FC Cincinnati came into Wednesday night's match fresh and ready for what represented a big opportunity. They were going on the road looking to improve on a painful road record, and had an opportunity to beat one of the hottest teams in MLS and a playoff contender in the process.
They left Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania quiet and dazed. They travelled back to Cincinnati not with the win they hoped for when they departed Tuesday afternoon but with a painful 5-0 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Union with lasting ramifications for future matches in the process.
The Orange and Blue fell to 8-8-7 on the season on Wednesday night, and 1-6-5 on the road.
But perhaps worst of all, in an already rotten, completely irredeemable night, FC Cincinnati left with more questions than they had entering the night, and very few, if any, answers.
“Yeah another instance where we can't get out of our own way with discipline in how the game looks. So, bad night, and we'll see how we respond from this,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said postgame Wednesday night. “The mentality could be a lot better. Our last two performances show that, so I don't put it on just players.
“This is a collective concern."
The die was cast early in the match on Wednesday night, when FC Cincinnati midfielder Obinna Nwobodo came together on a challenge with Philly defender Frankie Westfield just a step outside the home side's box in the 12’.
Up until that point, it was a perfectly innocuous game with each side feeling out the other and really no narrative to build on quite yet.
That ended in a hurry.
In a reckless moment, Nwobodo clipped the young Philly defender and was assessed a yellow card for the offense. But, a few minutes later, while the player was being attended to by Union medical staff, the center referee was called over to the VAR monitor to give the play a second look.
It was decided that Nwobodo’s yellow card foul, a foul that would have already suspended him for the next game due to accumulation and would alter how he could play in this game, was actually worthy of a red card. So after a very quick review, the official returned to the field to give Nwobodo a red card in the 16’; sending him off and forcing The Orange and Blue to play with 10 men for the remainder of the match.
FC Cincinnati players protested the call with great fervor, but the call was made and final. Nwobodo was heading to the locker room and FCC would have to find a way to earn points now with what chess players would call a “material disadvantage” and without one of their key defenders in the midfield.
The Orange and Blue stabilized after that, but had to play conservatively in order to get the game to within a semblance of control. They were down a man, but they were still tied and could hope to squeeze out a result. There was, in those brief moments, a reason for optimism – even if only a flickering glimmer of one. But FCC had defended well and kept the game competitive.
“I thought, actually, for the remainder of the half we actually defended in a good way up until the penalty,” Noonan said. “I thought they did a decent job, and we wanted to see the stretch where when Obi was off, what the game looked like, and we could have made a couple early decisions but I felt like the group from the 15th minute, whatever the red card was, until the penalty was actually defending in a pretty good way.”
Before half though, things went sour, and then quickly it went from bad to worse. Then the game was nearly out of control entirely by the time the two sides went back to the locker room.
In the 42’, after a Philly corner kick was delayed while VAR checked for a handball – but ultimately decided to play on with no infraction given – the ensuing set piece resulted in Evander fouling a Philadelphia attacker inside the box. The ref pointed to the spot, awarded the Union a penalty kick, and assessed Evander a yellow card.
The Union would convert the PK and take a 1-0 lead, but the yellow card, like the red earlier in the match, would have ramifications that would go beyond this match. Evander’s yellow card was his fifth of the season meaning he, like Nwobodo, will be suspended for FC Cincinnati’s next match – which is Saturday night at home against Charlotte FC.
So, with three minutes left in the half, FC Cincinnati was not only down a goal, but down a man for the remainder of the night AND down two men for their next match.
And there was still 9’ of stoppage time to go before the end of the first half.
One minute into that stoppage time, Philadelphia doubled their lead.
Four minutes after the match resumed for the second half, they added a third.
12 minutes later, they added a fourth.
They added a fifth in the 88’ minute before, mercifully, the ref blew his whistle.
FC Cincinnati were sent back to Ohio battered, bruised, beaten and demoralized. They were smacked around Subaru Park for 90 minutes and it was more than a night to forget. It was, to put it politely, the kind of night to burn the tape of, a night to destroy the evidence and make a blood pact amongst you and your kin to never speak of again.
But The Orange and Blue, quite frankly, do not have that luxury.
So whether they watch the tape back, or simply choose to move on quickly and reset ahead of their next match, Noonan feels like watching the tape may not be what’s most important to whatever they do next. There are bigger, more existential questions and conversations to be had.
“You can look at it, you can not look at it. I think there's bigger issues than just looking at video and solving problems,” Noonan explained. “You can always take things from matches, because it's the circumstances. So how do you defend down a man for 75 minutes? That's something you can take away from it. How do guys respond when things don't go your way, our way? So you watch how they play the game, you watch how they come together, and what kind of energy and belief they have. You look for those things.”
With the loss, FC Cincinnati now sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and are only two points above the playoff line with 11 matches to play. To this point, FCC have spoken about their goal being a top four spot in the East to guarantee them home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
At this rate, they are going to have to fight tooth and nail to secure a place in the playoffs, let alone concerning themselves with seeding.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, that (won’t) do us any good…we lost tonight, and yea it hurts the way we did, but there's no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to come together and improve,” Evander said postgame. “ We have to try to do the best we can to get better for Saturday…we need to turn it around and switch our mind to the next game.”
FC Cincinnati is back in action on Saturday night at TQL Stadium, hosting Charlotte FC in another match with serious playoff implications. In that game, The Orange and Blue stand at a crossroads with an opportunity still to define their season. Do they find a way to bounce back and redeem themselves, or do they continue to sink like Artax.
Until then, they return to Cincinnati trying to improve, and whatever comes next, will be defined by themselves.
