CINCINNATI – When kickoff came at 7:30 p.m. local time it was as perfect of a night for soccer as one could imagine in the Queen City. A breezy 72 degrees, the sun cresting over the seven hills, and a buzz in the air for a sold out crowd at TQL Stadium on a Wednesday night.
By the time the final whistle blew. It was raining and dark. The clouds had covered any kind of moonlight, the temperature dipped into the low 60’s and the scoreboard showed FC Cincinnati down 2-0.
The weather reflected the mood inside TQL Stadium. It was just one of those nights.
It was a disappointing result. Two quick goals by Nashville in the first half was all the scoring the game would see and FC Cincinnati was, for the fourth time this season, kept off the score sheet at home. After a seven-game winning streak, the second longest in league history where at times FCC looked to be playing with flash, the loss ended the streak with a thud.
Despite outshooting, out xGing and out possessing Nashville SC, The Orange and Blue could not find the connections needed to score despite there being enough half chances out there thinking at least one goal would come.
A set piece goal gave Nashville the lead. A corner kick, won on a mishandled throw in, that Jack Maher poked in off the Hany Muhktar service was the second corner kick goal conceded in as many games. Five minutes later, Muhktar dribbled through a mishandled ball in the midfield before dumping it off to Jacob Shaffleburg for the goal. An uncharacteristic defensive lapse in the middle of the field.
FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan described the set piece service FC Cincinnati provided as “the worst it's been all year.” He said the defensive performance had not lived up to the expectation they had earned from themselves to start the season, and he said the play in the final third wasn’t good enough and was “rushed.”
But more than anything, more than the criticism and more than the frustration of the night, Noonan preached calm, patience and perspective.
“It was a good stretch for us of results and improvements with our performances. It's just disappointing because we lost and we go into a little bit of a break now where you can't ride that momentum of making an eighth (win in a row), but I'm still pleased with where the group is at,” Noonan said postgame. “The first half of the season has been fairly successful and shows things that we're improving on and shows things that we need to continue to get better with to stay in the position we're in.”
“But the guys have been really good in improving in ways where it's exciting to see what our group is capable of.”
FC Cincinnati is 10-3-3 after Wednesday night's result, still second place in the Supporters’ Shield table and one point back of top spot after some fortuitous outcomes around the league. Pointing to some kind of lunar event or aligning of the stars on this night around the league that saw the top three teams in the table (FCC, Inter Miami CF and Real Salt Lake) gather a combined one point on the night…all against teams currently outside of the playoff line.
From opening night to matchday 17, which marks an unofficial midway point of the regular season (though FCC have only played 16 games), the improvements The Orange and Blue have made have been significant. The loss to Nashville notwithstanding, FCC entered the game with the second longest winning streak in the league’s modern history. Not “undefeated,” not “looked good,” the second longest winning streak since 2000.
Wednesday night wasn’t very fun for anyone, but as of right now, it was an isolated incident.
“We'll take the result and then try to move into the break and come back in a positive way,” Noonan said. “In the big picture, we're fine. In the moment, you're coming off of a loss, so that part is disappointing. But this group has improved and everybody in the locker room and all the staff think we can get better. And that's a good thing, to be in a position where you're going to understand that there's more out there for us.”
“Throughout the last few games we've been the team to have that focus in the right moments where we can change the game, but unfortunately, Nashville had those moments today. But overall, I know the group is still confident in what we can accomplish,” defender Miles Robinson said. “(Ths loss) is going to be something that we can learn from. It can be something that can kind of remind us to train hard over these next few weeks and can kind of light the fire and really hopefully push us to that next level that we know we can hit.”
FC Cincinnati now faces a 16-day break between matches. A by-product of having a bye weekend and the June FIFA International window, but up against each other. The next time they take the pitch will be June 15 when they fly cross-country to San Jose to take on the Earthquakes. So instead of this break having FC Cincinnati riding the high of a record-breaking win streak, the feeling of loss will hang around the grounds for that entire time with no reprieve.
The break comes at a fortunate time, all things considered. Covered up by the fact that FCC had won seven straight times was the injury crisis that left the depth of the club tested. Tie in that with the high work loads many have had, the time between matches offers a chance to rest, recover, and come back fresh.
It is the hope of the manager that the time off not only refreshes the club physically, but also mentally as the challenges only mount from here.
“It's just a chance to reset, you know, be with family, go visit family, do whatever you need to do to just get away from it for a little bit and then we come back and we have you know a good stretch of training to work on and look at things and not feel rushed in the preparation for that San Jose game on the 15th,” Noonan said. “Guys get a break to rest. We've, especially over the last whatever it's been, month, month plus… it's been a good stretch for us. You know, a couple midweek games, the guys have been excellent.”
“So hopefully guys just unwind and do what they need to do to come back fresh. They deserve it and then we'll get back at it.”
Like the rain that came Wednesday night at TQL Stadium, as expected or unexpected as it may have been, it eventually subsided. It was a bad night, those sometimes happen even among the most beautiful of summers. But that doesn't make the summer, or the night, or even rain as a concept, bad. It doesn’t mean a flood is coming.
“It's too early to be concerned about a loss after winning seven, but every time you lose, it's disappointing. At least for our group,” Noonan added. “We lost the game today. It's never good when you lose at home where you have great support and great energy. You want to reward that, but tonight, it wasn't enough…”
Sometimes, it just rains.
