FC Cincinnati dropped a 5-1 decision to New England Revolution Wednesday night in a U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 match.
Head coach Pat Noonan led a heavily-rotated FCC squad into Foxborough Stadium to take on Bruce Arena’s Revolution. Noonan swapped nine starters from Saturday’s win vs. Minnesota.
The Orange and Blue got off to a tremendous start, dominating the first 15 minutes of the match. Argentine winger Alvaro Barreal kept his hot streak going, scoring off a tremendous pass by Haris Medjunanin. Haris played a looping ball over the defensive line with Barreal timing his run and collecting the ball to perfection. Alvaro took a quick touch and placed a left footed chance into the back of the net. Quimi Ordonez also had several opportunities including setting up an effort moments after the first goal.
New England began to creep back into the match soon after, exploiting the space in between the midfield and in front of the center back. They also were a danger with threating runs down Zico Bailey’s left flank. The Revs struck for their first as Bailey pulled down a NE player off a deflected ball in the box. Revs DP Carlos Gil took the penalty and scored it to the left of 2021 starting keeper Kenneth Vermeer.
Gil added a second off a laser from the top of the box. A NE cross found Tommy McNamara in the box who passed it to an open Gil at the top of the penalty area. The ball may have taken a deflection as Vermeer was completely fooled and jumped to the opposite side of Gil’s shot. FCC trailed 2-1 going into the half.
Ian Murphy subbed in for Bailey in the second half, but the in-form defender could not help quell New England’s attack. DP Adam Buksa launched a header early in the second half to put the hosts up 3-1. Brandon Bye put a sublime ball into the box where Buksa beat out Geoff Cameron for the goal.
Seven minutes later, Gil notched a hat trick off another Bye cross. This time. Gil checked his run, found space in the middle of the box and beat Vermeer in what was a theme for the evening.
The final tally came in the 57th minute as Gil picked Tyler Blackett’s pocket in the middle of the field. Gil sent another great ball to Buksa who dribbled around several FCC defenders and sent a long far-post shot past an unmoving Vermeer.
Several of the regular FCC starters would find their way into the match, but the damage was done and FCC was eliminated from the 2022 US Open Cup.
US Open Cup Round of 32 – FC Cincinnati vs New England Revolution
Result: NE Revolution 5 – FC Cincinnati 1
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI:
Vermeer (GK), Bailey, Blackett, Cameron (Hagglund 71′), Powell (Murphy 50′); Robledo, Medjunanin (Acosta 71′); Barreal (Moreno 64′), Markanich, Atanga (Vazquez 62′); Ordonez
Bench: Celentano (GK), Nwobodo
NE Revolution FC Starting XI:
Petrovic (GK), Jones, Kessler (Gonzalez 62′), Farrell (Spaulding 62′), Bye; Riviera, McNamara (Polster 62′), Maciel, Traustason; Buksa (Rennick 62′), Gil (Lletget 62′)
Bench: Jackson (GK), Boateng
Scoring Summary:
CIN – Barreal 12′
NE – Gil 34′
NE – Gil 37′
NE – Buksa 47′
NE – Gil 54′
NE – Buksa 57′
Discipline:
NE – Kessler 10’
CIN – Bailey 24’
Next up:
@ Chicago Fire, 8 p.m. Saturday, May 14, Soldier Field (Chicago, Illinois)