BRONX, N.Y. – The Orange and Blue recorded a pair of goals, but were unable to match the offensive output of the hosts as New York City FC claimed a 5-2 win over FC Cincinnati on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.
FC Cincinnati (3-11-2, 11 pts.) conceded twice within the first 20 minutes of the match, as NYCFC (5-1-8, 23 pts.) forwards Alexandru Mitrita and Héber provided the home side a fast start. Ismael Tajouri-Shradi extended the lead to three just prior to the half-hour mark. The Orange and Blue, however, were able to get a goal back, as Héber scored an own goal in the 37th minute.
Héber completed his brace just minutes after the start of the second half to restore NYCFC’s three-goal lead, but a second own goal in the 76th minute gave FCC their second tally of the night. Maxi Moralez added a fifth and final goal for the home team in the dying minutes of the game.
FCC’s Nick Hagglund made his 100th MLS regular-season appearance in tonight’s match. The Cincinnati native has started and played all 90 minutes in 12 of FCC’s 16 matches.
FCC return to Nippert Stadium on Wednesday, June 12, when the team hosts USL Championship side Louisville City FC in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be streamed nationally on ESPN+. Tickets are specially priced to the club’s 2018 pricing levels as a throw-back with a USL opponent coming back to Cincinnati. Tickets for the game are on sale to the general public at fccincinnati.com/tickets or by calling 513-977-5425 (KICK).
The team’s next MLS regular-season home game is against the LA Galaxy on Saturday, June 22. Pick-Six mini plans, and individual-game tickets and group options are on sale for all remaining games.
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.
New York City FC 5, FC Cincinnati 2
Yankee Stadium | Bronx, N.Y.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
SCORING SUMMARY
NYC – Alexandru Mitrita (Maxi Moralez) 11’
NYC – Héber (Anton Tinnerholm, Maxi Moralez) 17’
NYC – Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (Anton Tinnerholm) 29’
CIN – Héber (own goal) 37’
NYC – Héber (Maxi Moralez) 49’
CIN – Sebastien Ibeagha (own goal) 76’
NYC – Maxi Moralez (Valentín Castellanos) 90’
FC Cincinnati: Spencer Richey, Mathieu Deplagne, Nick Hagglund, Forrest Lasso, Justin Hoyte ©, Caleb Stanko, Victor Ulloa (Leonardo Bertone HT), Corben Bone (Frankie Amaya 56’), Roland Lamah (Kekuta Manneh 60’), Emmanuel Ledesma, Fanendo Adi
Bench: Przemysław Tytoń, Tommy McCabe, Eric Alexander, Rashawn Dally,
Stats: Shots 15, Shots on goal 4, Saves 4, Corner kicks 4, Offsides 3, Fouls 4, Possession 39.8%, Passes 363 (74.4%)
New York City FC: Brad Stuver, Maxime Chanot, Tony Rocha, James Sands (Sebastien Ibeagha 57’), Alexander Ring ©, Alexandru Mitrita (Justin Haak 86’), Valentin Castellanos, Anton Tinnerholm, Maxi Moralez, Héber, Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (Keaton Parks 63’)
Bench: Luis Barraza, Juan Torres, Daniel Bedoya, Jesus Medina
Stats: Shots 20, Shots on goal 9, Saves 4, Corner kicks 5, Offsides 2, Fouls 12, Possession 60.2%, Passes 582 (85.4%)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
NYC – Maxi Moralez (caution) 45’+1’
CIN – Forrest Lasso (caution) 71’
CIN – Mathieu Deplagne (caution) 83’
CIN – Nick Hagglund (caution) 88’
NYC – Keaton Parks (caution) 89’
CIN – Justin Hoyte (caution) 90+4’
Referee: Allen Chapman
Assistant Referees: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho, Benjamin Hall-Volpenhein
4th Official: Robert Sibiga
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
Weather: 81 degrees and cloudy
Attendance: 18,597
HOW IT HAPPENED
- 5’ | After Corben Bone intercepted a pass as New York City FC attempted to pass out of their own defensive half, Bone sent a through ball catching Roland Lamah in stride. Lamah dribbled through the 18-yard box and took a shot, which was denied by NYCFC goalkeeper Brad Stuver, who had to come out of his line.
