FC Cincinnati players met as a team after a Hell Is Real loss to start the week. The conversation was held behind closed doors and the most intimate insights from it will remain behind those closed doors, but what we know from what has been said is that it was a call to arms, or a unifying conversation about what kind of team they need to be and what kind of team they will be coming out of that disappointment.
Players who have spoken after the fact on the record about that team meeting, called by Nick Hagglund and Obinna Nwobodo, say things like being “tougher,” and “grittier” were highlighted. They said ideas like playing a less ‘pretty’ game and just finding a way to ‘grind it out and win’ were brought up.
It was less about the technical or the tactical decisions made, and more about how they would, as a collective, represent themselves down the stretch.
In the next two games they played coming out of that meeting, FC Cincinnati put that newfound mantra on display, and on Saturday night in the nation’s capital they earned their second win in a row. With goals from Evander and Tom Barlow, and the first clean sheet in MLS action since April, FC Cincinnati earned all three points in a 2-0 victory over D.C. United – sweeping their Eastern Conference foes in back-to-back games after beating them back at TQL Stadium earlier this week.
“A lot of similarities to the last game and the difficulties that we faced with set pieces, crosses, some direct play when we were, I think, stepping up our pressure in a good way, but the guys defended those moments really well and had some really strong transition play,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said postgame. “
If you were just looking at the offensive part of the game for The Orange and Blue, you’d be hard pressed to understand how FC Cincinnati played a less ‘pretty game’ than before. After all, Evander delivered two of the most eye-catching goal contributions of the weekend in Major League Soccer and helped maestro the 2-0 lead the defense would protect.
But the gritty, grimy, relentless part of the performance was on full display again Saturday night through the stout defensive effort of the FC Cincinnati side, continuing a two-game stretch where the beleaguered FC Cincinnati defense has looked much improved.
So, while the FC Cincinnati goals seemed to spark like lightning, the defense resembled more of a storm that pounds the sea relentlessly all night. From the magic foot of Evander, a 35’ blast from long distance that seemed to leave the D.C. United goalkeeper looking like he had seen ghosts, gave FC Cincinnati a 1-0 lead.
“We’ve played many games the last couple weeks, and I missed a couple games as well, but I knew I was gonna score again at some point,” Evander said. “I've been pushing myself to be on a score sheet, but more than that, just trying to push the team to win the games, and I think (the goal) came in a special moment; a goal, and our win in our away game is really good all together.”
“That's Evander being Evander,” Noonan said.
Then, in the 52’, in a transition moment initially won by Kévin Denkey, Evander sparked up the left side of the field with Bryan Ramirez and Tom Barlow in tow. Ramirez would make the unselfish run into the box to drag the D.C. defender out of the lane and Evander picked a wide-open Tom Barlow out to put away the 2-0 goal.
So, in these quick flashes, a lead was built. But the defense, particularly late, made it’s bones by being controlled in their decision making, winning their ariel dules, and defending the box consistently despite waves of attacks. Yet, what was most impressive was that despite several extended stretches of needing to defend near their own net, the defense never allowed D.C. United a truly dangerous moment.
“I thought we did well tonight. At this point in the year, it's about winning games and finding ways to win,” goalkeeper Roman Celentano said. “So it doesn't matter how it looks; just matters that it gets done. And you know, yeah, this year has not been a lot to cheer about on the road. But I mean, I feel like we're in a good headspace, and we're just focusing on the next game.”
“I think the guys stepped up and we defended deeper for longer stretches. And when we couldn't find the composure or the outlet in transition, we dealt with the next wave of their attack I think in a pretty good way where we still had good organization and either got pressure to the ball or just dealt with the next service into the box,” Noonan added. “But that was a little bit different where it felt like we defended for longer stretches, but in a really controlled way where I think we eliminated a lot of danger and big chance creation from them, so that stood out tonight.”
"I think there was less risk, and we weren't exposing ourselves in moments where, when we defended a first action, even a second action, I thought we got out in transition in a lot of moments in a good way, and you want to take away that risk of a turnover closer to goal where you're starting to open up or send numbers forward,” Noonan elaborated. “So, it felt like in these last couple games, we've controlled that aspect of our game in a better way, where we're not leaving big gaps and a lot of space for them to play in behind, play wide, and get, I would say, more time to serve the ball. Because I thought we did a good job of closing, blocking, and just getting the spacing right like I said, along the back line and with our midfield in front of them. So that felt more in control tonight certainly."
