As expected, FC Cincinnati defeat FC Montreal.
The crowd was a reasonable 14,267 especially considering that the US Men’s National Team was playing at the exact same time in COPA America Centenario and temperatures in the high 80’s prompted water breaks in each half. The game surprisingly did not get extremely physical and the only caution issued was against FC Cincinnati Kenny Walker in the 25th minute.
The Orange and Blue had most of the possession in the first half and patiently moved the ball side to side probing for opportunities. Montreal seemed content to “park the bus” with two solid lines of 4 in front of goal. They countered with balls over the top but never even forced Mitch to make a save.
In the 34th minute, a nice cross into the box connected with Okoli and he was promptly chopped down from behind. The ref pointed to the spot and Okoli calmly buried the ball low and to the left, just out of the reach of the Montreal keeper who had guessed properly.
Sean Okoli gets tackled in the box, then converts on the penalty kick to give FCC 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/fmWYoWc4GB
— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) June 11, 2016
In the second half, FC Cincinnati came out aggressively and quickly tallied a second goal in the 48th minute. Stevenson brought a ball up the left side and played a picture perfect cross directly to Okoli’s feet and he finished with precision.
REPLAY: @AskAboutUgo volleys home an @eric_stevenson cross in the 48th minute. #FCCincy up 2-0! #CINvMTL pic.twitter.com/YU6OL95IEV
— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) June 12, 2016
Buoyed by the brace, Okoli seemed destined to bring home a hat trick but slowly, Montreal gained their feet and started to press.
In the 63rd minute, Mitch was finally tested for his first save of the match.
"MITCH SAYS NO!!!" in the 63' Minute vs Montreal pic.twitter.com/GwALIqnafv
— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) June 12, 2016
As the visitors began to press and the home team started to show signs of fatigue, Coach Harkes turned to his bench and in the 70th minute Omar Cummings almost found the back of the net one minute after taking the pitch.
Unfortunately, our early struggles to close out games appears to be returning, and for the second game concurrently, we failed to manage the game to the end. We allowed Montreal way too much possession and struggled to clear balls effectively. As the visitors pressed and closed the noose around our goal, they eventually found an opening to exploit and placed a very nice ball into the net.
The end of the game was filled with some confusion as one of the Montreal coaches was ejected from the game. Montreal continued to press and squeeze but were not able to equalize and the Orange and Blue triumphed with a 2-1 scoreline.
@billwwolf for @cincysoccertalk
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