- 8’ | From the edge of New York City FC’s offensive third, Ismael Tajouri-Shradi chipped in a cross towards the penalty spot to Maxi Moralez. Moralez controlled the pass with his chest but was unable to put power under his shot, letting Spencer Richey to comfortably make a save.
- 11’ | NYC GOAL – Following a stretch of buildup play from the left flank, Alexandru Mitrita attempted to slip a ball into FCC’s 18-yard box, but Nick Hagglund was able to deflect the attempt. The loose ball fell to the feet of Moralez, who played a low cross to an oncoming Mitrita, who slotted the ball home inside the six-yard box.
- 17’ | NYC GOAL – Moralez dribbled the ball from the left flank through the outside of the penalty box and split Cincinnati’s defense with a through ball, finding Anton Tinnerholm in the right side of the box. After taking a touch on the ball, Tinnerholm’s cross connected with an incoming Héber for the home team’s second goal of the night.
- 19’ | A pressing Emmanuel Ledesma was able to pressure Tinnerholm into an interception just to the left of the penalty area. Ledesma sent a cross in to the head of Fanendo Adi, but the forward’s header went wide right of the net.
- 20’ | NYCFC broke forward with numbers, which led Héber to lay off a pass to Tajouri-Shradi on the edge of NYCFC’s attacking third. Tajouri-Shradi attempted a left-footed shot from nearly 30 yards out, but his effort went just wide of the net.
- 29’ | NYC GOAL – Héber played the ball over to Tinnerholm out wide. As he approached the byline, Tinnerholm cut a pass back to Tajouri-Shradi. The midfielder snuck a shot on the inside of the near post to extend NYCFC’s lead to three.
- 37’ | CIN GOAL – Mathieu Deplagne won a free kick after being fouled by Moralez on the right flank. Stuver misjudged Ledesma’s cross and could not redirect the ball, resulting in Héber heading the ball into his own goal.
- 49’ | NYC GOAL – Mitrita passed the ball to Moralez in the edge of their offensive third. Moralez lofted a cross to Héber, who gained control with his chest and calmly tucked the ball inside the right post.
- 76’ | CIN GOAL – Frankie Amaya passed the ball back to Leonardo Bertone, who returned it to Amaya. The midfielder found separation from NYCFC with his first touch and ripped a shot as Stuver came out of his line. The shot was saved by Stuver but found its way into the back of the goal after it bounced off New York City’s Sebastien Ibeagha.
- 90’ | NYC GOAL – Valentín Castellanos chased a long cross to reach the ball before it crossed the byline. After a series of passes inside the 18-yard box, Castellanos set up Moralez, who curled his shot into the lower right corner of the goal.
GAME NOTES
- With tonight’s loss, the Orange and Blue fall to 3-11-2 through 16 MLS matches … in addition, FC Cincinnati fall to 1-8-1 in road contests … FC Cincinnati’s all-time record against New York City FC sits at 0-1-0 after finishing their first ever meeting… Cincinnati is now 2-6-1 against Eastern Conference opponents
- FCC fall to 0-2-0 in midweek matches this season … the Orange and Blue will play two additional midweek matches this season: against D.C. United on Thursday, July 18 and against Atlanta United on Wednesday, September 18
- Interim Head Coach Yoann Damet made three changes to the starting lineup from FC Cincinnati’s most recent match against the Colorado Rapids on June 1 … Forrest Lasso (CB), Corben Bone (CM), and Emmanuel Ledesma (LM) shifted into the starting lineup, while Alvas Powell, Frankie Amaya, and Allan Cruz were dropped.
