Gel’ed - The FC Finally Puts it All Together
Damon Gumbert
Before we get to the main topic of this article, I want to rewind to a special moment during last season’s FC Cincinnati playoff run. It was the first game of the playoff series against New York City FC, and the Cincinnati attack was threatening. Yamil Asad kicked things off by taking the ball from NYCFC and dribbling up the pitch before sending it up to Luca Orellano. Orellano then passed the ball to a streaking Yuya Kubo who then, and despite what the broadcast and other say I believe this with my whole heart, passed the ball in front of the goal and past goalkeeper Matt Freese to Lucho Acosta, who lobbed the ball back towards goal and into the head of Asad and into the goal. It was a fantastic flash of quick passing and showed what the team could do with a fully healthy, fully bought-in team.
After that match, I asked Head Coach Pat Noonan a question for the first time, alluding to that sequence and asking how important the passing and relationship between those four players was for the playoff run ahead. You can see his response here. I felt great after that match. The defense looked good, the offense looked to finally be clicking, and as a very smart person has said many times before, it’s about getting hot at the right time.
The problem that came up after that match was that they weren’t hot. The passing got worse over the next two games, with FCC being eliminated from the MLS Cup Playoffs in the first round. Flash forward past the Lucho drama, Denkey signing, Evander signing, and everything in between. This season FCC has been very hit and miss, not only with their overall play but with their passing specifically. There have been flashes of brilliance, like DeAndre Yedlin lobbing a ball down field and finding Kevin Denkey for his first goal with FC Cincinnati on opening day, Evander threading a lead pass and finding Yuya Kubo dashing down the field before sending the ball into the net, and Luca Orellano crossing the ball into the box and setting up Denkey’s amazing bicycle kick goal.
Those moments have been few and far between. The rest of the time, the team has looked listless on offense, being unable or unwilling to find each other.
According to passing grids and heat maps that MLS Analytics on BlueSky was kind enough to make, the club spends a significant amount of time passing the ball back and forth between the wingbacks and centerbacks. In many games this season, they seem to have trouble getting the ball up the pitch and to their difference makers. In their 1-0 win over New England on Apr. 5, Lukas Engel and Gilberto Flores, who both started the match at centerback, had 80+ touches. The club’s record-breaking signing, Kevin Denkey, had 46. DeAndre Yedlin playing right wingback had 72 touches, while Corey Baird, who was playing in the attacking midfield for an injured Evander, only had 41. Yedlin also had 0 successful dribbles and 0 successful crosses on the night. On the other side of the field, New England’s star player Carles Gil had 73 touches.
During The FC’s road win over DC United, none of the main attacking three of Dado Valenzuela, Luca Orellano, or Kevin Denkey had over 50 touches in the game. Denkey only touched the ball in the opposition’s box once in that match. Christian Benteke, DC’s 2024 MVP candidate striker, touched the ball 11 times in the FC Cincinnati box in the same match. In the following match against the Chicago Fire, Denkey had three touches in the opposition’s box while Hugo Cuypers had six in FCC’s box. Evander, who had two goals in this match, only had 50 touches in total, while Miles Robinson had 70. Gilberto Flores, who only played 45’, had more touches in that time than Sergio Santos, who played 54’.
Skipping ahead to last week’s rematch against NYCFC, Denkey played a full 90’ and had 34 touches with only two coming in the opposition’s box. Alonso Martinez for NYCFC only had 19 touches, but seven of those came in FCC’s box. Martinez ended the match with an xG of 1.54 while Denkey had an xG of .06. Miles Robinson once again led the team in touches, this time with 86. Evander had the most touches for an attacking player (63), but in the second half, he also seemed to drop farther back so that he could get the ball more. Luca Orellano had 53 touches, but he also dropped out of the attack and into a wingback position. Yuya Kubo and his replacement, Dado, combined for 45 touches in the match. NYCFC’s right winger Julian Fernandez, who scored the lone goal of the game, had 67 touches while staying in the attack until he was subbed out in the 85’. Maxi Morales played the full 90’ for NYC and totaled 75 touches. Both of those men had four touches in the FC Cincinnati box, doubling that of Denkey.
More than the numbers show, the passing was just bad. FC Cincinnati players would get the ball and stop all movement, look around, and pass the ball to the next person. A prime example of the difference between the electric passing we saw in that first playoff game vs what we saw last week was when Yuya Kubo took the ball off a hard NYCFC touch and quickly passed the ball to Engel, who one touch passed the ball up to Evander, who brought the ball upfield before passing off to Denkey just outside the opponent’s box. The striker would have to pass off the ball to Brian Anunga after heavy pressure forced a hard touch. Anunga passes the ball to Robinson, who stops the ball completely before passing back to Matt Miazga. Miazga one touches it to Hagglund, who stops the ball completely before passing to Kubo, who stops the ball completely before passing to Evander, who stops the ball completely before passing to Denkey, who dribbles (!) but has to pass off to Evander, who nearly gives the ball up before passing back to Robinson who again stops the ball completely before sending to DeAndre Yedlin. Yedlin then plays the ball to Luca, who sends a lead pass back to an open Yedlin. He tries to slide the ball in front of goal to Denkey, but it’s sent out for a corner.