The pride from the whole team this past week in not only getting six points in the fall out of a disappointing rivalry week, but in the way that they have gotten those points and how they’ve been able to come together in that mindset has been palpable. Sure, this sort of ‘eureka!’ moment is coming late in the season, and with just three games in the regular season they’ve left themselves a pretty tight window to operate in as the team pushes for a playoff spot… but better late than never. The win Saturday earned FCC just their third win on the road this season – a figure everyone, without fail, quickly identifies as not enough and unacceptable as a season total – but the fact of the matter is they needed \this\ win, badly, and they got it. They need every point they can get down the stretch.
“We need to know that we cannot choose games anymore. We have to win, home and away. We cannot just lose points anymore, and I think we understood the urgency that we need to play with and showed that tonight,” Evander said postgame. “It's great to regain confidence when you win an away game with a clean sheet, and I think it gives us much more confidence for the following games. I think we needed that.”
“It's what we need. It's not always going to be pretty, it's not always going to be comfortable. You're not always going to have time and space,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said postgame Saturday night. “So, knowing how to win games in that fashion…we just did that back to back, and that's hard to do against any team in this league.”
It also can’t help but be felt in the locker room postgame the more positive ‘vibe’ and the momentum being built from inside the room. It feels different.
Is the confidence growing? Yes, absolutely. But why? Well, some may point to just getting the win in back-to-back games as a reason to feel confidence growing, and they wouldn’t be wrong. Others may say that it’s because they earned a clean sheet for the first time in a long time, and even though the results haven’t been exactly what they’ve wanted all the time there is a growing, positive, defensive trend. In the last three games they’ve conceded just three goals, and in their last five, they’ve allowed just seven.
But if I was to truly try to pin down exactly what is the cause for the upswing -- for the more boisterous, excited, confident, proud group we all saw celebrate on the pitch after the full time whistle then heard in the locker room throughout the postgame activities Saturday night – it’s that it’s a team who is not only starting to believe in themselves, but believe in a mantra of play. They believe in an identity that can work for them.
They can be the team who’s hard to play against. They can be the team who does the gritty things needed to win. They can be the team that has the spectacular, jaw dropping moments -- like Evander uncorking a 35-footer and freezing the keeper. But they can be that team while also being the guys who bring their lunchpail to the pitch and go to work.
“You want to play a certain way, but at the end of the day, there's one way you really want to play, and it's winning the game,” Celentano said. “And I think we're finding moments that we haven't had earlier this year – times to see out a game.”
“I think we're finally kind of getting what we need to do. You know, obviously we like to play a high line. We like to go man to man a lot of times, but I mean, you just look at the past couple games. Tonight there's times when it's okay for the opponent to have the ball…we'll let them have the ball in the wide spaces 30 yards from goal and let them mess around with it because that's not the danger area. The danger area is between the goal posts in front of our goal. So I think we're kind of finding the right moments to step up the ball, and when we're not ready, we get behind it in a better way. When before, I feel like we, you know, we always think we have to go and then we go and then we're kind of just all disjointed. So I feel like we have a better understanding of our roles defensively, and I feel like everyone's buying in right now. We can see the end of the season, and there's no time to mess about getting results. So I'm just proud of the way the guys have gone about it.”
This seemingly newfound mindset, or perhaps it’s more fair to say, ‘newly adopted mentality,’ is all good and well, and it may even be true. But for it to be true, for it be real, it has to be tested. And FC Cincinnati will have no shortage of those in the final three games of the season. They head to South Beach next to take on Inter Miami CF, then host Philadelphia Union (arguably the hottest, most in form team in MLS right now) and then welcome the newly crowned Supporters’ Shield winners on Decision Day.
“I think now we are getting ourselves back,” Teenage Hadebe said postgame. “What I know is that everybody knows what FCC are capable of. Of course, this season has been a tough year for us, but we won't give up. We’ll keep going until the final whistle, and we still have three important games to play. So we take one game at a time but we must find a way no matter what to win games. It doesn't matter that everything must be pretty, what matters is the result.”
FC Cincinnati begin this stretch in a tie (on points) for seventh place in the East (42 points) and four points clear of the playoff cut line with three games to play. A playoff spot is well within their control and could be secured as early as next Wednesday night. So, if this newfound FCC side is for real, they have every chance to show it.
But what is unquestionable, is that FC Cincinnati have shown a new side of them of late and sparked a confidence in themselves. What comes next is anyone’s guess, but The Orange and Blue control their own destiny.
