Lucho Acosta nets brace, fuels FC Cincinnati to win over Philadelphia Union
Damon Gumbert
FC Cincinnati has played over 200 minutes of soccer over two games in the past five days.
The Orange and Blue managed to hold off a game against Philadelphia Union by a final score of 4-3 Wednesday night.
Luciano Acosta added a brace and an assist to his resume for back-to-back MLS MVPs. With his two goals and one assist, Acosta became the seventh player to record 100 regular season goal contributions over a four-year span. He also put himself ahead of Lionel Messi for the lead in assists on the season with 14.
The story of the match was the aggressiveness both teams played with. Four players received yellow cards, with three of those coming within the first 15 minutes of the match. Kipp Keller, starting in place of Matt Miazga at the middle center back position, received the first yellow of the game after wrestling with a Union player. Two yellows were shown a short time later, one to Kai Wagner for a similar infraction as Keller, and the other to Jack Elliott for dissent after arguing the foul and card.
The two squads were not only jockeying for possession on the pitch but on the scoreboard. Kevin Kelsy opened the scoring in the 29’ with a soft header off an assist from Lucho Acosta, sneaking it past the goalkeeper. Every time FCC thought they could pull away, however, Philadelphia was there to retort. Miscommunication and poor timing on defense led to Tai Baribo scoring off a rebounded header, sending the match into halftime even.
The FC would come out swinging, with Yuya Kubo drawing a penalty kick in the 49’. Lucho would easily send the ball into the back of the net, 2-1 good guys. But Philly would storm back and tie the game off a Kai Wagner corner kick to Jesus Bueno. Then, Luca Orellano happened.
Orellano would send a blast from midfield into the back of the Union net. The goal happened so quickly that some people weren’t even watching, including coach Pat Noonan.
FC Cincinnati were able to hold onto their lead for nearly 30 minutes despite the level of aggression continuing to mount, with Jack McGlynn earning the fourth yellow card of the match after yanking down Luca Orellano from behind. That is until Baribo added a second goal of the evening in the 90’. FCC went into the 10-minute extra time fielding one natural center back after subbing off both Kipp Keller, who was suffering from cramps, and Nick Hagglund. They were replaced on the back line with Alvas Powell and DeAndre Yedlin, who moved from wing back to center back. Yamil Asad and Brett Halsey took over the wing-back position, while Kelsy and Kubo were subbed off for Sergio Santos and Dado Valenzuela.
The substitutions didn’t matter, as the winning goal was scored by Lucho Acosta, who played all 200+ minutes of soccer over two games in five days.
FCC secured the win and the three points, keeping pace with Inter Miami, who were able to dispatch the reigning MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew 2-1. Miami remains a hard team to beat, despite not having Messi, Luis Suarez, and Mati Rojas due to Copa America. The reigning Supporter’s Shield winners will have to recover quickly once again, they are back at The Fortress on Saturday night to take on the suddenly resurgent New England Revolution.
