In the last episode, the Orange & Blue vanquished a returning hero. This time, even though the competition was another familiar face, they couldn’t complete the job.
FC Cincinnati welcomed FC Dallas and former club captain Luciano Acosta to his old stomping grounds on Wednesday. The Orange & Blue built leads twice in the second half, only for Dallas to equalize twice in the second half. The 3-3 draw at TQL Stadium left Cincinnati and head coach Pat Noonan searching for answers.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Noonan addressed after the match. “We were excellent in the first half, and we were embarrassing in the second half. So that falls on me, because there were guys that had no idea how to manage a two-goal lead and manage the momentum we had coming out of the break.
“So, there’ll be some good conversations around what we want this to look like moving forward, and what we want to accomplish because there were guys that were nowhere close in the second half.”
Cincinnati (9-3-4, 30 pts.) was defeated last Saturday by a hungry Atlanta United squad 4-2 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. While the away loss was overwhelming, the loss of defender Nick Hagglund due to broken ribs was a harder hurdle to handle. However, the team was still relatively ready for the short week, with Yuya Kubo (leg) the only other player missing.
Noonan opted to switch out some players from the lineup due to the short week but kept a solid “sword” formation. DeAndre Yedlin, Gilberto Flores, Alvas Powell, and Sergio Santos returned to the Starting XI. Luca Orellano switched to the left wingback position to give Lukas Engel a break, while Miles Robinson claimed the captain’s band from Matt Miazga.
FC Dallas (4-5-6, 17 pts.) entered Wednesday’s match with a four-match winless streak, the last win being a 4-3 victory over Miami one month ago. While Los Toros managed to hold their ground for more than 80 minutes last Saturday, Seattle rode an Albert Rusnak penalty kick in the 86th minute to claim a 1-0 win over Dallas.
Dallas also replaced five players in their own shortened week. Acosta had sat out Saturday’s match due to yellow card accumulation but reclaimed the armband in the middle of the pitch. Designated player Petar Musa also returned atop the formation.
First half
While the reunion with Acosta was bittersweet in the end, the crowd seemed to be less than welcoming during the match, often showering Lucho with boos and jeers. Lucho did not appear on the scoresheet, but his presence was felt by the crowd’s displeasure.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati earned more cheers in the first half. The Orange & Blue held 63% of the overall possession and held Dallas to two shots off target in the first 45 minutes. Cincinnati attempted 11 shots in the first half, including three attempts on target.
The breakthrough came in the 30th minute for Cincinnati. Orellano hit a floating cross over the six-yard box to Yedlin, who one-timed the ball back to Pavel Bucha. The Czech midfielder hit a ricochet off the defense for his first goal of the season to make it 1-0.
The second goal came from Evander finding Kévin Denkey on a connection down the turnpike. Evander’s pass into the box was touched by Denkey a split second before Paes tackled him in the box. The resulting penalty kick taken by the Togo striker led to his ninth MLS goal of the year and a solid 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
Second half
FC Dallas made a simple substitution to start the second half, with right winger Pedrinho replacing left winger Bernard Kamungo, and that started the transition to a closer match.
In the 50th minute, Shaq Moore beat a retreating Orellano to penetrate the box. His pass back to Petar Musa could not be disrupted by Gilberto Flores. The Croatian striker turned to deposit his shot past Celentano for his fifth goal of the season and halve the lead.
Flores was again beaten on the equalizer. In the 68th minute, Pedrinho caught Flores gravitating too high up the pitch and found Anderson Julio streaking into the box. Julio’s fourth goal of the season knotted the match at 2-2 with plenty of time left.
Cincinnati still had some fuel left and had multiple opportunities to regain the lead. Their best attempt was a Kei Kamara direct header in the 70th minute, but Paes stretched to his right to preserve the score.
It appeared that Cincinnati found their game-winner through a dependable name. In the 86th minute, Lukas Engel attempted a cross into the box that Paes managed to palm away. However, the juicy rebound went straight to Dado Valenzuela, who buried his fourth goal of the season to retake the lead.
That lead lasted six minutes. In the second minute of extra time, Sebastian Ibeagha snuck through the defense to pop a glancing header past Celentano. While Los Toros took only 10 shots in the match, five were on target, and three passed Celentano.
Both teams left the evening with a point, but Noonan saw flaws in the FC Cincinnati game.
“(It’s) decision making. Guys’ understanding of the moment, how we’re getting pressure to the ball, where the danger is, and awareness. There are some simple plays that we make very complicated. Then some are more complex where maybe you got, you know, lack of experience, or you know, poor understanding of how to keep play in front of us and how to defend the box and make real simple plays that don’t turn into chaos.”
“Maybe it’s just my feeling, but I felt we were a little bit less intense in our movement and in our pressing,” Bucha mentioned after the match. “They were just getting through us really easily. We gave them that space, and they took that chance and scored.”
Cincinnati remains in second in the East, but lost ground to Philadelphia, who won in Toronto. Dallas remains in 11th place in the West.
FC Cincinnati completes their string of three matches in seven days on Saturday against D.C. United. Dallas returns to Texas to take on the visiting Philadelphia Union.
Major League Soccer, Match #16
FC Cincinnati vs. FC Dallas
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
Attendance: 24,524
Result: FC Cincinnati 3, FC Dallas 3
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI (5-2-1-2):
Roman Celentano (GK); DeAndre Yedlin (Corey Baird 83′), Alvas Powell (Teenage Hadebe 73′), Miles Robinson (c), Gilberto Flores, Luca Orellano (Lukas Engel 73′); Pavel Bucha (Gerardo Valenzuela 73′), Obinna Nwobodo; Evander; Sergio Santos (Kei Kamara 63′), Kevin Denkey.
Bench: Evan Louro, Brad Smith, Matt Miazga, Brian Anunga.
FC Dallas Starting XI (4-2-3-1):
Martin Paes (GK); Shaq Moore, Sebastian Ibeagha, Osaze Urhoghide (Lalas Abubakar 36′), Marco Farfan; Kaick Ferreira (Patrickson Delgado 65′), Ramiro; Anderson Julio (Logan Farrington 83′), Luciano Acosta (c), Bernard Kamungo (Pedrinho 46′); Petar Musa.
Bench: Michael Collodi, Manuel Cafumana, Nolan Norris, Diego Garcia.
Scoring summary:
CIN – Pavel Bucha 30′ (Yedlin)
CIN – Kevin Denkey 42′ (PK)
DAL – Petar Musa 50′ (Moore)
DAL – Anderson Julio 68′ (Pedrinho)
CIN – Gerardo Valenzuela 86′ (unassisted)
DAL – Sebastian Ibeagha 90+2′ (Delgado)
Discipline:
YC – Alvas Powell 2′ (CIN, foul)
YC – Marco Farfan 8′ (DAL, foul)
YC – Kaick Ferreira 44′ (DAL, foul)
YC – Petar Musa 62′ (DAL, foul)
YC – Teenage Hadebe 78′ (CIN, foul)
YC – Corey Baird 90+4′ (CIN, foul)
Next up:
MLS Regular Season: vs. DC United, 7:30 pm, Saturday May 31st; Apple TV+
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