RECAP: The Downfall of Disney World | The FC Demolishes Orlando 6-2
SHAWN BEHMER
And down goes Disney World SC.
Another FC Cincinnati match and another Evander record.
With two goals and three assists, Evander set an all-time club record for goal contributions in a match. It seems like every week Evander breaks an insane record, and after last night’s five goal contributions, Evander reached another level in his play.
“When he is on the ball with space, everybody comes to life. You could feel it. The energy of the stadium, the energy that he provided with moving with the ball with the 1v1 moments where he creates separation… He’s taken his game to another level,” Pat Noonan said.
Evander was not the only one who achieved a significant individual milestone after last night’s 6-2 victory over Orlando City SC.
Pat Noonan tied the record for fastest coach in MLS history to reach 75 wins, matching Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer.
As expected, Pat Noonan downplayed the significance of the individual accolade and expressed his desire to win trophies.
“I'll take all Brian's trophies,” Noonan said after the match.
Noonan went on to say that these individual awards can be credited to the people he works with, but at the end of the day, he wants trophies.
Roman Celentano praised Pat Noonan after the match, but expressed that the team could have gotten Noonan the record much earlier in the season.
So, with the individual accolades out of the way, let’s take a look at how this match unfolded. This was truly one hell of a way to end this half of the season on a high note ahead of the two-month World Cup break.
The Game
I’m just going to address the elephant in the room with the starting lineup.
Someone leaked the USMNT World Cup roster and Miles Robinson made the cut. As a result, Miles was not included in the matchday squad against Orlando. Aside from that, not ~ too ~ many surprises there.
Well, the first 15-ish minutes were dreadful from The FC — from the individual errors to the inability to string a few passes together. A good example of this came in the 7’, when Gidi turned the ball over in front of goal to Orlando’s Tiago Carvalho, who found Ojeda. Ojeda then found the back of the net. Thankfully, it was ruled offside.
Shortly after avoiding that disaster, former Orlando player and Cincinnati native Kyle Smith concedes a (soft) penalty. Ojeda scored to put Orlando up 1-0.
It wasn’t until a corner kick in the 42’ that Kenji Mboma Dem beautifully headed the ball to tie the game 1-1.
The FC didn’t stop there. Pavel Bucha stepped up to intercept a pass, then played a lovely ball to Evander in open space. Evander then placed the ball with the precision of a surgeon into the back of the net. 2-1.
At the start of the second half, Orlando scored a freekick goal to level the match 2-2 in the 48’. Yawn.
Now this is where the fun begins.
Just four minutes later, The Dayton Flyer, Kenji Mboma Dem, earned his first career brace off an assist from Evander. 3-2.
Then, in the 58’, Evander said, “Fine. I’ll do it myself,” and dribbled a country mile down the pitch before firing a shot from outside the box into the back of the net. 4-2.
Then Kévin Denkey got in on the fun and scored in the 77’. 5-2.
Then Tom “Tom ‘Thóm Barleaux’ Barlow” Barlow scored the final goal in the 90+1’. He now has 8 goals in all competitions. You truly love to see it. 6-2.
What. A. Match.
“A nice way to go into the break. A very good attacking output, and a lot of guys performed well,” Pat Noonan said after the match.
He went on to say, “I didn't love the start of the game, but I liked how the remainder of the half went. Beginning of the second half was losing territory, the foul and the goal. So you lose momentum, but we immediately gained it back.”
Final Thoughts
With the World Cup right around the corner, that means we have to go nearly two months without FC Cincinnati. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but at least we got this electric match to hold us over. The vibes couldn’t be higher right now.
Now, let’s see what Chris Albright has planned for the summer window.
God Bless the Dayton Flyers.
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Photos courtesy of FC Cincinnati.