Matchday Two for FC Cincinnati came with a bizarre scenario. Both FCC and New York City FC had already qualified for the knockout stage so the only thing left to decide was seeding and who would top the group. After a wild 90 minutes, FCC claimed the top spot in group East 1 with a 4-2 victory.
FCC’s lineup featured several rotated spots. Goalkeeper Paul Walters got his first start between the posts for FCC’s first team. With Luciano Acosta still nursing an injured foot, Gerardo “Dado” Valenzuela slotted in at the 10 position. Malik Pinto also joined Valenzuela in the midfield and Alvas Powell resumed his adopted position at center back.
The match started with FCC on the front foot. In the third minute, a poor pass from NYCFC led to Luca Orellano breaking through midfield. Orellano looked up to find Kevin Kelsy who ripped a left-footed shot that required an early save from Luis Barraza. In the eighth minute, a flurry of corner kick attempts nearly had FCC ahead early. The second of which nearly was the goal of the tournament when Valenzuela took a shot off the volley that clanged off the top left corner of frame.
By the 18th minute, the tide had started to shift in NYCFC’s favor. The ‘Pigeons’ became more comfortable on the ball and were able to find pockets of space between the FCC backline. The momentum crescendoed with a 25th minute goal-scoring opportunity. A long ball played by Barraza was brought down by Julian Fernandez. Fernandez dribbled the ball into the box before laying it off to Maxi Moralez. With the FCC defense on their heels, Moralez found Santiago Rodriguez on his left. With loads of space, Rodriguez uncorked a shot towards the far post and gave NYCFC the match’s opening goal.
Smelling blood in the water, NYCFC unleashed a series of shots at goal from the 41st minute to the early stages of the second half. Walters was tasked with shot after shot but was able to add four saves to his stat sheet. The heroic effort by Walters kept FCC within arm’s length of NYCFC. But after spilling a save in the 61st minute, Walters was unable to stop the second chance by Jovan Mijatovic. Mijatovic’s shot beat Walters to the near post and doubled the advantage for NYCFC.
Reinforcements were inbound for FCC. Six substitutions in total sprung a comeback that few in that stadium or watching at home will ever forget.
In the 79th minute, Valenzula delivered a near-perfect weighted ball to Pavel Bucha just outside the 18-yard box. Bucha cut back centrally and smashed a low shot driven at the bottom near post. The ball went just under an outstretched Barraza for FCC’s opening goal. Before the smoke cleared and the celebrations had ended, FCC was once again on the attack. This time Yamil Asad made a charging run on the ball going nearly box to box. With seemingly no one from NYCFC interested in stepping to the ball, Asad uncorked another low-driven ball to the far post and into the net. In a matter of three minutes, NYCFC had watched its comfortable lead evaporate.
But FCC wasn’t finished yet. In the 86th minute, Chidozie Awaziem was given loads of space and time in the midfield to pick out a pass to Yuya Kubo. Kubo masterfully brought the pass down and turned towards goal as he split the defenders. Kubo ripped a shot towards the bottom left post that again gave Barraza fits trying to dive for. The net swished, and the crowd erupted as FCC had done the improbable by taking the lead.
For good measure, FCC stayed aggressive hunting for a fourth goal. In the 89th minute, Serigo Santos delivered that insurance. An aerial duel won by Kubo volleyed over toward Valenzuela. Dado got under it and redirected the ball using his shoulder straight in the path of Santos making a run. Completely behind the NYCFC backline, Santos had only Barraza to beat and did just that with another low-driven ball to a bottom corner. Santos’ celebration was a personal one as he dropped to a kneel simulating a wedding proposal to his loved one in the crowd.
As the final whistle sounded, FCC completed the sweep of the group-stage foes. The team is now placed in a 32-team knockout bracket. As the top finisher in group East 1, they will face East 5 runners-up Santos Laguna. Pat Noonan shared his thoughts on the significance of advancing in this competition.
“It was important that we took the last performance, and kind of continued to feel what it’s like to win games in a short stretch.” Noonan said. “But that’s important, despite having already been in the knockout round, winning for the confidence of the group is important. And so that was kind of the focus going into it. Winning comes in a lot of different forms, and it’s always good to see, okay, we can be down multiple goals and still be in a game and still understand that if you can just find the one moment to get the goal, to get the momentum … You hear the crowd tonight, I thought, you know, it sounded like it was sold out, honestly, at the end of the game, it was electric. And you could feel the momentum shift with the goal, and then certainly the second goal, the guys, you know, they took off from there.”
GOALS
CIN – Pavel Bucha (Valenzuela) 79’, Yamil Asad (Nwobodo) 82’, Yuya Kubo (Awaziem) 86’, Sergio Santos (Valenzuela) 89’
NYC – Santiago Rodríguez (Moralez) 25’, Jovan Mijatović 61’
LINEUPS
CIN: Paul Walters, Bret Halsey (Yamil Asad 72’), Ian Murphy (London Aghedo 46’), Kipp Keller, Alvas Powell (Chidozie Awaziem 46’) Luca Orellano (Sergio Santos 79’), Malik Pinto (Pavel Bucha 63’), Obinna Nwobodo (C), Gerardo Valenzuela, Corey Baird, Kevin Kelsy (Yuya Kubo 63’)
Substitutes not used: Roman Celentano, Evan Louro, Miles Robinson, Stiven Jimenez, Moises Tablante
NYC: Luis Barraza, Christian McFarlane (Kevin O’Toole 74’), Birk Risa, Thiago Martins (C), Tayvon Gray (Mitja Ilenic 59’), James Sands (Keaton Parks 59’), Justin Haak (Mounsef Bakrar 90’), Santiago Rodríguez, Maxi Moralez, Julián Fernández (Hannes Wolf 74’), Jovan Mijatović
Substitutes not used: Tomas Romero, Matt Freese, Rio Hope-Gund, Maximo Carrizo, Alonso Martínez, Strahinja Tanasijević, Agustin Ojeda
NEXT MATCH
Leagues Cup Round of 32: vs Santos Laguna – 7:30 pm Friday August 9th – AppleTV+
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