Matchday #23: FC Cincinnati at Louisville City FC
Louisville Slugger Field – Attendance: 13,812
FC Cincinnati took their medicine and now onto Tuesday. But since this is a match report….
Things got off to a rough start for FC Cincinnati. Through the first 15 minutes of the match, Louisville City FC had over 70% possession and logged 5 shots. Newcomer Kevin Schindler struggled the majority of the night and drew a yellow in the 13th minute after a studs up foul on LCFC midfielder Oscar Jiminez. Shortly after, defender Sean Totsch pressed up high on the right and delivered a cross that found the head of Niall McCabe. McCabe judged the ball perfectly, made a run in front of Schindler and headed the ball in for the home squad.
FC Cincinnati got jobbed by the refs again after Sem De Wit was shown a red card in the 36th. Captain Austin Berry turned to play a ball backward around the half line & was clipped by Louisville’s Luke Spencer. Referee, Charles Murphy did not make the call and allowed Spencer to make a run on goal. De Wit as the last man back fouled Spencer and was shown red. While I don’t disagree with the foul call on De Wit, the no-call off the Berry/Spencer incident was a travesty which even made things more difficult for the Orange & Blue.
The former Cincinnati man would add to the home squad’s tally off a Jimenez corner. The midfielders ball was played towards the near post and Spencer would make a great run and head the ball home right in front of Harrison Delbridge as the half would end 2-0.
credit Alex Vehr – Cincy Sports Photos
Things didn’t start much better for FC Cincinnati as Captain Austin Berry was subbed off in the 53rd in what the commentators speculated as a move due to an injury sustained in the first half. Following the move, Louisville continued their scoring ways as a great give and go through traffic from the man-of-the-match Spencer to the Canadian international Mark-Anthony Kaye which would end up in the back of the net.
After a quick chance from Djiby Fall, substitute Richie Ballard would turn on the jets and tally a 4th for Louisville City in the 72nd. The midfielder would beat FC Cincinnati’s Matt Bahner and Harrison Delbridge which would effectively end any chance of retaining the River Cities Cup/Dirty River Derby.
Sean Reynolds would add a 5th for Louisville off a cross from Paco Craig. A defeated FC Cincinnati defense failed to even pursue the cross which allowed Craig to have an uncontested header in on Mitch Hildebrandt.
FC Cincinnati striker Djiby would have the best chance for FC Cincinnati in the 84th as he found significant space behind the Louisville defense. He would skip his clear chance well wide capping off the worst night in FC Cincinnati history.
What a way to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the creation of our club.
3 Thoughts
Motivation: You saw it from minute one. Louisville City FC looked at this game as the Super Bowl, while Coach Alan Koch’s side looked at it as a roadblock on their path to Tuesday’s match. Did they feel overconfident? Was it that this was a trap game? Who knows? But I’d expect we will never see that crap again. Guys quit on games, it happens. But in a match where 1,000 supporters travel, spend a ton of money and live and die by these results, the boys must do better. I don’t want to say any names in the negative but this was disrespectful to your fans. Please play for this city every second.
Hole in the Middle: I don’t know if it was just that Mark-Anthony Kaye is world class or the fact that we didn’t set the squad up right, but Louisville had about 20 yards of space everywhere they went. The formation of FCC didn’t have much if any pressure up the middle for an opposing squad that likes to build that way. It matters when you lose De Wit early, but Louisville could have driven a Mack truck up the skinniest pitch in USL and not coughed up the ball. Possession was 56%-44% but FC Cincinnati clearly couldn’t get it going offensively being outshot 30-8.
Tuesday: I’d be the first to admit that I was wrong on how the squad was going to set up on Saturday. An extremely quality selection was put out at Slugger Field by Alan Koch. That group managed to disappoint greatly and now must raise some questions for Tuesday. Will Justin Hoyte be available? Is having Bone & Walker as a tandem enough? Does Berry play after a possible injury? There will be much to talk about on Sunday night’s show. TUNE IN.
Box Score
FC Cincinnati Starting XI (3-4-3): Hildebrandt (GK), (R-L) Berry (62′) (c), De Wit, Delbridge; Schindler, Bone (71′), K. Walker, Josu; Greig, Djiby, Wiedeman (63′)
Subs: Williams (GK), Bahner (52′), Dacres, Dominguez (71′), Halfhill, Konig, McLaughlin (63′)
Louisville City FC Starting XI (3-4-3): Ranjitsingh (GK), Totsch, Reynolds, Craig; Smith (c), Williams, Abend, Jimenez; Kaye, Spencer, McCabe (69′)
Subs: Dobrowolski (GK), Bledsoe, Ballard (69′), Morad, Delpiccolo, Lancaster, Ilic
Next Up:
(OPEN CUP SEMI- FINALS) Tuesday 8/15: vs. New York Red Bulls (MLS) – 8:00 p.m. EST – Nippert Stadium, Cincinnati, OH.
(LEAGUE) Saturday 8/19 – vs. New York Red Bulls II – 4:00 p.m. EST – MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field, Montclair, NJ.
March to Matchday Podcast Previewing FC Cincinnati vs. New York Red Bulls
Check out our newest episode from host Bryan Weigel featuring guest Tzvi Machlin of Once A Metro.
@BryanWeigel for @CincySoccerTalk
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