Kevin Denkey, DeAndre Yedlin shine in opening win against RBNY
Damon Gumbert
On the coldest night in FC Cincinnati history, the club notched a 1-0 win against the reigning Eastern Conference champion New York Red Bulls.
The club trotted out a 5-4-1 formation with club-record signing Kevin Denkey up top, league-record internal transfer Evander in a dueling 10 position with Yuya Kubo, Pavel Bucha and Obinna Nwobodo lined up in the defensive midfield, DeAndre Yedlin and Lukas Engel at wingback, and a backline of Teenage Hadebe, Miles Robinson and U-22 signing Gilberto Flores.
The first half was mostly about the defense, who survived an onslaught by RBNY early. The Red Bulls went into the half-time break leading in shots 6-2 but were unable to put any of those shots into the back of the net.
The second half was all FCC, with Yedlin finding Denkey on a long pass that allowed the striker to turn and put the ball into the goal. Denkey and eventual substitute Corey Baird applied pressure up until the final whistle, with FCC securing the 3 points.
Newbies make their mark
The Orange and Blue are still gelling as a team with several newcomers, including MVP candidate Evander and U-22 initiative player Gilberto Flores, having just joined the team over the last week or two.
This was the first match of MLS play for some of those newcomers, Flores made his first start in MLS due to Matt Miazga not being fully back from his horrific knee injury. Kevin Denkey, who had a fantastic night, scored his first MLS goal in his first MLS game and his first goal for FC Cincinnati in his first game playing in front of the crowd at TQL Stadium. Lukas Engel, who impressed coach Pat Noonan, also made his team and MLS debut.
“I thought Lukas (Engel) was outstanding on the left side with getting us out of pressure, both on a dribble and moving the ball up the field with good inside passes,” Noonan said. “He and DeAndre (Yedlin) found themselves in good spots and were. Hopefully, we’ll get more production out of those guys as we get more and more games and get them in these spots, because I think they both had chances for goals and assists tonight.”
Let’s talk about DeAndre
Speaking of DeAndre Yedlin, the right wingback was all over the pitch tonight, making standout plays on defense while also being a key member of the attack. The Seattle native made several runs that helped shut down a roaring Red Bulls attack and managed the third most clearances on the team with four.
Yedlin also assisted newbie Denkey, sending a soaring pass that landed just behind the striker for him to turn and take the shot. The wingback managed to have the third-best pass completion percentage on the team, behind only Denkey and Corey Baird, who was subbed in for Evander in the 72’.
When I asked Coach Noonan about Yedlin’s performance and his potential to have a big year in 2025 he had a lot to say.
“We’ve challenged him in different ways to be aggressive in the attack, to find us opportunities––whether it’s with the pass, whether it's like you saw tonight, a couple moments where opponents are defending narrow, and he can attack in a more narrow way to find a goal or a final pass,” Noonan said. “I look for more production and I think he would probably say the same thing. But he gives you the right energy every game. He plays for the team every game, and now it’s just, I think simplifying some of the on the ball stuff to be more efficient. And he’s, you know, not alone. There’s a lot of guys tonight that fell into that bucket of making simple passes to slow the game down and control the tempo. But I expect a lot out of him, yes.”
D-Fence
With Matt Miazga and Nick Hagglund still making their way back from injuries suffered last season, Gilberto Flores was asked to start on Saturday. Flores just recently joined the team but made an immediate presence. According to FC Cincinnati’s Carter Chapley, Roman Celentano talked about Flores and his game.
"I was just buzzing for him," Roman Celentano said. "It's great to him. Coming in this late... to join the group and being fit enough to go and give us a performance. I mean, he's a player. So we look forward to seeing more of him."
Celentano also praised Flores’ ability to communicate with the rest of the team despite speaking very little English. The goalkeeper wasn’t the only one with high praise of the young defender.
“The week that he’s been with us, we’ve seen a lot of what you just saw tonight, but it’s hard to say that it’s going to translate into a game when there’s pressure and for somebody to carry over what he does in training against a really difficult opponent,” Noonan said. “The physical part of it was even more impressive because he hasn’t played significant minutes. I don’t know what he got to, 80 (minutes) or whatever it was. That’s just a mentally-strong kid if you’re able to do that and still play at a high level. It’s also where we were at after Wednesday. We felt like we needed some fresh legs we’ll see how far he can go.”
When Coach Noonan was asked about how important it was to the defense to keep a clean sheet against the Red Bulls, “Teenage (Hadebe)...I can talk about Miles (Robinson) every game. So, Miles is Miles...incredible. But Teenage, because of where he’s at physically along with Gilberto, to push it 90 minutes and play the way he did, as well. I’m really happy for those guys that they got to keep a clean sheet.”
A strong night can be built upon when Miazga and Hagglund rejoin the team fully. Miazga, a former MLS Defender of the Year, would likely slip right back into the middle of the back line between Hadebe and Robinson, pushing Flores onto the bench and allowing him to learn from two of the best defenders in MLS. Adding that depth and experience back into this defense could likely lead to more clean sheets this season.
Wrap Up
Saturday night was just a start for this FC Cincinnati team. They have a lot of new pieces that are still working to get up to full speed as well as plenty of players who are working to get healthy. In the next few weeks, we should see this strong starting 11 bring back in Luca Orellano, who signed a long-term contract recently, and Miazga. Depth players like Dado Valenzuela, Hagglund, and Sergio Santos should be rejoining the group soon as well.
Once the group is healthy and gelling, there’s no limit to what this team could do.
But before then, they’ll have to now turn their focus to the CONCACAF Champions Cup and F.C. Motagua, who come to TQL Stadium for the second leg of their first-round matchup. Motagua suffered a 1-4 loss to The FC in the first leg, and will now travel to Cincinnati from Honduras, where they will go from temperatures in the 80s to temperatures likely in the 50s or 40s when the game starts on Wednesday.
That match starts at 6:30 p.m. at TQL Stadium or can be viewed…somewhere. The club will then head to Philadelphia for a date against the Union on March 1. That match kicks off at 7:30 p.m.
