FC Cincinnati rise to Supporter’s Shield Leaders after defeating Real Salt Lake

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FC Cincinnati made a cross-country trip on Saturday to Salt Lake City where they earned a 1-0 victory.

First Half

With this being the third game in a week, FC Cincinnati rolled out a heavily rotated starting eleven from the one who beat Inter Miami on Wednesday. The most surprising rotations were Matt Miazga sitting for this game, and Corey Baird rotating in for Kei Kamara up top. While there were concerns about the strength of the lineup, it seemed that the striker change nearly paid off in the first few minutes.

Cincinnati was able to corral the Real Salt Lake attack at the beginning of the game and push the ball forward where the attacking trio of Baird, Evander, and Dado Valenzuela worked the ball at the top of the box and created a few shots and near chances. Eventually Real Salt Lake was able to work into the game and pulled a few attacking moments together, but the balance of the game was fairly neutral for the majority of the first half with both teams prioritizing a defensive solidarity.

Second Half

In the second half things changed as Salt Lake abandoned progressing through the midfield and began looking for long passes over the back line. They had the biggest success by attacking Cincy’s left defensive flank, with RSL attacker Zavier Gozo finding himself with Teenage Hadebe 1-on-1 several times. The defender held up well, but the constant pressure required Pat Noonan make a series of substitutions to shore up the defensive line and push for a more dangerous counter attacking front line.

So Noonan, among other subs, brought in Luca Orellano on for Valenzuela and Sergio Santos on for Teenage Hadebe. This resulted in Lukas Engel pushing back to centerback, where his natural 1-on-1 defensive comfort could be better utilized, and resulted in the Western Conference opponent struggling to create anything from that position.

And it was that other substitution that resulted in the game winning goal. After a turnover in the midfield, the ball fell to the feet of Brian Anunga who drove forward beating a man on the dribble before pulling up just outside of the box. With a small pass back to the center of the field he found a waiting Luca Orellano who settled the ball for his left foot and curled it into the side netting of the goal. It was a moment of brilliance that separated these two teams and sent these the visitors home with all three points for the night with a final score of 1-0.

This result, and a tie by Philadelphia Union, means that FC Cincinnati goes into the All Star Game atop  the Supporters Shield table. The MLS All Stars will face off against the Liga MX All Stars on Wednesday July 23 at 9 PM EST while FC Cincinnati will return to the field next Saturday against Inter Miami.