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| When they come, will you be ready? |
This could be me ranting into a vacuum in response to nothing, but I’ve got something to get off my chest, so, here it is.
I see people talking and talking expectations for their team and evaluating results they’ve earned or burned with almost no reference to the quality and, more importantly, the form of the opposing team. It takes its most persistent form in assuming that what works in one game will somehow work in every game; the specific thing could be a tactic or a player, but the basic argument amounts to having a conversation about game as if half the people involved neither participated, nor played a hand in the result. I’m sure some percentage of this gripe follows from me reading a novel in between the lines (often of 280 or fewer characters), and it mostly comes up when I see people bitching about a result that should have surprised them half as much as it did, but this drives me all kinds of fucking crazy - i.e., this has become my king pet peeve in all sports.
Some of soapbox soliloquy pertains to FC Cincinnati’s 0-2 loss at Charlotte FC, though personal application may vary. Related, that hyperlink will be the last time FC Cincy serves as the subject to any thought in this post. Figuratively.
Because I had to wait for the replay on this game, I had an opportunity to absorb the post-game chatter before sitting down to actually watch (most of) the game. [Disclosure: I watched the first 28 minutes, then all the second half, so whatever good shit happened from the 28th to the 46th minute doesn’t exist for me.] As such, I went in knowing things didn’t go well, but without really knowing how or why.
If I had to tell an alien about this game, I’d start by telling Bleep-Borp (for that is its name) that most of the notes I wrote while watching pointed to things Charlotte was doing. To give a couple examples, I couldn’t help but note the energy and overall effectiveness of SuperDraftee, Benjamin Bender, or how Derrick Jones stomped around the middle of Charlotte’s half of the field like an colossus who stood 50% taller than everyone around him (this definitely applied to Luciano Acosta). I’d flag how Christian Fuchs and Joseph Mora’s names came up often enough on defensive actions/stops that I still haven’t been properly introduced to Guzman Corujo and Jaylin Lindsay, even if I’m willing to take it on faith that they actually played yesterday. And, yeah, Kristijan Kahlina made some impressive saves, but the only one that felt like robbery was his save on Acosta’s bright, shining moment at the end of the first half (okeh, yeah, I dipped back in for the last four, five minutes of the first half as well).
I see people talking and talking expectations for their team and evaluating results they’ve earned or burned with almost no reference to the quality and, more importantly, the form of the opposing team. It takes its most persistent form in assuming that what works in one game will somehow work in every game; the specific thing could be a tactic or a player, but the basic argument amounts to having a conversation about game as if half the people involved neither participated, nor played a hand in the result. I’m sure some percentage of this gripe follows from me reading a novel in between the lines (often of 280 or fewer characters), and it mostly comes up when I see people bitching about a result that should have surprised them half as much as it did, but this drives me all kinds of fucking crazy - i.e., this has become my king pet peeve in all sports.
Some of soapbox soliloquy pertains to FC Cincinnati’s 0-2 loss at Charlotte FC, though personal application may vary. Related, that hyperlink will be the last time FC Cincy serves as the subject to any thought in this post. Figuratively.
Because I had to wait for the replay on this game, I had an opportunity to absorb the post-game chatter before sitting down to actually watch (most of) the game. [Disclosure: I watched the first 28 minutes, then all the second half, so whatever good shit happened from the 28th to the 46th minute doesn’t exist for me.] As such, I went in knowing things didn’t go well, but without really knowing how or why.
If I had to tell an alien about this game, I’d start by telling Bleep-Borp (for that is its name) that most of the notes I wrote while watching pointed to things Charlotte was doing. To give a couple examples, I couldn’t help but note the energy and overall effectiveness of SuperDraftee, Benjamin Bender, or how Derrick Jones stomped around the middle of Charlotte’s half of the field like an colossus who stood 50% taller than everyone around him (this definitely applied to Luciano Acosta). I’d flag how Christian Fuchs and Joseph Mora’s names came up often enough on defensive actions/stops that I still haven’t been properly introduced to Guzman Corujo and Jaylin Lindsay, even if I’m willing to take it on faith that they actually played yesterday. And, yeah, Kristijan Kahlina made some impressive saves, but the only one that felt like robbery was his save on Acosta’s bright, shining moment at the end of the first half (okeh, yeah, I dipped back in for the last four, five minutes of the first half as well).
