Lucho Acosta potentially injured in 3-1 loss to Charlotte FC
Nothing good happened Saturday evening when Charlotte FC dismantled FC Cincinnati in front of a sold-out crowd at TQL Stadium.
It was like someone put a curse on The FC; anything and everything that could go wrong did. From kickoff, FCC looked outmatched by a Charlotte team with 10 days off to prepare for this match. Pat Noonan said in his Thursday press conference that if the players got too confident, they would be humbled quickly. Consider that done.
Cincinnati returned to their sword formation for this match-up but had significantly different results than their previous match against Inter Miami. The midfield, which consisted of Luciano Acosta, Luca Orellano, Yuya Kubo and Pavel Bucha, looked completely out of sync from the minute the ball was kicked off. A sloppy performance for a group that had previously seemed to be the biggest strength of this club.
Errant passes made for quick turnovers and lackluster defensive effort led to chances for Charlotte early and often. The lone bright spot early on was Alvas Powell, who single-handedly stopped the Charlotte offense from taking an even bigger lead early. Charlotte found the back of the net twice within the first 25 minutes of the match, both coming off of Cincinnati passing turnovers.
A hydration break in the 30’ gave The FC a chance to regroup. The players came out of the break looking like a different team, commanding the ball and keeping possession on the Charlotte side of the pitch. Shots from Orellano and DeAndre Yedlin narrowly missed the goal, sailing over the top of the crossbar. The constant pressing finally opened the goal-scoring for the Orange and Blue, when Lucho Acosta found the back of the net off a Yamil Asad assist in the 45’. Seven minutes of stoppage time wasn’t enough for FCC to make things even, but the pressure they were putting on a stout defense was a welcome sign after a sluggish start to the match.
And then Noonan chose to replace two players at the half, taking Powell and Kevin Kelsy off for Sergio Santos and Dado Valenzuela. These early subs would be huge late in this match. Less than two minutes later Dado would secure a penalty kick for Cincinnati after a handball was called on his shot. Lucho lined up the kick and played it to the right, but the shot was saved by Kristijan Kahlina. FCC would keep possession and Luca Orellano would fire a shot into the back of the net to even things at two. Or so we thought, but VAR checked and found that Lucho was about 20 feet offside on the goal.
Not much good happened for the Knifey Lions after this goal was called back. Charlotte went on to score a third goal off a corner kick, another disaster for an FCC squad that has been downright terrible at defending set pieces this season. A Yuya Kubo rocket shot fired off the goalpost, adding to the misery of the night for FCC. Soon after Miles Robinson is shown the door after being given a red card for a foul on a streaking Charlotte player. Robinson was set to play one more game for FCC before leaving for Olympic duty, now he will miss that match due to suspension.
After Corey Baird, Kipp Keller and Brett Halsey sub into the match for Asad, Kubo and Orellano respectively FCC is out of substitutions and down to 10 men with the Robinson red card. This is important for what comes next. Acosta, in a defensive effort that led to nothing, comes up lame and limping. A few seconds later he goes down, grimacing in pain and grasping his ankle. The reigning MVP came off the pitch, ending his night and putting FCC down to 9 men for the remaining ten minutes of the match. In his post-game presser, Noonan did state that x-rays on Lucho’s ankle came back negative, so nothing was broken. It’s unclear at this time what kind of injury he suffered and if he will be able to play Wednesday.
A twist in the knife that was FC Cincinnati’s night is that the Columbus Crew traveled to LA and destroyed LAFC 5-1. Columbus now sits six points behind FC Cincinnati in the standings with two games in hand. The only good news of the night was that Inter Miami was off this weekend, meaning that FC Cincinnati remains in first place in the Supporter’s Shield race, for now.
With Lucho’s status for Wednesday’s match unclear and with Miles Robinson set to miss the match with his red card suspension, the breaking news that FCC is close to signing Nigerian center back Chidozie Awaziem is a much-needed distraction. That signing, if it gets completed, would not go through until Thursday when the summer transfer window opens for U.S.-based MLS squads. That means that FCC will have to take on the Chicago Fire in TQL Stadium potentially without their three starting center backs and the reigning MVP. Things have looked better.
Wednesday’s match kicks off at 7:39 p.m. Tickets are available and the match can be watched on AppleTV+ with the MLS Season Pass or at any of the club’s participating Pub Partners.
