FC Cincinnati drop three points to Philadelphia Union in 0-1 loss
Damon Gumbert
“It’s so bad, it’s embarrassing almost,” Pavel Bucha said in his media availability Saturday night after FC Cincinnati lost a frustrating affair to the Philadelphia Union, a third loss in a row at their home that was once considered a Fortress.
Pavel’s sentiment was echoed by everyone who talked to the media last night, but none more than team captain Matt Miazga, who began his media availability with an apology.
While playing poorly in front of the home crowd is unfortunate, it’s the way that the club looked against a team that they needed to beat if they wanted to stay in the Supporter’s Shield race.
Cincinnati has to play three playoff contenders over the final five matches of the season: Nashville SC, New York Red Bulls, and Orlando City. Philadelphia also has a tough schedule, playing Vancouver Whitecaps, NYCFC, and Charlotte FC in the regular season and Nashville in the US Open Cup semi-finals. If they are to make the finals, they would add another match to their already loaded schedule for the rest of the season.
The other team in contention for the Supporter’s Shield is San Diego FC, who play four teams in playoff contention over their final six matches, including a battle with Los Angeles FC on Sunday night. The Shield race is far from over for FCC, but they’re going to need a lot of help if they’re going to make up ground on either the Union or San Diego.
Back to Saturday, it was another team playing a high press and another match where The FC looked completely unprepared for the pressure that was being put on them. Cincinnati commanded possession for most of the match, but the ball spent most of its time being passed around the back line and the wing backs, rather than moving the ball forward toward the opposing goal.
When the back line tried to move the ball up the pitch, they were pushing inaccurate passes that either went into completely unoccupied spaces or directly to the opposition.
Lukas Engel had a specifically horrible night. According to FOTMOB, the fullback-turned-centerback had an accurate long-ball rate of 20%, only connecting on three of his 15 attempts. The Denmark national played 89’ despite having possibly the worst night since he joined Cincinnati before the season started.
When asked why Engel stayed on the pitch as long as he did, Head Coach Pat Noonan said, “Positioning. If we were able to find a goal, we really threw a lot out there at the end, as far as attacking pieces, but you still need to be able to defend in transition and have the right pieces to see out those moments. So, that was the reason for Lukas. He had the stretch where it was just some poor decisions on the ball. That’s part of the rushing process and not being composed enough, but I think just structurally, that’s why we had him out there.”
While that makes sense, you wonder if having someone like Teenage Hadebe, with fresh legs and mind, wouldn’t have been a better choice down the stretch. It seemed at times like the poor decisions were mounting the longer some players stayed on the field. Their confidence looked shot, and yet they were not spelled by players looking for a chance to make an impact; they were forced to stay on the field and continue to struggle.
We’ll talk to Chris Albright on Tuesday, but it does seem like he has gone out and gotten special talents that are either not being used correctly or are just not getting the ball. MLS Analytics on BlueSky, the everything app, it’s all happening on BlueSky… wait… never mind, posted the passing heat map. It shows the lack of creativity when it comes to FC Cincinnati’s passing, while highlighting Philadelphia’s ability to move the ball around evenly.
Even with Philadelphia mostly playing defense for the final 30’ of the match, they still managed to get the ball into the midfield, where Cincinnati was chasing a lead, and their most prominent passing lane during the match was from their left centerback to the middle centerback. Ender Echinique, probably the fastest player on the field for most of the match, only received 28 touches in his 74 minutes of play. Luca Orellano played 25’ and had 32 touches. The only person who had fewer touches in more minutes was Kevin Denkey with 26.
On what the team needs to do to fix their passing woes so they can make a deep run in the playoffs, Noonan said, “We have to be better with the ball and better under pressure. And if we’re going to struggle to play the game under pressure, it’ll be hard. So, we’ll try to find solutions, find ways to get guys more time and space. But then some of it’s just bad passing and individual mistakes that I don’t think are specific to how the pressure is arriving. It’s decision-making. But if we can’t improve in those areas and simplify some of the ways in which we can play through pressure, around pressure, over the pressure, then it’ll be a struggle. But we’ll continue working to find those solutions.”
Evander spoke to the media after the match and made a similar comment on the passing woes.
It’s safe to say that the club has a lot to work on during the two-week international break, and with several players missing during that time, it will be easier said than done.
“It depends. We’ll have a group of guys that are away, so you’re not with your full group, but we certainly have time to work on some things. We’ll see how we come out of it.”
The Orange and Blue next take on Nashville SC at home on Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. The would-be rivals are only two points behind FC Cincinnati in the standings, making this another high-pressure match. To add to that pressure, if the playoffs started today, FC Cincinnati would be taking on the Columbus Crew in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
You can purchase tickets to see The FC play Nashville, or if you’re a poor like me, you can watch from home on AppleTV+ with an MLS Season Pass subscription or at one of the club’s participating Pub Partners, like Streetside Brewery.
