San Diego Stunner: FC Cincinnati draw SDFC 3-3
Damon Gumbert
I’m struggling to find the words to describe this FC Cincinnati team right now. Tenacious, persistent, and determined all feel underwhelming as descriptions for what this team is. After another match where the defense fell apart, Ayoub Jabbari and Tom Barlow saved FC Cincinnati and pulled a point on the road in San Diego.
It was an interesting lineup that Head Coach Pat Noonan trotted out for this match, though you can imagine that there was a bit of rotation happening due to the congested schedule this week and following the match against Miami on Wednesday.
The backline consisted of Miles Robinson, Matt Miazga, and Nick Hagglund, flanked by Kenji Mboma Dem at left wingback and Pavel Bucha at right wingback. Sam Gidi and Brian Anunga joined Evander in the midfield, with Dado Valenzuela and Kevin Denkey up top.
Noonan spoke after the match about how prepared the team was to play without the ball, as San Diego likes to control possession for long periods of time. He said, “I anticipated we weren’t going to win a possession battle tonight, so a lot of our conversation was making sure our defensive structure was as solid as it could be to make sure that we had the spaces right to be able to get pressure to the ball and not let them get into good spots to consistently move to goal, which they’re good at doing.”
It’s debatable whether that plan worked, as San Diego spent a lot of time on the Cincinnati side of the field, consistently putting pressure on the defense and getting shots off on Roman Celentano. In the first half alone, SDFC took seven shots to FCC’s three.
But it was FC Cincinnati who struck first in the 11th minute when Mboma Dem received a through pass from Evander on a nice counterattack and netted the ball past 19-year-old goalkeeper Duran Ferree.
Props where props are deserved, outside of the three goals, Ferree had a wonderful night. There were two Evander bangers that Ferree was able to save in a bit of outstanding goalkeeping. The young man has a bright future ahead of him.
Anyway, San Diego fired back in the 32nd minute when Marcus Ingvartsen received a pass from Kieran Sargeant in the middle of the Cincinnati box and put the ball past a diving Celentano. Another goal that was completely wide open in the middle of the box, seemingly a weak point in the FC Cincinnati defense right now.
We went into the half tied 1-1, and my AppleTV stopped working for like the last ten minutes, so I don’t know what happened in that time. When we came back, Noonan decided to take off Robinson and Valenzuela and put on Kyle Smith and Tom Barlow. It was not made clear initially why Robinson had been taken off, but Noonan said after the match that he had picked up a knock in the first half and was taken off as a precaution.
The move to take off Valenzuela for Barlow paid dividends almost immediately, with Barlow scoring in the 49th minute. The goal was a complete collapse from San Diego’s set-piece defense, failing to touch an Evander corner kick and allowing it to land directly at the feet of Barlow, who easily put the ball into the net.
Not to be outdone in middling defense, FC Cincinnati fell apart in the 66th minute when Hagglund is completely out-paced and out-played by Ahmal Pellegrino, who is able to get behind the defense on a through pass from Pedro Soma and put a ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Hagglund is taken out in the 73rd minute, as well as Mboma Dem, for Obinna Nwobodo and Bryan Ramirez, respectively. With Nwobodo entering the pitch, Sam Gidi moved back into a center-back position. This is important for later. Ayoub Jabbari is brought on in the 90th minute, which will also be important late in the match.
Ingvartsen again scores in the sixth, and final, minute of extra time, the third time FC Cincinnati has given up a brace in the last four games. This time, it’s Matt Miazga who is out-paced, finding himself just a step behind the striker as he moved towards the goal. The play isn’t entirely on Miazga, though, as the whole thing kicks off with a weakly hit switch from Bryan Ramirez being intercepted by San Diego. The ball then finds its way to 17-year-old Anisse Saidi, who perfectly places a through ball to Ingvartsen and kicks off the foot race between the striker and Miazga.
It would have been completely understandable if The FC laid down and died in this moment. Noonan said after the match that he could see the despair on some of the players' faces.
“It’s, you’re in the moment, you concede a goal, there’s despair, there’s guys that are on the ground because they feel like we let one go; when I say let one go and let one slip up, It’s really just a point, it wasn’t about winning a game at that stage in how the game was playing out,” Noonan said.
The next moments of the match are unbelievable. The ball gets kicked back to Miazga, who passes off to Gidi. Gidi waits a second and then sends a ball arching over the pitch and into the San Diego box, where Jabbari was waiting. Jabbari was able to head the ball to his left to Barlow, who was able to equalize with a goal in the dying embers of the match.
“But when I look up, and I see guys that look a little distraught, it’s let’s push up and see if we can in this moment get numbers as quickly as possible, as close to goal, to create a little bit of chaos,” Noonan said of the miraculous finish. “And credit to Matt, he doesn’t just put the ball up the field, he finds Sami and enough delay from Sami to get the ball in a good spot, and then you’re relying on two bigs with Ayoub and Tom to challenge for an aerial duel, which is what Ayoub was able to do. But it wasn’t just the challenge, it was the positioning, and then the control to be able to lay the ball off and Tom does a good job in that moment to finish it, because there’s a lot of adrenaline, there’s a lot of emotion, and for him to get another goal was again, it was a chaotic ending, but credit to those two to make a play.”
There’s a lot that can be said about this FC Cincinnati season so far, and much of it is bad, but one of the positive things you can say about this season is that there is no quit in this team. The FC has come back late in five matches this season, managing to win two of those matches.
The defense is still a problem, obviously. While the Orange and Blue have scored eight goals in the last three games, they have also given up ten goals in that time. It’s obvious that there is a problem with the defense, and it seems there is a definitive reason, but it’s not likely one that will get solved until the summer transfer window opens.
The average age on the defensive back line is 27 years old. If you take out Andrei Chirila, that number goes up to 29. Taking out Gilberto Flores, since the team doesn’t seem willing to play him, bumps that number up again. This is all without counting Teenage Hadebe, who may or may not play for this team again.
Age isn’t the only thing that is affecting the back line. There is clearly not enough speed to keep up with opposing attackers. Robinson has closing speed, but with Miazga on the team, he has been deployed out on the right or left side, putting him away from the strikers and making it harder for him to affect the play.
Miazga and Hagglund have great qualities, but both have had significant leg injuries in the past couple of years and do not have the speed to keep up with faster, younger players anymore. The best the defense has looked was with Chirila and Gidi on the back line, adding speed and youth to a defense that desperately needs it.
Having players with the minds of Miazga, Hagglund, and Robinson is great, but if they can’t keep up or stay healthy, then there isn’t much of a point in having them around. Robinson is not likely to move; the club loves him and wants to keep him in Cincinnati for the future. Miazga and Hadebe are the most likely to get bought out or sold in the summer, with both players making a significant amount of money that could be allocated elsewhere.
On the other side of the ball, the offense is making due, yes, with two designated players, but also homegrown players, supplemental roster spots, and SuperDraft picks. Barlow is third on the team in goals with four, Dado is fourth on the team in goal contributions with five, and Mboma Dem has three goal contributions in less than 600 minutes played.
The FC has a lot of work to do over the summer, but they still have one match before the World Cup break, with Orlando City SC coming to town next Saturday.
All photos are courtesy of FC Cincinnati.
