FC Cincinnati was unable to equalize a second one-goal deficit following the game-winning goal by Ariel Lassiter to make the scoreline 2-1 in favor of CF Montreal. This is the team’s first losing streak since May 2022.
The beginning of the match was weighted heavily in favor of the home side. FCC was having a really tough time completing many passes anywhere on the field. That was seen most especially when the team was trying to play from the back.
For some reason, the team has continuously tried to make this work even though it has been evident that there just is something wrong. They have been doing a horrible job getting anything going and the first half of this match was no different.
FCC has nobody on the team right now who is interested in offering any ideas or options other than waiting for Lucho Acosta to play hero ball and that showed itself horribly in the first half.
However, what I didn’t expect is the absolute degradation of the defensive work in the middle of the park. The wingers and midfield defense has been abhorrent. That is shown most in the disappointing play of Obinna Nwobodo. He must be still feeling an injury because he looks incredibly slow and is not playing to the level that we know he can.
Those two factors reared their ugly heads as Montreal consistently was able to waltz their way through the midfield and get scoring chances. Lassiter in particular looked primed to score multiple times.
But, it was Josef Martinez, a substitute following an injury in the Montreal attack, who started the scoring for the home side, renewing his destruction of FCC hearts.
This goal did some after some promising moments for the FCC attack in the waning moments of the first half, but the visitors weren’t able to capitalize on those moments.
The second half started similarly to the first, as Martinez nearly doubled the home side’s lead out of the gate. That seemed to maybe be a signal of what the rest of the half would contain.
But no, a couple minutes after this Montreal chance, FCC really started to step it up offensively. Following a couple of chances, it looked like Yuya Kubo should have equalized for FCC, but he was unable to keep the ball down. However, only a little bit after that, he made up for that thanks to a great feed from Acosta to tie the game up.
It felt like maybe FCC would be able to actually get something from the game after this goal. But that was not the case, as once again Martinez stymied the FCC defense. This time, Matt Miazga was up trying to defend him and Lassiter got in behind him and found oodles of space to shoot, getting the second goal of the night.
Following the goal, FCC continued its quest to look for an equalizer. It really started to put the pressure on when the substitutes entered the match and added some more energy to the team. There were a couple of chances that definitely looked like they could have gone FCC’s way, but in the end, they didn’t, and the visiting side failed to come back.
Match Eight – CF Montreal vs. FC Cincinnati
Stade Saputo, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Result: CF Montreal2, FC Cincinnati 1
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI:
Alec Kann, Luca Orellano, Ian Murphy (Nick Hagglund 72’), Matt Miazga, Miles Robinson, DeAndre Yedlin, Pavel Bucha (Sergio Santos 89’), Obinna Nwobodo (Gerardo Valenzuela 78’), Luciano Acosta (C), Yuya Kubo, Aaron Boupendza (Corey Baird 72’)
Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Kipp Keller, Bret Halsey, Malik Pinto, Alvas Powell
CF Montreal Starting XI:
Jonathan Sirois, Joaquín Sosa, Joel Waterman, Ruan, George Campbell, Raheem Edwards (Victor Wanyama 63’), Samuel Piette (C), Bryce Duke (Lassi Lappalainen 85’), Mathieu Choinière, Matías Cóccaro (Josef Martínez 26’, Mason Toye 85’), Ariel Lassiter
Substitutes not used: Sebastian Breza, Fernando Álvarez, Sunusi Ibrahim, Rida Zouhir, Gabriele Corbo
Discipline:
CIN – Luca Orellano 18’
CIN – DeAndre Yedlin 23’
MTL – Joel Waterman 29’
MTL – Samuel Piette 34’
MTL – Raheem Edwards 39’
CIN – Ian Murphy 66’
Next up:
at Atlanta United FC, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27, Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, Georgia)
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