- Nick Hagglund made his 100th MLS appearance in tonight’s match … the Cincinnati native has made 12 appearances for the Orange and Blue… Darren Mattocks will make his 175th MLS appearance the next time he takes the pitch
- FC Cincinnati benefitted from an own goal for the first time as an MLS club when Héber headed the ball into his own net in the 37th minute ... tonight’s contest marked the first time either team recorded an own goal in an FC Cincinnati match this season
- Corben Bone made his first start for the Orange and Blue since FCC’s first game of the year at Seattle on March 2 … prior to tonight’s match, Bone most recently played 30 minutes as a second-half substitute at Colorado on June 1
- Leonardo Bertone made his first appearance for the Orange and Blue since he started and played 90 minutes against Montreal on May 11 … the Swiss midfielder replaced Victor Ulloa at the start of the second half … Bertone had missed each of the previous three matches while working his way back from a hamstring injury
- Darren Mattocks, Alvas Powell, Kendall Waston and Allan Cruz were unavailable for selection as they are currently with their respective national teams ahead of the Concacaf Gold Cup
- Tommy McCabe made the 18-man matchday roster the first time this season … the 2019 MLS SuperDraft pick was recalled from his loan to North Carolina FC on May 29
- Jimmy McLaughlin (knee), Greg Garza (calf) and Kenny Saief (hamstring) were unavailable for selection this evening because of injury
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Interim Head Coach Yoann Damet
On any positives on the game
“It is tough to get anything from the game when we forget to play in the first half. I can say as much as I want that we are improving, when it is fair. Tonight, I didn’t think that we played in the first half. We didn’t come out with the right mentality to start the game and I think we got punished. So, it could’ve been more after 45 minutes. The reaction in the second half was a bit better, but it was too late for us to get back into the game and get something out of it.”
On the biggest challenge the team faces
“We have to face these types of situations, where we go down very early in the game. We need to deal with it. It’s on us. Again, we need to do a better job defensively. We need to do a better job, like in terms of our defensive shape, and if we don’t concede that goal we are in the game and we can create and we can try to play. But, when you forget to defend in the first half and you have three goals to get back in, it’s difficult. We need to focus on the shape, on working together, bringing the right intensity and making sure we are all on the right page defensively to allow ourselves to try to get something out of the game.”
On message to the team
“We got to keep our heads up. We cannot go down mentally. We have to reflect. We have to assess the game. For sure, we have to address a lot of things tonight that we are all not happy about, but we have to move forward. There is the (U.S. Open Cup) coming at home. We hope this is going to help us also to change our minds, but we have to focus on us like I have been saying for the past weeks. ”
On tonight’s plan
“The plan was to defend differently, in terms of the system, 4-4-2 to be more narrow, have less space in between the lines, and we didn’t respect the plan for the first half. I think we shot ourselves in the foot when we opened up that much in between our midfielder and our winger. When we give up too much space in between our lines, it didn’t work our way for the first 45 minutes. It was a bit better in the second half, but it is not good enough. ”
On FC Cincinnati’s substitutions
“We needed to have the ball more in the midfield, to have more movements, to want the ball more. So that’s why we had to do the sub. Corben (Bone) is not fit enough for now. He was cramping in the beginning of the second half, so we have to put Frankie (Amaya) in. For Kekuta (Manneh), with (Roland) Lamah’s injury, we had to make a switch.”
FC Cincinnati Forward Fanendo Adi
On FCC’s current situation
“We are in a very difficult situation. I can’t really explain it. The stretch is just unbelievable for us. We knew coming here was going to be a tough place to play, but giving up five goals, there’s no excuse. Starting from me to everybody, (we have to show) the fans, the club and everybody, we have to do better than we did.”
On what the team must do next
“It’s very hard, it’s very hard. We’ve got some players out because of national team duties. But even when they were around, we weren’t doing very well. We just need to look at ourselves and try to do better because we are in a very tough stretch. As I said, starting from myself to the goalkeeper, none of us have been able to help the team. All of us need to try and take the responsibility and try to do better. We just have to keep going. It’s going to be tough. We have said that that. But that’s no excuse. We just have to do what we want to make things right.”
FC Cincinnati Defender Nick Hagglund
What changes need to be made
“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what needs to happen. We have to be stingy defensively. We can’t give up goals. Once we go down, it makes it really difficult for us. So, try and keep a clean sheet as long as possible and hopefully we can get opportunities and begin to score more goals. It’s that simple.”
On what message he would give to the team
“We have to pick our heads up. It’s about learning every game and trying to get better. It’s frustrating and we need to look ourselves in the face, look at what our effort’s like and look at what we’re doing. The only answers are in the locker room, so we have to figure it out.”
On 100 MLS regular-season appearances
“I’m just really blessed to be able to play this sport as my job. To get to do it 100 times with a bunch of different guys has been really a blessing and I’m thankful that I’ve had the opportunity.”
