Great passing, stellar defense lead FC Cincinnati to win in playoff opener
Damon Gumbert
FC Cincinnati put in a strong performance, led by a very improved defensive effort and a quality passing attack, on Monday, winning 1-0 over New York City FC in match 1 of their best-of-three series.
Yamil Asad scored the lone goal of the evening, heading in a pass from Lucho Acosta early in the second half. That doesn’t tell the whole story though, as a passing effort from Luca Orellano and Yuya Kubo helped open up the opportunity for Asad.
That was one of the big stories of the evening, the comfortability between the attacking four: Acosta, Asad, Orellano, and Kubo. When asked about the importance those four had in the game and will have in the playoff run Head Coach Pat Noonan said, “They have a good feel for playing one-to-two touch, they have a good feel of how to play under pressure and so you see some good combinations that allow us to break pressure and attack.” He went on to say, “They have the creativity and the vision to create those moments.”
That creativity and vision is something the attacking presence of FC Cincinnati has lacked this season. There have been flashes of greatness, especially the 6-1 win over Inter Miami at TQL Stadium in July. That combination of players accounted for a contribution to all six goals that night. A full-strength combination of Lucho, Luca, Yuya, and Yamil would be a lot for most teams to contend with.
Equally as impressive was the defensive performance, securing a clean sheet for goalkeeper Roman Celentano. NYCFC ended the game having only taken six shots and an expected goal (xG) rate of 0.28. Chidozie Awaziem was a menace all evening, playing tough football and clearing four attempts from NYCFC’s attack. Teenage Hadebe played a full 90 minutes for the first time since joining the Orange and Blue in September and even had a shot on goal after a corner from Acosta. Miles Robinson helped Celentano stop one of the best chances New York’s attack had, a move that helped save a goal and forced a corner.
“Center backs were outstanding but I also think the guys in front of our back line did a really good job of getting pressure to the back, created some really good looks, more so in the second half,” Noonan said. He went on to praise Robinson, “That’s a Defender of the Year season…seeing what he’s done every day and in games, he’s been so consistent and so solid.”
The biggest concern of the match is that DeAndre Yedlin was subbed off at half-time after sustaining an injury. Yedlin slid to make a shot after a Lucho cross and came up grabbing his back. Noonan confirmed Yedlin injured his back but did not have any information on whether that injury would sideline him for any future matches.
Yedlin did return to the Cincinnati bench eventually, which is hopefully good news that the injury is not too serious.
FC Cincinnati will now have to turn around and focus on match two where they will not have the home field advantage anymore. “The fans in our stadium tonight…it felt different,” Noonan said of the playoff experience at TQL Stadium. Despite not having a sell-out crowd, though 21,413 people attended a Monday night soccer match, Noonan praised the fans that showed up, “We won’t have that (in Game 2).”
New York will host the next match in this series at Citi Field on Saturday. The New York Mets stadium has been an occasional host to NYCFC matches and will now be the host of its sixth post-season match in 2024. The Mets had mixed results, going 3-2 at Citi Field during the MLB playoffs. They would eventually be eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. With the New York Yankees looking at a win-or-go-home game against the Dodgers in the World Series and the New York Red Bulls set to face the Columbus Crew, this could be a rough time to be a New York fan.
Kickoff for this Saturday’s match is set for 4:00 p.m. You can watch on AppleTV+ with an MLS Season Pass or by venturing to the East End and watching the match at Streetside Brewery, where you can get $1 off your beers by mentioning The Post Cincy.
