On a perfect summer evening in the Queen City, with a warm sun and cool breeze to dress the occasion, FC Cincinnati sent their fans home celebrating with a 3-1 victory over historic English side Burnley FC in their first summer friendly of the season.
With MLS play returning shortly, the tune-up match between The Orange and Blue and the club from Turf Moor played out as hoped for on Friday night at TQL Stadium, as FC Cincinnati hung with a club with over a century’s worth of history and a pedigree of success at the highest levels of global soccer.
“There were a lot of positives…pleased with the overall performance,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said after the match. “The conditions made it challenging at times just for intensity, but that's natural…and under the circumstances, I thought there were a lot of good actions, some good goals, a variety of play and being able to play direct with some good interchanges.”
Kévin Denkey opened the scoring in the first half to give FC Cincinnati the lead, finishing off a brilliant pass from Evander to get the TQL Stadium crowd on its feet. Burnley responded before halftime to level the score, but in the later stages of the game Moroccan forward Ayoub Jabbari sealed the match for FCC with a header past the keeper in the 74’.
Then, as the cherry on top, Ayoub Jabbari made another major contribution. In stoppage time, the forward sprinted to meet a long pass into the box, won the ball and was tripped up by a Burnley defender. The ref pointed to the spot and awarded FCC a penalty kick.
Tom Barlow was the planned taker for the occasion, but in a moment of selflessness, Barlow handed the opportunity to Kristian Fletcher, who stepped up and delivered to secure the 3-1 lead and the victory.
“The first challenge was our approach in having good habits. It doesn't count in the league standings or any cup competition, so, how do you have the right approach to the game? And I thought that was a positive,” Noonan said of the important aspects he took away from the performance. “The next challenge was ‘what does the opponent look like?’ Because we didn't do a lot of scouting on the unknown, we tried to focus on us. So it was who could identify their structures? Where was the space going to be with the ball? How were we going to defend and press? And I thought, with the ball, it was solid. So, that was the biggest challenge.
“But then also in that hydration break, it was ‘let's have a conversation and see what they're feeling, what they're thinking, how can they problem solve instead of being told.’ That was a little bit of the exercise, too. At halftime, we just kind of made the adjustment of what we wanted it to look like for the beginning of the half and the remainder of the game. Those are the two biggest challenges for me, and then it’s ‘go perform.’ Which, I thought a lot of guys did.”
The de facto preseason matchup served as an important measuring-stick opportunity for both sides as they prepare for the start of their respective seasons. Burnley, in their actual offseason, prepares for the start of the EFL Championship, and FC Cincinnati for the second half of the MLS season.
“It was a good exercise for everybody. I know they're just starting up, so this is their first 45 minutes and they're not used to conditions like this…but you're playing a strong opponent, and if you don't have the ability to do things successfully, it could be a hard night,” Noonan said. “There are a lot of dynamic players in the group that caused us problems, and so that's still important to perform well against a strong team and not have excuses of where they're at, where we're at. Just go perform.”
While it was a competitive and exciting match for both sides, it certainly had its quirks that reminded everyone of the friendly nature of the fixture. For example, in the 60’, FC Cincinnati executed a line change by subbing out the 10 outfield players who started the match for a fresh group of 10 to close it. That group saw out the game with some well-organized play and earned FCC the win in the friendly.
Burnley FC was also kicking off their preseason competition schedule with this match, and was at a completely different phase of the year than FCC was. So late in the match, in conditions that Burnley coach Mike Jackson described as “completely foreign,” to them, the English side used as many as eight young or academy players at once.
But still, with all mitigating factors accounted for, the performance and result on Friday night were good and important. International friendly opportunities like this are rare, and in a limited opportunity to play these kinds of matches, being able to go and perform in them is important. Even more so, as it was an opportunity to give the FC Cincinnati faithful who attended the match a glimpse of the success the team hopes to achieve as it closes out the year.
Burnley FC Head Coach Mike Jackson commented after the game that, typically, in their preseason calendar and planning, they don’t have competitive games like this on the books. They don’t have the intensity and the quality that was on display at TQL Stadium Friday night in their first few weeks of preseason activities. FC Cincinnati doesn’t either; typically, these games have been played on open fields in Florida in January.
But on this night, Cincy got a treat, and that’s something Pat Noonan says he enjoyed.
“The goal was progress from the couple weeks that we've had together now, and appreciating a different type of moment where we're not playing another league team and you have a lot of uncertainty,” Noonan shared. “These types of games are enjoyable from the standpoint of problem-solving and people. I'm sure some of our guys, myself included, you look to the other sideline, and there are familiar faces that you're watching in the Premier League last year. It is unique and it's good competition for sure. I enjoyed it.”
FC Cincinnati is back in action next Wednesday, July 15, for their final friendly of the summer season, hosting a closed-door match against CD Olimpia of Honduras as the final tune-up of the summer before kicking off the Major League Soccer schedule once again on July 22 when the Vancouver Whitecaps come to town.
Until then, enjoy the rarity of this moment. FC Cincinnati took on one of the oldest clubs in England and won. That doesn’t just happen every day.