I would have preferred to just show you the play rather than try to write it out, but I haven’t figured out how to make clips from MLS games, and surprisingly, FCC’s social media team doesn’t post the team's bad moments to Twitter.
Now we get to last night's performance against Austin FC, and what a marked improvement that performance was. The way this team passed the ball felt more like that NYCFC playoff game than the rest of the season. Statistically, nothing changed. Denkey had only 36 touches, with four coming in the opposition’s box. Evander had 63 touches, Miles Robinson led the team with 92, but what the stats don’t show is how much the team moved the ball, and themselves, around. On several occasions, we could see midfielders drop back and centerbacks move up the pitch, midfielders moving ahead of the strikers while they fell back and protected the midfield. This is the kind of performance the fans have been waiting for.
It was also a different look for the team. Orellano started at wingback over Yedlin, Kubo started in the midfield over Anunga, and Sergio Santos started the match at striker next to Denkey. In several previous games, Denkey had played as the lone striker and had been targeted more by the defense. The passing map from MLS Analytics showed a fluid team, with clear attempts to get the ball into the midfield more. Kubo’s addition to the midfield cannot be overlooked, as he was able to get the ball forward more than Anunga and Obinna Nwobodo have this season.
Pavel Bucha also saw the ball more, receiving 72 touches on the night and contributing seven passes into the final third, more than any other FCC player on the night. Only one starter had an accurate passing percentage less than 80% on the night (Santos had 73%). Dado spelled Santos in the 68’ and immediately made an impact. A wonderful passing exhibition, that was very similar to the Orellano-Kubo-Lucho-Asad combo, was started by Orellano, who switched off to Engel, who laid off for Evander, who lobbed a rainbow over several defenders and perfectly in front of Dado, who sent the ball past Brad Stuver and into the net on a beautiful touch.
Carter Chapley of FC Cincinnati spoke on the relationship between Evander and Dado, with the former taking the latter under his wing. Noonan said in his post-game presser that Dado is starting to make a case for more and more playing time. “… You're starting to see him improving in his play, his consistency and his final product,” Noonan said. “It’d be nice if somebody could just put the ball on a platter like that every time in front of goal, but sometimes it’s not that easy. So a really well taken goal by him, and really pleased with how he was able to impact this game and continue a strong run for him.”
Time will tell if Dado can continue to receive playing time. The club is reportedly close to signing MLS’s second leading goal scorer Kei Kamara to a deal. The 40-year-old will undoubtedly bring in competition at the striker position with Sergio Santos. What does that mean for players like Dado and Stefan Chirila who are still trying to break into the lineup constistently?
Another question coming out of the game is the health of the centerback room. Matt Miazga left the game early due to hamstring tightness, and his replacement Teenage Hadebe took a hard knock as well. I asked Noonan if there was any consideration in switching the formation to a back four due to the health of the centerback room. He shrugged off the question, stating, “We have five healthy center backs. I know Matt (Miazga) had to come off the field, and Teenage(Hadebe) had a little bit of a knock there, but, we look at the form of our group, who we’re matched up against.”
I don’t know if I agree with the “five healthy center backs” statement. Three of the five centerbacks have missed significant time this season due to injury. Hagglund has had back-to-back season-ending injuries. Miazga is three matches back from his season-ending injury and left this match early. Hadebe played his first match in about a month and took a knock that almost took him out of the match. Engel and Alvis Powell have started games at the centerback position this season, with Yedlin also spending significant time there. A switch to a back four would give the team more ability to spell centerbacks and keep them fresh while also playing Yedlin and Engel at their natural positions.
A switch in formation could also help strengthen the midfield and keep your more productive players in the lineup. Orellano seems to be the best crosser on the team, and playing him wide has worked far better with this team than having him up top or in the middle. Moving Pavel Bucha forward and into a more central midfield position rather than the defensive midfield would increase his ability to impact plays on offense. Having more bodies in the midfield also strengthens your passing, as we saw in this matchup. Orellano played more as a wide midfielder than a wingback, with Kubo and Bucha playing central and Engel coming up to play wide midfield when he needed to. Switching to a back four, like the lineup below, could maximize the potential of the roster.
But that also means making hard personnel decisions. Where does Nwobodo fit into this lineup when he gets healthy? Do we need five centerbacks if only two are playing at a time? These aren’t normally questions I would ask following a win like this, but I feel they’re questions about how to keep this momentum going.
For now, we turn our attention to Toronto FC on Wednesday, and then Hell is Real in Columbus next week.
