Miles Robinson showed why FCC made such a big attempt at acquiring him, as he played MVP-caliber minutes to bring FCC a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire.
The match started immediately in favor of FCC, as the team had a good chance to start the game. However, following the very early chance, both teams seemed to settle down a bit and see the ball about equally.
Chicago definitely had some good moments in the midfield, creating some good chances on paper, as multiple forward runners looked open. But, the FCC defenders were all up to the task in this stage as they always seemed to be on the end of those passes, whether they were over-the-top hopeful ones or more direct strikes.
In terms of the attack for FCC, the team was doing a good job getting it into the wide or near-wide areas and using those openings to get the ball to a willing runner. FCC even got a couple of outstanding chances thanks to its passing but was not able to capitalize on any of them.
In the end, it ended up being a misplayed pass from Chicago at the back that led to the first goal on the night. Aaron Boupendza picked up the pass and neatly passed it into the bottom corner from outside the box for the 1-0 lead in the 39th minute.
A game that looked to be in FCC’s control changed, however, when it appeared that, following Alvas Powell losing Brian Gutierrez, Obinna Nwobodo stepped on Gutierrez’s foot inside the box. VAR had a look and determined that was a foul on Nwobodo, and Xherdan Shaqiri stepped up and tied the game at one goal apiece.
The second half started similarly to the first, as both FCC and Chicago had runs at goal that seemingly looked like they could give their team the lead.
Then, there was a stretch where Chicago was taking it to FCC. FCC was having a rough time breaking the Chicago press, which allowed the home side to push further and further up the pitch, helping their attack even more. This was the stretch of the game where it seemed like Chicago had the best chance of winning the game.
Despite that, Chicago was never really able to get anything substantial from that part of the game, and as soon as it started, it was gone.
Then, FCC took advantage again. FCC once again started to see the ball and not long after it picked up its second goal of the night. FCC is normally horrible on corner kicks, but tonight was different, as it seemed nearly every single one found an FCC body. That came to a head when Robinson got a touch on a corner in the 68th minute and the ball found its way into the back of the net for an FCC 2-1 lead.
After that goal, FCC still searched for a third but wasn’t able to capitalize on the couple of chances it did get. Chicago also continued to try to break through the FCC defense, but the undeniable experience from Matt Miazga and Robinson, as well as the youthful energy from Ian Murphy, have proved to be huge in the first few matches for FCC.
That experience from Robinson and Miazga proved to be the reason FCC won, as the best chance Chicago had on the night was in the closing stages of the match. It looked like Chicago was going to squeak a goal in, but Robinson knew where to be inside the box, and blocked the last pass, pushing it away.
In this match, FCC showed that it can do the same thing it did multiple times last year, win close games.
Match Two – Chicago Fire vs. FC Cincinnati
Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois
Result: FC Cincinnati 2, Chicago Fire 1
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI:
oman Celentano, Yuya Kubo, Ian Murphy, Matt Miazga, Miles Robinson, Alvas Powell (Bret Halsey 64’), Pavel Bucha, Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta (C), Corey Baird (Gerardo Valenzuela 87’), Aaron Boupendza (Sergio Santos 80’)
Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Malik Pinto, Arquimides Ordoñez, Isaiah Foster, London Aghedo, Stiven Jimenez
Chicago Fire Starting XI:
Chris Brady, Rafael Czichos, Mauricio Pineda, Allan Arigoni, Fabian Herbers (Georgios Koutsias 75’), Gaston Gimenez, Kellyn Acosta (Federico Navarro 75’), Maren Haile-Selassie, Brian Gutierrez, Xherdan Shaqiri (C) (Chris Mueller 85’), Hugo Cuypers
Substitutes not used: Spencer Richey, Tom Barlow, Tobias Salquist, Wyatt Omsberg, Jonathan Dean, Chase Gasper
Discipline:
CIN – Obinna Nwobodo 43’
CHI – Kellyn Acosta 55’
CHI – Fabian Herbers 66’
CIN – Pavel Bucha 81’
CHI – Brian Gutierrez 90’+4
Next up:
vs C.F. Monterrey, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7, TQL Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio)
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