FC Cincinnati survived to get a 2-1 road win over Minnesota United FC thanks to first-half goals from Yuya Kubo and Luca Orellano.
The match started quite slowly, as neither team really got going for around the first 15 minutes.
Following that beginning stretch, though, the game really started to open up. Both Cincinnati and Minnesota got the ball in great places and saw some clear-cut chances wasted.
The biggest of those was in the 22nd minute following an FCC corner kick. DeAndre Yedlin, the player furthest back for FCC, slipped when trying to play the ball, which allowed Joaquin Pereyra to pick it up. He then started to sprint down the rest of the field, while Obinna Nwobodo was also sprinting to try and beat him before he got a shot off. Maybe Pereyra heard the footsteps or just didn’t get a clean shot, but Roman Celentano was up to the task and easily saved the attempt.
Both teams continued to attack in numbers, but FCC’s attack turned up the pressure considerably around the 30-minute mark.
And this period of the match was also when the first scoring breakthrough occurred. FCC passing extraordinaire Chidozie Awaziem played one of his patented line-splitting balls in the 34th minute to send Kubo in on goal, which the Japanese international didn’t waste.
This goal didn’t stop the FCC attack either, as Lucho Acosta nearly had another only a couple of minutes later.
However, that second goal did end up coming later in the first half in the first minute of stoppage time, when Orellano picked up the ball on the left wing and shot it from the top of the box, beating Dayne St. Clair to give FCC the 2-0 advantage in the first half.
The second half almost immediately went in favor of the home side.
Minnesota got an early corner kick and it looked like nothing came of it. However, VAR was called in to check a possible dangerous play by Orellano for a high boot on Jeong Sang-Bin. After the check, a penalty was awarded and Kelvin Yeboah scored the goal to cut FCC’s lead in half.
Following that goal, however, FCC was the more aggressive team for much of the second half, looking to get that game-sealing goal to win it for sure.
Minnesota didn’t really start to turn up the pressure until around the 80th minute, which was when the home side brought on more attacking options.
Despite that, the two best chances from Minnesota came just as the match was coming to a close. Teemu Pukki sent in a shot/cross from the right wing that ended up looking like it was going right into the back corner of goal. Celentano made a vital save to keep FCC ahead 2-1.
That save then caused a corner, which ended up not coming to much, but multiple shouts for an FCC handball came. The referee blew his whistle, and I know I thought that meant he called a handball. However, he actually was whistling to signal the end of the game, giving FCC the three points.
Match #29 – Minnesota United FC vs FC Cincinnati
Allianz Field, St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 19,649
Result: FC Cincinnati 2, Minnesota United FC 2
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI:
Roman Celentano (GK), Luca Orellano (Alvas Powell 85’), Ian Murphy, Miles Robinson, Chidozie Awaziem, DeAndre Yedlin (Yamil Asad 68’), Pavel Bucha, Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta (C) (Gerardo Valenzuela 90’+4), Yuya Kubo (Corey Baird 85’), Kevin Kelsy (Sergio Santos 68’)
Bench: Evan Louro, Teenage Hadebe, Kipp Keller, Malik Pinto
Minnesota United FC Starting XI:
Dayne St. Clair, Miguel Tapias (Teemu Pukki 85’), Michael Boxall (C), Jefferson Diaz, Carlos Harvey (Wil Trapp 46’), Joseph Rosales, Robin Lod (Franco Fragapane 81’), Joaquin Pereyra (Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi 46’), Hassani Dotson, Kelvin Yeboah, Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Jeong Sang-Bin 46’)
Bench: Alec Smir, Devin Padelford, Anthony Markanic, Samuel Shashoua
Scoring Summary:
CIN – Yuya Kubo (Awaziem) 34’
CIN – Luca Orellano (Kubo) 45’+1
MIN – Kelvin Yeboah (PK) 54’
Discipline:
MIN – Joaquin Pereyra 15’
CIN – DeAndre Yedlin 16’
CIN – Ian Murphy 68’
CIN – Pavel Bucha 73’
Next up:
at Minnesota United FC, 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 18th, Allianz Field (St. Paul, MN)
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