FC Cincinnati (2-5-3, 9 pts.) held their opponent scoreless for a fifth consecutive half when the two sides went into halftime without a goal. Columbus Crew SC (7-1-2, 23 pts.) opened the scoring in the 52nd minute when Pedro Santos connected on Luis Diaz’s low cross from inside the penalty area. Crew SC went on to add a pair of second-half goals from Gyasi Zardes.
Defender Kendall Waston made his 150th career MLS appearance in tonight’s contest. FCC’s captain has now made 35 career regular-season appearances with the Orange and Blue.
FC Cincinnati will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 12, when the team travels to Red Bull Arena to play New York City FC. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on WSTR 64, carried on the radio on WDJO (99.5 FM, 107.9 FM and 1480 AM), streamed regionally on fccincinnati.com/stream, out of market on ESPN+, while an audio stream will be available at TuneIn (WDJO) and fccincinnati.com.
For up-to-the-minute information about FC Cincinnati, visit the team’s official website at fccincinnati.com, or follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FCCincinnati. Additionally, fans are encouraged to download the team’s official mobile app on the Apple App Store or Google Play for instant access to mobile tickets, team content and match notifications.
Information about seating options at the club’s state-of-the-art West End Stadium – which will open in Spring 2021 – is now available at westendstadium.com. The priority deadline for premium seating deposits has passed, and deposits for traditional reserved seating will open later this month. For more information about 2021 season memberships, visit westendstadium.com or the stadium’s social properties on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at @WestEndStadium, or by calling the team’s sales and service staff at 513-977-5425.
Columbus Crew SC 3, FC Cincinnati 0
MAPFRE Stadium | Columbus, Ohio
September 6, 2020
SCORING SUMMARY
CLB – Pedro Santos (Luis Díaz) 52’
CLB – Gyasi Zardes (Pedro Santos) 64’
CLB – Gyasi Zardes (Harrison Afful) 71’
FC Cincinnati: Przemysław Tytoń, Mathieu Deplagne, Kendall Waston ©, Maikel van der Werff (Tom Pettersson 75’), Greg Garza (Andrew Gutman 59’), Frankie Amaya, Yuya Kubo (Haris Medunjanin 58’), Siem de Jong (Brandon Vazquez 75’), Joseph-Claude Gyau, Adrien Regattin, Jürgen Locadia
Bench: Bobby Edwards, Spencer Richey, Zico Bailey, Caleb Stanko
Stats: Shots 7, Shots on goal 0, Saves 3, Corner kicks 1, Offsides 0, Fouls 17, Possession 40.8%, Passes 393 (84.7%)
Columbus Crew SC: Eloy Room, Josh Williams, Jonathan Mensah ©, Milton Valenzuela, Harrison Afful, Darlington Nagbe, Pedro Santos, Artur (Derrick Etienne Jr. 75’), Fatai Alashe (Sebastian Berhalter 80’), Youness Mokhtar (Luis Diaz HT), Fanendo Adi (Gyasi Zardes 62’)
Bench: Andrew Tarbell, Chris Cadden, Hector Jimenez, Emmanuel Boateng, Aboubacar Keita
Stats: Shots 18, Shots on goal 6, Saves 0, Corner kicks 6, Offsides 1, Fouls 13, Possession 59.2%, Passes 564 (90.3%)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
CIN – Frankie Amaya (caution) 39’
CIN – Maikel van der Werff (caution) 70’
CLB – Gyasi Zardes (caution) 82’
CIN – Kendall Waston (caution) 90’
Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr.
Assistant Referees: Brian Dunn, Gjovalin Bori
4th Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr.
