CINCINNATI – Pat Noonan was looking to open their third playing of Leagues Cup with a strong performance and to see progress in his team. The squad, winners of six of their last eight and owners of a three game clean sheet streak, has seen improvement in each of their matches over the last two months and with MLS league play pausing for this cup competition, the FCC Head Coach wanted to make sure that positive momentum was building.
So if the check list was A.) performance and B.) progress. It was an emphatic check and check for The Orange and Blue.
FC Cincinnati took down CF Monterrey 3-2 in their opening match of Leagues Cup, earning all three points and joining four other MLS teams to win their first game in the tournament. Evander led the way, scoring the opening goal and then assisting the final two – capitalizing on the Rayados defensive lines depth and picking out running teammates twice to give his side the victory.
With the new format to the Leagues Cup pitting MLS teams against Liga MX teams, but each in their individual league table, a victory in the opening round of the tournament was vital. Then, stacking emphasis with an opponent like CF Monterrey – one of the best teams in North America and an entrant in this summer's FIFA Club World Cup – getting a result not only represented a good victory, but a reminder of what FCC can do when they come together as a team.
“Winning was the priority, and the guys did a good job of that,” Pat Noonan said to open his press conference after the match. “We just beat a really strong team…a lot stood out. I think up until we conceded the goal, our first half was as good as we've seen.
“I thought both sides of the ball were really strong. Just a disciplined effort of, ‘okay, this is the threat that you're up against. How do you find ways to play under pressure?’ Which I think we did a really good job of. How do you defend against a team that all over the field can make passes, can make plays...and having the right patience at the right time, the right pressing at the right time. And I just think the first 45 was really strong.
FC Cincinnati took the lead early when Gerardo “Dado” Valenzuela toed a pass to Evander, who then took a single touch to both beat the first defender and get closer to goal before blasting home an open look on a helpless keeper to make it 1-0. Given where he was in proximity to the goal, a simpler shot may have done the job, but for good measure he made sure to give his shot all the power he could to secure the opening goal.
“I was happy to get that goal and hit it with enough power to get it in,” Evander said from the mixed zone, giving a little laugh when calling it enough. “I was just trying to hit the goal, and I was close to goal, but (the goalkeeper) could slide either way.”
The defense continued on in the first half but conceded just before half on, really, the only moment CF Monterrey had. Sergio Canales found a brief window of space along the top of the box and sent a shot towards goal, but into traffic. In an unlucky sequence of events, Brian Anunga made the first block attempt, slightly deflecting the shot, and then Matt Miazga was in line for a second block but appeared to only be able to get a hip to it. The ball changed course and Evan Louro, making his second start of the season, tried to react quickly to go back and make the save but had already moved and was too far out to make the save.
After heading to the locker room and coming back out with a renewed vision, the team burst back out and took the lead and never looked back. CF Monterrey did find a second goal in added time, but FC Cincinnati saw out the win and closed things down in a professional way.
“For long stretches we controlled some of their dangers, some of their threats, to not have to defend the box in ways that cause too much stress on our guys,” Pat Noonan said of the defensive performance. “We still conceded two goals. But, you look at those and try to understand how to get those moments right. But that's progress from what we've been doing.”
“It didn't feel like we were going to concede two goals. But, that speaks to just how small the margins are when you miss a moment,” Noonan continued. “You're not going to keep clean sheets every game and you have to win games in different ways, which tonight we got the goals we needed to get the result.
“To be able to have a performance like that against an elite opponent is a credit to the guys in the preparation and then going out and being able to perform. We had to be very specific about the pressure. We got to the ball, we couldn't have one player out of position, or one player consistently pressing through to the goalkeeper because they could play through that. And so I think we got a lot of those moments right.”
The assists by Evander also continued a trend of FC Cincinnati’s star player rising to the moment and both him finding creative ways to play off his teammate, and his teammates finding creative ways to play off of him.
Both goals scored, the first by Luca Orellano that after a lengthy VAR review was rewarded as a goal for being onside by perhaps less than a blink of an eye, was a spitting image of a goal the two combined for in Montreal a few months earlier. The second was a similar play where Evander picked out Pavel Bucha, who took a strong shot and beat the keeper.
Both plays put Evander in a situation where he was able to read the defensive line, and coordinate a pass/run to his teammate to put them alone on goal.
“It's kind of automatic,” Evander explained of the growing relationship with his teammates, highlighting the Orellano goal first. “We did this against Montréal. We knew that (Monterrey) kind of stopped their defensive line on top of the box, so when Luca comes inside, I know he wants this give-and-go. I knew he was going to run, so I was just lucky to get the timing right.”
“We've seen Evander understand how to take over in a moment to be the difference maker,” Noonan said of Evander, highlighting the combination of gameplanning and Evander’s special talent in a game. “His recognition of the run, the line, the space behind him and putting the ball where it needs to be for his teammates is again, what separates him… a really talented player feeling out the game and feeling out the moment.”
FC Cincinnati now look forward to their next match of Phase One, a date with FC Juarez on Sunday at TQL Stadium. With the new format to the tournament, every match matters to the overall table, meaning every game is valuable and could be the difference maker. The win on Thursday night puts FCC in a good spot as at the time of the match finishing FC Cincinnati was only one of five teams to win their opening match, but to be one of the four teams to advance, FC Cincinnati have to continue to get results.
A point of focus Pat Noonan made sure to highlight in his post game remarks, and point towards the club's approach moving forward.
“It just makes it harder to get to the quarterfinals. If you miss a performance and you don't have a strong night, that could be the difference of advancing or not,” Noonan said of stakes implied by the new format. “So like I said, we try to take it one game at a time and not think about what Sunday looks like, because we knew tonight was going to be very difficult. So, I'm pleased with the position we're in after one game, and we have to go and play in a similar fashion if we want to see ourselves into the third game where we know what result we need to get to advance.”
FC Cincinnati got a marquee win Thursday night, but if they want to win the 2025 Leagues Cup, the job is far from finished.
