribble). Gyau found Ronald Mattarita on Orlando’s weak-side with a big cross (and after a long dribble) and that was decent, and Brandon Vazquez mistimed his runs after a couple decent balls over the top, but all that kicking and running didn’t amount to much. FC Cincinnati fired seven shots total, none of them on goal, and it’s rarely great when a central defender (Hagglund) ties a forward your front office dropped $15 million on for shots - especially errant ones.
With Cincy’s offense firing rarely and badly, this became yet another afternoon of seeing how many goals the other side could score…wait, I have I mentioned Orlando’s third goal yet? It was an ugly fucker, and even that gets to something: why can’t Cincinnati score even ugly goals? How is it that, after two full years in MLS, they can’t even create enough pressure to force unsightly scrambles in other teams’ penalty areas? Is it time to say, fuck it, and try Route One?
Overall, there’s nothing new to say about FC Cincinnati, at least not three games into 2021. They can’t get the ball up field easily and they don’t know what to do with it when they do get it up there, central midfield still looks like addled shit and gets spun coming and going, and the rickety defense and long-suffering goalkeeper can only bend so far that often before they repeatedly break. I see new names on the backs of some jerseys, but it's very much the team wearing them. I’m to where I’m wondering whether I should hold off on writing match reviews for FC Cincy games until they give something new to say. About that…
That brings me back to an earlier point in this post. Cincinnati will open The Big Tickle (their home stadium) two weeks from today against Inter Miami CF. While absolutely nothing - and I do mean, nothing - indicates that they will get anything out of that game, never mind win it, that still presents as a far safer time and place to invest hope and energy than a game on the road against Orlando. Or New York City FC, for that matter. While Cincinnati’s schedule isn’t exactly gentle between now and the end of June - they have Club du Foot Montreal on the road after Miami, then the New England Revolution and the Colorado Rapids at home the two games after that, followed by Chicago Fire FC and Toronto FC on the road - that’s still three home games, some softer opposition, time for some injured players to heal and, most important of all, nearly two full months for Jaap Stam, et. al. to figure some shit out.
And, if it’s still just carnage and 90 minutes of waiting for it to arrive every game between here and there, I might become fair and wise to consider what still strikes me as the worst possible thing FC Cincinnati can do right now: risk blowing it all and starting over. Again.
In all seriousness, enjoy the next week off. Hug your family, get outside, don’t think about soccer, remember what it feels like to be happy. Till Miami comes a-callin’.
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