And I saw/heard people drooling over Karol Swiderski, but his game was less about dominance that decisive moments…which, I suppose, just makes him a forward. At any rate, and beautiful as it was, I’m still sorting out how his free-kick actually went in (and I’ve watched it once live and in five replays by now), but, even if he did everything right by peeling off and making that buck-naked back-post run, his teammates put in the work to create his first goal.
And that makes for a good pivot, because that was the difference yesterday. I see FC Cincy edged Charlotte for xG, but they struggled to create any moment I’d call decisive. Unlike in the past two games, Dom Badji and Brandon Vas-Kwez (aka, Brandon Vasquez) didn’t find any half openings, never mind full ones; I know Brenner had another shot in the second half, a good one too, but he barely existed outside that moment, and that continues the theme and closes it: I can’t think anyone wearing orange had his best game yesterday - and that’s the adjunct to the gripe I started with: your team will have bad games. That’s as close as you get to a universal constant in soccer: even teams that win either Shield or Cup will drop a pickled egg a few times a season; moreover, most will drop more than a handful and - you know what? - it doesn’t matter.
FC Cincinnati is not a Shield/Cup team, obviously, and they’re playing with a very different set of givens. To pick up on a data point I passed on in the last post on Cincy, they have never won three games in a row during their time in Major League Soccer. If one reality lives in the head of every fan who loves or follows this team, it’s this: every time you thought this team might have turned the corner, the wheels have flown off, caught fire, and caused the flaming death of five of the best Samaritans to have ever graced the Earth over the next eight-plus games, and then you wake up somewhere at the end naked on the floor with a wooden spoon in your hand. All that’s to say, I get whatever anxiety any fan feels about how badly Cincinnati played yesterday, but there’s also a fairly simple solution that explains and excuses it.
Everything I've read and watched tells me Charlotte has been in every game they’ve played so far; another detail that stood out - and this comes from about 130 total minutes of watching them play - it’s how comfortable they look on the ball; the way they played out of the back with Kahlina very much in the mix signaled how comfortable Charlotte feels taking risks in the service of managing the game. They also use a defensive tactic I’ve seen, but without being able to explain: a press that boils down to loitering in the vicinity, but that switches on to a hard press the second things get shaky. Bottom line, Charlotte sounded like a team good enough to compete in MLS going into this game and nothing I saw yesterday backed up that chatter.
If you reduce that thought to its basics, yesterday’s loss shouldn’t feel so bad. Cincinnati played on the road against a team who has been playing well. And they lost. What is that besides the regular course of the universe hitting its marks?
I don’t have any specific talking points for this one. That’s mostly because no Cincy player had a game worth remembering, but Acosta did have a powerfully self-thwarting game, and maybe he shouldn’t try to superhero this shit constantly…dammit, I do have Talking Points.
Luciano Acosta Should Stop Trying to Superhero Shit
This is pretty simple: if you go to the well every single time, people will catch on. I’d like to see Acosta try to use his teammates more, if only as decoys; maybe receive the ball and just cycle it around to see if someone else doesn’t have a better idea instead of trying to get the defense scrambling off a dribble every time. In fewer words, I’m worried his unpredictability has become predictable to everyone but his teammates. They dutifully make runs, only to see Acosta try to cut inside on the dribble like some wind-up toy, a move that makes those runs harder to sell every time he uses it.
The Same Goes for Alvaro Barreal, Only More So
Kubo Still Needs to Simplify His Game
Charlotte burned Kubo on the turns and feints he’s used to get facing forward over the past couple games. Kubo was basically fine yesterday, but, somewhat like Acosta, he has to find ways to change up his approach when Plan A isn’t working.
My Men of the Match
Dom Badji. He battled more often than well, but he put as much pressure on Charlotte to do things right as often as anyone. Bravo. Alec Kann made his share of impressive saves yesterday. He’s justifying the faith Cincy put in him so far.
Think that’s all I want to say about this one. FC Cincinnati hosts Club du Foot Montreal for their next match and, as with any game they play, that one’s must-win. Until they reach a level where dropping the odd game becomes a pardonable sin, every game will a must-win for this team, and on the grounds they don’t know when their next points will come. The games get tougher from there, unfortunately, and that makes April a good time for Cincy fans to keep a healthy combination of faith and perspective. If they pick up anything north of 10 points between now and the end of May, I'll feel like they've got a fair chance to finally outrun punishment by wooden spoon. And, for all you optimists out there, I'm sure there's some number of points they could get that would let me see Cincy as a playoff team, only I haven't arrived at it yet because I can't see them getting there.
