Orange and Blue Prevail, Down Chicago Fire 2-1
Damon Gumbert
A lot has been made about Evander’s performances up to this point in the season; that there have been moments where the All-Star has seemed to shrink or disappear during games. That was certainly not the case in the 2-1 home victory against the Chicago Fire FC. The Brazilian made his presence known, scoring a scorcher of a goal in the 19’ of the match. He would go on to add an assist to his season totals, notching his 20th goal contribution on the season. That is good enough for second in the league, behind Anders Dreyer’s 24 in San Diego.
“He’s able to adjust and read the game,” Head Coach Pat Noonan said of Evander after the match. “And we’re trying within our preparation to consistently find ways to make sure he has a strong impact on the game, and those are some of the reasons I think we’ve seen him really step up on an even bigger scale with this past three-game stretch.”
Evander has been unstoppable in those three games, adding five goals and two assists to his already stellar pace. Kevin Denkey has also had a good stretch, adding in two goals and an assist, putting him right on pace with Evander with 12 goals on the season. Both players are in a four way tie for third place in the Golden Boot race. The players they’re tied with? Dejan Joveljic and Lionel Messi.
Along with those excellent performances has come a four-game win streak. The FC has outscored its opponents eight to three in those games. A defense that limped into the international break after leaking nine goals in three games has now rebounded, with Matt Miazga looking like he has returned to his 2023 Defender of the Year ways.
“…Where we let ourselves down with just moving the ball up the field, we made up for it with some strong defending,” Noonan said. “And overall, I was pleased with them on the defensive side of the ball. I think when we were in good rhythm, the passing from them was simple, and they found the right solutions and played through pressure.”
The defense should be getting some reinforcements in the upcoming days. Gilberto Flores suffered an ankle injury in training this week, but Noonan said the hope is that he is trending in the right direction to play next Saturday. Maybe even more important is that Miles Robinson, who has been away with the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT), should be rejoining FC Cincinnati within the next few days. The USMNT takes on Mexico in the Gold Cup final on Sunday, but Robinson will likely be fresh and ready to play when he returns. He has not seen any minutes with the national team since their 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia. In the last two matches that he played, the defender saw a combined five minutes on the pitch.
When asked if he has spoken to Robinson since he left the team late in May, Noonan said, “I briefly check in after games, how he’s doing. He’s with a different group, prepared for different games than we are. I try to let it be in ways where it’s not prying and having him think about what he’s missing here.” He followed up with, “It’ll be nice to have him back after tomorrow’s game.”
The Orange and Blue are now taking their four-game win streak, and their top spot in the Supporters’ Shield rankings, into Hell. The Columbus Crew comes to town on Saturday for the second “Hell is Real” rivalry match of the season. When Pavel Bucha was asked if there is a switch that turns on when Columbus comes up on the schedule, the Polish midfielder said that the team is already talking about the match.
“Just right now in the locker room, when we were together in the cold tub, we just started talking about next week.”
Time will tell if Columbus comes in with the same momentum that Cincinnati has, as they play the Seattle Sounders Sunday night. For now, Cincinnati can celebrate its win before turning its focus to Columbus.
“Take this good feeling that we have with results, but don’t be content with where we’re at,” Noonan said. “Be hungry to go do more good things with our performance, and hopefully a good result.”
