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| Translated to the modern idiom, "eat shit, prudes." |
Had you asked me to pick the game FC Cincinnati would win from its first three, I would have picked away to Orlando City SC last. Had you told me they won it courtesy of a Brandon Vazquez brace, I would have asked for a taste of whatever you were on at the time of asking.
Chase the doubts and disbelief away because, I’ll be damned if FC Cincy didn’t roll into central Florida and win its first game of 2022. The game ended 2-1 and, numbers be damned, I thought they looked all right doing it. That’s to say, forget stats like possession and passing accuracy, look beyond Cincy’s thin passing network with its faintness of some far-off constellation, and scroll all the way to the bottom of The Mothership’s stats page to drink in the one number that gives a fair read of the game as it played out, the xG data.
In terms of timeline, Cincy stunned Orlando a mere 13 minutes into the game when Vazquez, a man not renowned for finishing his chances, buried a tidy li’l chip into the right corner of Pedro Gallese’s net. With the wake-up call duly delivered, Orlando proceeded to pile pressure on every available side of Cincinnati’s 18 yard box. The chiseling finally broke through the walls 30 minutes later when Orlando’s Junior Urso charged buck-naked onto a Facundo Torres cross to Cincy’s back-post at which point, I, like everyone who wishes Cincinnati health and happiness, commenced to listening desperately for the first-half whistle. The game, in short, had threatened to get away from Cincinnati.
After watching the way Orlando had a rich tapestry of ways to threaten the side fringes of Cincinnati’s 18-yard box, Cincy’s newbie head coach, Pat Noonan, made some adjustments to the defensive shape. On came Isaac Atanga to take up the right (left?) side of the three in a 4-2-3-1 and back went…I’d say fullback Ian Murphy (who several faulted to Orlando’s goal) more than Alvas Powell, into the four-man defense to better defend said side fringes. And then, somewhere between out of the pale blue sky and before all that had time to settle, Yuya Kubo sent newly-minted winger Dominique Badji into a foot-race against Orlando’s left back Ruan; Badji shouldered him off the ball (and to the ground), turned the ball inside behind Orlando’s defense and, effectively, ricocheted his cross off Vazquez’s head.
For the first time in 2022, Cincinnati had a lead to defend, so they set to doing so. Progress toward the final whistle was neither direct nor linear - e.g., keeping Orlando to one goal scored took two top-drawer saves from Alec Kann in the first half, plus one more down the stretch, and both Tyler Blackett and Kubo kicked off what could have been a pandemic of yellow cards. Orlando piled on pressure till the end and, like 11 latter-day Giles Coreys, Cincy’s defense responded with a saucy, “more rocks.” Acknowledging they did so from inside a defensive shell for the final 20 minutes takes away only a bit of the bravado.
And yet, the most remarkable thing in all that was the creping sense that Orlando would never see an equalizer, never mind a game-winner. With a nod back to the numbers, the eye-test gave them the advantage. They got the ball from their defensive third to Cincy’s sharply and quickly and they moved the ball to good places more times than their 18 total shots indicate; in short, they have good players who can play the game. Fortunately, Cincinnati’s defense did a good job of getting in the way and Kann and misfires took care of the rest. To wrap up Orlando, their permanent record looks…call it a little different with this loss dropped into the file. On the one hand, sure, they’re 1-1-1 to start the season, a fair start by most standards, but squeezing one point out of Chicago and handing all three to Cincy makes it present as a little less fair.
That’s it for the game. I’ll close by firing some bullets at FC Cincy.
Cincy’s Square Peg Finds His Square Hole
Few players on Cincinnati’s roster have prompted more words from me than Yuya Kubo, who has looked like a wasted asset for most of his time in the Queen City. Willing as he was to change positions, he looked like a duct-taped solution to Cincy’s middling midfield…until 2022. For my money, Kubo has been the most effective player on Cincinnati’s roster so far this season. Some of that surely follows from playing alongside a true d-mid like Junior Moreno, but, based on early returns, Kubo has clearly learned how to operate in central midfield traffic. He always had the tenacity for the role, but this year saw him figure out how to not just stop traffic heading toward his goal, but how to turn it in the other direction. A lot of that came from figuring out how to turn out of pressure and make space for a good pass and that’s paying real dividends for the whole damn team. Sure, it seems like Kubo can’t hit an open goal from two yards hit, but still. Bravo.
All the Good Shit, Plus Goals
Vazquez has always put in enough work to be a solid contributor as a second forward - e.g., the runs, the hold-up play, the general throwing himself about and battling defenders - but his finishing has always been…how to say this euphemistically? Vazquez gets into good position a couple times a game at least, but, when it comes to his goal scoring touch, Vazquez trades in copper rather than gold. One can argue that Vazquez was as much object as subject on Cincinnati’s winner, but that first shot was harder than it looked. And all I have to say to that is, thank you sir, may I have another?
Credit Where It’s Both Due and Needed
Bracing as it was to see Kann do exactly what Cincy called him in to do - i.e., provide a needed upgrade at goalkeeper - yesterday counted as Cincinnati’s second respectable defensive performance. It helped that Orlando made the mistake of flinging crosses (27 in all) toward the tall trees that make up the Cincy’s back-line, and full credit to Kann, but, as Orlando’s color commentator noted late in the game, a goalkeeper is only as good as the defense in front of him outside those bright, shining moments. Call it another heartening step in a brighter direction.
And You Get a Star!
Alvas Powell has looked good so far. He’s reminding me of his better days in Portland at this point…
You, However, Do Not
I wasn’t disappointed with much about Cincy’s performance, even if that entails giving Murphy a bit of a pass by way of lack of experience plus having to cope with Ruan’s blistering pace, but Atanga’s afternoon stood out. He didn’t make decisions quickly enough and didn’t execute so good after he made them. Call it a case of step up or sit down.