And that makes for a good pivot, because that was the difference yesterday. I see FC Cincy edged Charlotte for xG, but they struggled to create any moment I’d call decisive. Unlike in the past two games, Dom Badji and Brandon Vas-Kwez (aka, Brandon Vasquez) didn’t find any half openings, never mind full ones; I know Brenner had another shot in the second half, a good one too, but he barely existed outside that moment, and that continues the theme and closes it: I can’t think anyone wearing orange had his best game yesterday - and that’s the adjunct to the gripe I started with: your team will have bad games. That’s as close as you get to a universal constant in soccer: even teams that win either Shield or Cup will drop a pickled egg a few times a season; moreover, most will drop more than a handful and - you know what? - it doesn’t matter.
FC Cincinnati is not a Shield/Cup team, obviously, and they’re playing with a very different set of givens. To pick up on a data point I passed on in the last post on Cincy, they have never won three games in a row during their time in Major League Soccer. If one reality lives in the head of every fan who loves or follows this team, it’s this: every time you thought this team might have turned the corner, the wheels have flown off, caught fire, and caused the flaming death of five of the best Samaritans to have ever graced the Earth over the next eight-plus games, and then you wake up somewhere at the end naked on the floor with a wooden spoon in your hand. All that’s to say, I get whatever anxiety any fan feels about how badly Cincinnati played yesterday, but there’s also a fairly simple solution that explains and excuses it.
Everything I've read and watched tells me Charlotte has been in every game they’ve played so far; another detail that stood out - and this comes from about 130 total minutes of watching them play - it’s how comfortable they look on the ball; the way they played out of the back with Kahlina very much in the mix signaled how comfortable Charlotte feels taking risks in the service of managing the game. They also use a defensive tactic I’ve seen, but without being able to explain: a press that boils down to loitering in the vicinity, but that switches on to a hard press the second things get shaky. Bottom line, Charlotte sounded like a team good enough to compete in MLS going into this game and nothing I saw yesterday backed up that chatter.
If you reduce that thought to its basics, yesterday’s loss shouldn’t feel so bad. Cincinnati played on the road against a team who has been playing well. And they lost. What is that besides the regular course of the universe hitting its marks?
I don’t have any specific talking points for this one. That’s mostly because no Cincy player had a game worth remembering, but Acosta did have a powerfully self-thwarting game, and maybe he shouldn’t try to superhero this shit constantly…dammit, I do have Talking Points.
Luciano Acosta Should Stop Trying to Superhero Shit
This is pretty simple: if you go to the well every single time, people will catch on. I’d like to see Acosta try to use his teammates more, if only as decoys; maybe receive the ball and just cycle it around to see if someone else doesn’t have a better idea instead of trying to get the defense scrambling off a dribble every time. In fewer words, I’m worried his unpredictability has become predictable to everyone but his teammates. They dutifully make runs, only to see Acosta try to cut inside on the dribble like some wind-up toy, a move that makes those runs harder to sell every time he uses it.
The Same Goes for Alvaro Barreal, Only More So
Kubo Still Needs to Simplify His Game
Charlotte burned Kubo on the turns and feints he’s used to get facing forward over the past couple games. Kubo was basically fine yesterday, but, somewhat like Acosta, he has to find ways to change up his approach when Plan A isn’t working.
My Men of the Match
Dom Badji. He battled more often than well, but he put as much pressure on Charlotte to do things right as often as anyone. Bravo. Alec Kann made his share of impressive saves yesterday. He’s justifying the faith Cincy put in him so far.
Think that’s all I want to say about this one. FC Cincinnati hosts Club du Foot Montreal for their next match and, as with any game they play, that one’s must-win. Until they reach a level where dropping the odd game becomes a pardonable sin, every game will a must-win for this team, and on the grounds they don’t know when their next points will come. The games get tougher from there, unfortunately, and that makes April a good time for Cincy fans to keep a healthy combination of faith and perspective. If they pick up anything north of 10 points between now and the end of May, I'll feel like they've got a fair chance to finally outrun punishment by wooden spoon. And, for all you optimists out there, I'm sure there's some number of points they could get that would let me see Cincy as a playoff team, only I haven't arrived at it yet because I can't see them getting there.
Till the next one, and very much pulling for a win.
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