AVAR: Kevin Klinger
Weather: 75 degrees and cloudy
Attendance: 1,500
GAME NOTES
- With tonight’s loss, the Orange and Blue are now 2-5-3 through 10 MLS matches … FCC are now 0-4-0 in matches played in road venues … FC Cincinnati’s all-time, all-competition record against Columbus Crew SC moves to 1-3-2 … The Orange and Blue are now 2-5-3 against Eastern Conference opponents this season
- FC Cincinnati extended the longest scoreless streak recorded in MLS this season … FCC have played 484 consecutive minutes in MLS regular-season matches without scoring a goal … last season, FCC went 528 minutes without scoring a goal, the sixth-longest streak in MLS history
- FCC extended their shutout streak to 255 minutes before conceding a goal in the 52nd minute … it was FC Cincinnati’s second streak of at least 250 minutes without conceding a goal … the Orange and Blue went 302 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal from July 16 through Aug. 21
- Kendall Waston made his 150th career MLS appearance in tonight’s match … FC Cincinnati’s captain has made 10 appearances, all starts, for the Orange and Blue this season and has twice been named to the MLS Team of the Week … 35 of Waston’s 150 regular-season appearances have come with FC Cincinnati
- After picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 39th minute, Frankie Amaya will be unavailable for selection in FCC’s match against New York City FC on Sept. 12 due to yellow-card accumulation … Amaya is FC Cincinnati’s first player to be unavailable for a match this season because of yellow-card accumulation
- Head coach Jaap Stam made one change to the starting lineup from the club’s most recent match against Chicago Fire FC on Sept. 2 … Yuya Kubo replaced Haris Medunjanin
- Saad Abdul-Salaam, Allan Cruz, Nick Hagglund and Jimmy McLaughlin were excluded from the matchday roster because of injuries
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati head coach Jaap Stam
On tonight’s match
“You try to recap everything, you know? Both goals happen with something that I think we could’ve prevented. The first goal by not controlling ourselves. Losing it and then getting into it, a battle, and you don’t win it. Then (Luis) Diaz on the right, on a one-v-one, which we couldn’t contain. He crosses it and then they score. The second one, we have a free kick ourselves. We’ve given it away too quick. We’re not organized. We lose it on the break. They're out. I think we’re trying to shield it. I don’t know what happened over there. Then we are losing it again and they bring it back in and then it's two-nil down. We know it is a difficult game, but if we are giving away goals that easy, then we make it very difficult to get back into the game. After that, they get confidence to play. We try to change something in the system as well, try to push forward a little bit. Try to get more control, but that didn’t help. We couldn’t bring in the second half what we did in the first one. That also has to do with the disappointment of conceding those goals.”
On how the team has managed the five games in 16 days
“It’s a lot of games, and it is hard. We are asking a lot from the players. The players are tired as well. You don’t want to have that as an excuse. We just have to deal with it. In certain situations, I think we can do better.”
On the team’s response after conceding the first goal
“You’re asking a little bit more from the team after it. We changed it and went with 4-3-3, you’ve seen it in previous games as well. If you do that, hopefully, you have more bodies going forward as well, but you’re leaving more spaces as well. The thing is, after conceding you need to have resilience. You want to show that as a team, the players as well, and not be disappointed in what happened. I don’t think we had that enough in the second half. You make it easy for them and very difficult for yourself. That was a shame. You're always hoping for that next step. I thought in the first half we did well in doing that, but in second half, after conceding, we weren’t there in where we needed to be.
FC Cincinnati midfielder Siem de Jong
On tonight’s result
“Well, I think it started off alright. I think, of course, we knew they were going to come a lot, but I think in the first half we had opportunities to break out as well. I think we created a few opportunities … I think it went up and down and the end of the first off, I think we started losing grip a little bit. They were coming more in the box, they had a few crosses that were dangerous. We had a few good blocks, but I think in the second half, eventually one of those crosses found the target and then they open the score. I think after that, we had to change our plan a little bit. Then, we open up a bit more space for them and eventually they made it bigger.”
On the team’s response after conceding the first goal
“We were dropping in a bit too deep, I think. That's what I said, they were coming closer and closer and after their goal, I think we tried to get out a bit more, but I think our response was not good. I think we sort of let it slip a bit after that, I think we weren't aggressive enough. I think we weren't pressing forward enough and I think we were opening up the gaps, more because we were trying to go forward a bit more, but not really doing it good as a team. I think that opened up space, and of course, goals.”
On the team’s ability to create chances
“I think in the game before, we created the chances. I think we should have scored in that game. I think that was one of those games where I think our tactic turned out well, and we created quite a few chances, big chances as well. I think that came down to execution. I think today, we weren't creating those chances. I think we were too deep at times. Although the first half, I think we should have -- if we had a little bit more composure -- we could have created a few chances. I think we had like a few opportunities, but not enough today. I think that was a difference between last game and today. I think we need to build forward on last game, going a bit more forward as a team. What I said, that came down to execution and today it was more about creating those chances and I think we didn't do that well today.
FC Cincinnati defender Kendall Waston
On tonight’s result
“Well, it was difficult. First half, especially, I think we did really good. Second half, after their first goal, I think we were chasing the game, and we didn’t have many opportunities to come back or to make the equalizer. So, it was difficult. It was those types of games that little details cause the game, and like I said, it was a really difficult one today.”
On not having a midweek game this week
“Well, I think it gives us more chance to prepare our bodies, our mindset for this game. I think having more time, the coaches can also make different types of things to recover ourselves and to prepare the game. I think it is going to help us, hopefully. Also, we are not machines. All of this week, a lot of games every four, five days. It is a little bit fatigue, but it is not any excuse for today’s game.”
On Columbus Crew SC’s first goal
“It is a type of cross. A really dangerous one because the defenders, the goalkeeper and anyone can touch it and it goes on goal. I was watching the replay and we were tight with our men, but at the same time, we didn’t cover the spaces well. For example, in my case, I could’ve been one step inside to cut the trajectory of the ball, but it was a great cross from them.”
