Luca Orellano, Roman Celentano propel FC Cincinnati over Real Salt Lake
Damon Gumbert
In a match that seemed destined to end in a nil-nil tie, late heroics by Luca Orellano propelled FC Cincinnati not only to a win, but back to the top of the table in the race for the Supporter’s Shield.
The match featured a heavily rotated FC Cincinnati team against a relatively first-choice Real Salt Lake, with Orellano, Matt Miazga, DeAndre Yedlin, and Kei Kamara all starting the game from the bench. In their stead, Corey Baird started at striker, Alvas Powell at right wingback, with Gilberto Flores and Teenage Hadebe joining Miles Robinson on the back line. Nick Hagglund, despite being healthy for the Inter Miami match on Wednesday, did not make the available team on Saturday.
The story of this match was defense, with RSL keeping a tight lid on Evander and the strikers for most of the night, and Roman Celentano putting on a world-class performance in goal.
Celentano was FOTMOB’s player of the match, notching an 8.6 rating while accumulating seven saves on 17 shots. The goalkeeper came under a barrage in the second half, with 14 of RSL’s 17 shots occurring after the break. Five of those shots were on target, but none of them led to a big chance for RSL, mostly due to Celentano’s play.
“I thought it was a complete performance in a lot of ways,” Head Coach Pat Noonan said of Celentano. “I thought he was excellent with playing the ball on the ground. I thought he was excellent with some of the balls over distance, whether it was clipped balls or even more direct. Even the ones that missed, he missed in the right ways.”
The second clean sheet of the week for Celentano puts him in a tie for third place among goalkeepers. Of the goalkeepers in the league, Celentano sits just out of the top ten in goalkeeper saves with a nice 69 so far, but has allowed fewer goals than six of the men who are higher on that list, including RSL’s Rafael Cabral.
“I think this win shows that we can go anywhere, at any point in the season, and get three points,” Celentano said after the match. “I’m proud of how the guys went after it and I’m proud of the result.”
Speaking of RSL, their defense will see some changes for their next game after two defenders reached their yellow card accumulation suspension in this match. The team will be without Brayan Vera and Alexandros Katranis for their return match against the San Jose Earthquakes. San Jose currently sits one spot ahead of RSL in the Western Conference playoff picture.
Offensively, no one on RSL could get much happening. The team centered their attack through Diego Luna, who took a few solid shots at goal but only ended the match with an expected goal (xG) of .28. Diogo Goncalves added two heater shots late in the match. Still, only one was on target, and Celentano saved it. On the other side of the pitch, Evander, Dado Valenzuela, and Baird had a small handful of shots that didn’t amount to anything. Only one of Evander’s four shots was on target. The Brazilian was on fire entering the match, scoring at least one goal in the last five matches, but that streak came to an end on a forgettable night for the MVP candidate.
Earlier in the season, Noonan said that at some point the team would need someone else to step up offensively with how other teams played against Evander and Kevin Denkey before his injury. So far, it had been Valenzuela, who sits in third place on the team in goals. In this match, where I predicted that a lone goal could be the decider, it was Orellano and Brian Anunga. Anunga, who has stepped into a starting role following Obinna Nwobodo’s unfortunate injury, got his first career assist on Orellano’s 87’ goal.
“Yeah, he was a key in our success, certainly in the last two games,” Noonan said of Anunga’s recent form. “There’s moments where he can play in a more simple fashion, but he just looked more and more confident as the week progressed and fitness was really strong. Defensively, makes so many plays throughout the week against different types of opponents. And yeah, I think Brian, Brian was a big, big part of our success this week.”
Orellano scored his second goal of the season, something that most thought he would have had long before Saturday’s match. The Argentinian has struggled so far this season, but his form has seemingly been returning to him after some leg injuries seemed to hinder him for much of the beginning of the season.
“I think impacting play in front of goal. He was, I’ve said it before, maybe pushing too hard to find production for the team, and when you're pushing too hard, sometimes the decision-making when it’s off, it stands out. But he simplified some things,” Noonan said. “When he’s fresh, that’s the player that you look for in different moments when you’re able to play through pressure, switch play, is get him attacking with space or space to find a shot. I’m happy for him that this one worked out in a better way than previously. He came up in a big moment.”
The Orange and Blue will need Orellano to continue to improve as they look ahead to next week’s return leg against Inter Miami. The Herons will no doubt look for revenge and have some new things cooked up for that match, but FCC will also be coming in with a week’s worth of rest and preparation, something they did not have before Wednesday’s 3-0 win. That match kicks off in Miami on Saturday, July 26 at 7:15 p.m. You can watch the match on AppleTV+ with MLS Season Pass or at a participating Pub Partner, such as PostCast sponsor Streetside Brewery. May even see a humble writer at that location on that day.
While the club can’t look ahead of Miami, we certainly can. After that match, the team will "host” C.F. Monterrey. Monterrey is the home team, but the match will be played at TQL Stadium, so not really the home team. Monterrey is currently sitting in 12th place in the Liga MX Apertura, but with plenty of time to turn things around. In previous matchups against FC Cincinnati, Monterrey beat The FC off the back of Brandon Vazquez, who is no longer with Monterrey. That match is the first of Cincinnati’s League’s Cup campaign and takes place on Thursday, July 31.
And for your viewing pleasure, here’s a drunk Chief and Kevin outside of the stadium after the match.
Photo credit goes to FC Cincinnati