That’s it for this report - and, damn, was it nice to share some happy thoughts. Till the next one.
Chase the doubts and disbelief away because, I’ll be damned if FC Cincy didn’t roll into central Florida and win its first game of 2022. The game ended 2-1 and, numbers be damned, I thought they looked all right doing it. That’s to say, forget stats like possession and passing accuracy, look beyond Cincy’s thin passing network with its faintness of some far-off constellation, and scroll all the way to the bottom of The Mothership’s stats page to drink in the one number that gives a fair read of the game as it played out, the xG data.
In terms of timeline, Cincy stunned Orlando a mere 13 minutes into the game when Vazquez, a man not renowned for finishing his chances, buried a tidy li’l chip into the right corner of Pedro Gallese’s net. With the wake-up call duly delivered, Orlando proceeded to pile pressure on every available side of Cincinnati’s 18 yard box. The chiseling finally broke through the walls 30 minutes later when Orlando’s Junior Urso charged buck-naked onto a Facundo Torres cross to Cincy’s back-post at which point, I, like everyone who wishes Cincinnati health and happiness, commenced to listening desperately for the first-half whistle. The game, in short, had threatened to get away from Cincinnati.
After watching the way Orlando had a rich tapestry of ways to threaten the side fringes of Cincinnati’s 18-yard box, Cincy’s newbie head coach, Pat Noonan, made some adjustments to the defensive shape. On came Isaac Atanga to take up the right (left?) side of the three in a 4-2-3-1 and back went…I’d say fullback Ian Murphy (who several faulted to Orlando’s goal) more than Alvas Powell, into the four-man defense to better defend said side fringes. And then, somewhere between out of the pale blue sky and before all that had time to settle, Yuya Kubo sent newly-minted winger Dominique Badji into a foot-race against Orlando’s left back Ruan; Badji shouldered him off the ball (and to the ground), turned the ball inside behind Orlando’s defense and, effectively, ricocheted his cross off Vazquez’s head.
For the first time in 2022, Cincinnati had a lead to defend, so they set to doing so. Progress toward the final whistle was neither direct nor linear - e.g., keeping Orlando to one goal scored took two top-drawer saves from Alec Kann in the first half, plus one more down the stretch, and both Tyler Blackett and Kubo kicked off what could have been a pandemic of yellow cards. Orlando piled on pressure till the end and, like 11 latter-day Giles Coreys, Cincy’s defense responded with a saucy, “more rocks.” Acknowledging they did so from inside a defensive shell for the final 20 minutes takes away only a bit of the bravado.
And yet, the most remarkable thing in all that was the creping sense that Orlando would never see an equalizer, never mind a game-winner. With a nod back to the numbers, the eye-test gave them the advantage. They got the ball from their defensive third to Cincy’s sharply and quickly and they moved the ball to good places more times than their 18 total shots indicate; in short, they have good players who can play the game. Fortunately, Cincinnati’s defense did a good job of getting in the way and Kann and misfires took care of the rest. To wrap up Orlando, their permanent record looks…call it a little different with this loss dropped into the file. On the one hand, sure, they’re 1-1-1 to start the season, a fair start by most standards, but squeezing one point out of Chicago and handing all three to Cincy makes it present as a little less fair.
That’s it for the game. I’ll close by firing some bullets at FC Cincy.
Cincy’s Square Peg Finds His Square Hole
Few players on Cincinnati’s roster have prompted more words from me than Yuya Kubo, who has looked like a wasted asset for most of his time in the Queen City. Willing as he was to change positions, he looked like a duct-taped solution to Cincy’s middling midfield…until 2022. For my money, Kubo has been the most effective player on Cincinnati’s roster so far this season. Some of that surely follows from playing alongside a true d-mid like Junior Moreno, but, based on early returns, Kubo has clearly learned how to operate in central midfield traffic. He always had the tenacity for the role, but this year saw him figure out how to not just stop traffic heading toward his goal, but how to turn it in the other direction. A lot of that came from figuring out how to turn out of pressure and make space for a good pass and that’s paying real dividends for the whole damn team. Sure, it seems like Kubo can’t hit an open goal from two yards hit, but still. Bravo.
All the Good Shit, Plus Goals
Vazquez has always put in enough work to be a solid contributor as a second forward - e.g., the runs, the hold-up play, the general throwing himself about and battling defenders - but his finishing has always been…how to say this euphemistically? Vazquez gets into good position a couple times a game at least, but, when it comes to his goal scoring touch, Vazquez trades in copper rather than gold. One can argue that Vazquez was as much object as subject on Cincinnati’s winner, but that first shot was harder than it looked. And all I have to say to that is, thank you sir, may I have another?
Credit Where It’s Both Due and Needed
Bracing as it was to see Kann do exactly what Cincy called him in to do - i.e., provide a needed upgrade at goalkeeper - yesterday counted as Cincinnati’s second respectable defensive performance. It helped that Orlando made the mistake of flinging crosses (27 in all) toward the tall trees that make up the Cincy’s back-line, and full credit to Kann, but, as Orlando’s color commentator noted late in the game, a goalkeeper is only as good as the defense in front of him outside those bright, shining moments. Call it another heartening step in a brighter direction.
And You Get a Star!
Alvas Powell has looked good so far. He’s reminding me of his better days in Portland at this point…
You, However, Do Not
I wasn’t disappointed with much about Cincy’s performance, even if that entails giving Murphy a bit of a pass by way of lack of experience plus having to cope with Ruan’s blistering pace, but Atanga’s afternoon stood out. He didn’t make decisions quickly enough and didn’t execute so good after he made them. Call it a case of step up or sit down.
That’s it for this report - and, damn, was it nice to share some happy thoughts. Till the next one.
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