CINCINNATI – Saturday night in Cincinnati was as big of a game The Orange and Blue have played this season, and instead of walking away from it triumphantly like they have in the past, they were once again made to leave frustrated, disappointed, and for some, without many answers.
For the third time in as many home games, FC Cincinnati fell to an Eastern Conference foe and missed out on an opportunity to take three points in a tight table. The 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Union, who now lead the conference with a five point cushion, was sealed with a 49th minute goal from Bruno Damiani. FCC was let back into the match thanks to 60th minute red card to Union defender Olwethu Makhanya, but the hosts couldn’t equal the score in the final half hour and FCC walked off the pitch in defeat.
“It’s a tough stretch, tough moment for the group right now,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said to open his postmatch remarks. “Results, performances, I know it’s below our standard, and we’ll continue to work to try to fight through it. I know the disappointment is there with these players, with the fans, and that’s the way it should be. We’re not getting it done at the moment.”
“I want to apologize to the fans, because they were out in full force supporting us, and we disappointed them and ourselves with the result,” defender and captain Matt Miazga added. “We have to look back, in depth, on what happened tonight. Obviously, things aren't clicking, so we have to really reassess what's what's happening and try to fix it. Because, like I said, today was a massive game…and we lost it. So we need to figure it out and figure it out quickly, because there's five games left in the season, and we're obviously trying to fight for trophies, and if we play like we've been at home, it's not going to be enough.”
“We weren't good enough. We lost our third match in a row at home. It's bad. It's embarrassing,” midfielder Pavel Bucha said in the mixed zone after the match as well. “We failed again. It was such an important match for us, and we didn't make it. It's understandable that everybody feels like that. We are in the time of the season when we have to win these games to be successful and able to get those trophies for this club and for our fans. We have to work hard, and hopefully the next home game will be for us.”
The FC Cincinnati offense failed to score at home for the third game in a row, and lost all three of those games despite conceding just three goals total over that stretch. While FC Cincinnati have had success on the road, and the Leagues Cup break skews the stats, FCC have not scored at home in a regular season match since July 16 when they defeated Inter Miami CF 3-0 at home.
The offensive struggles is, at its core, the primary head scratching element to the run of form FCC have had over these past two weeks and perhaps the biggest concern for the squad given where we’re at in the calendar. With the talent on the field, and some newcomers to the roster making their debuts in this game (who admittedly, and per Pat Noonan, showed some real promise despite the outcome), and a half hour of play being up a man, generating just five shots on target feels concerning.
But where are things actually going wrong?
“To be honest, I don't know. I wish I could have the answer, but we know we've been struggling at home, which is insane, because our best matches has been away, and at home, in front our fans, we've been disappointing them,” Evander said postmatch. “So I feel really bad for that. I think we can give more than we did, especially playing at home. Like you cannot stop, and we need to keep working.”
“I think we are lacking some patience,” Noonan said, going into more detail as to the offensive pain they’ve experienced. “Maybe you can sense it’s building up where we’re not getting results at home, and that’s not typically what we’ve done. Just rushing some plays. They (Philadelphia) defended very well, so that was part of it and defended the box well, but I think we could be more patient in the next pass and get a little bit closer to goal, running harder to goal and causing more problems.
“I thought our front three struggled to move with movement in the game early on. I thought we tried to find moments to get them isolated, 3v3, and some of the moments were good but there weren’t enough of them. They’re a physical team, and we know they’re going to step up their pressure. So, the movement has to be earlier. It has to be finding ways to be in sync with how you move off the ball and how you move behind at times, and I didn’t think that was enough.”
One week ago, after a 1-0 loss to NYCFC, defender Nick Hagglund characterized the primary issue in the loss as FCC being “their own worst enemy.” That while NYCFC did what they needed to do, it was FCC's self inflicted wounds that were ultimately their downfall.
In some ways that can be comforting. The idea that self improvement, or cleaning up a mess you made yourself, as the solution to a problem is one that imbues you a great amount of control over your own destiny. If you just take care of your business you will be ok. It’s not always the easiest answer, but it’s one you control.
It is though, in fairness, a frustrating challenge to have if that problem persists. Why are these things still happening? Why aren't they being addressed?’ leaps to mind, fairly or unfairly.
And in postgame, Noonan implied that Hagglund’s characterization of “own worst enemy” may be apt to this game as well.
“In parts of our game, for sure,” Noonan confirmed. “The goal we conceded in the New York City match and this one is a little bit naive and how we’re trying to find space to bypass some of the pressure and the lack of connection on the decisions. The two goals are momentum killers, for sure, and certainly avoidable. That’s on me, too. We should be able to eliminate that. Like I said, we’ll continue to work to try and find some solutions.”
“There's no excuses when we're at home. We need to be able to be dominant and win consistently. We've been doing it away. We've been doing it the last few years. This year, especially recently, it hasn't clicked,” Miazga added. “So we need to, need to figure it out. Like you said, the games have been closes. It hasn't been good enough.”
With the loss, FC Cincinnati now sit five points back of the top of the Eastern Conference, but are still in second place. With five games to play in the regular season, FC Cincinnati will have two weeks to wait until they play again as the International Window comes at (perhaps) a good time for the team as they look to set things straight.
The break, where players can go off and compete for their national teams, provides an opportunity to take some extra time and refocus. While the team may take literal time off, if they do it will be limited and the majority of the next two weeks will be spent on the training ground working on the things that are holding them back.
“I can tell you right now it will be a very, very hard week, and will be full of very intensive sessions,” Bucha said of what he expects the next week to be like. “I think everybody in the locker room feels that it's not enough, we have to work even harder.”
“We certainly have time to work on some things,” Noonan added, almost mysteriously.
FC Cincinnati host Nashville SC in their match up, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. on September 13 at TQL Stadium. The last time The Orange and Blue went into an international break on a down swing, losing to D.C. United at the end of May, they came out of it in a totally new way and won six of their next seven. If they can do that again, or replicate it in any way, everything is still on the table for this team.
