Alan Koch carried mixed emotions during Sunday afternoon’s postgame press conference.
One was satisfaction in earning a point against Sporting Kansas City, a club he dubbed one of the “top” teams in MLS days before. The other was disappointment that FC Cincinnati had a 1-0 lead, could’ve doubled that and instead scraped for a point.
There was less satisfaction in the locker room, however.
When media members entered for interviews, the mood was somber and quiet. No one smiled. Kekuta Manneh, who’s usually one of the bubbliest personalities, stared at the floor with a dazed expression.
“Honestly, I leave with a sour taste in my mouth,” midfielder Victor Ulloa said. “I think we controlled the game, especially in the first half. We created a lot of chances.
“There’s a saying in soccer that ‘When you don’t finish, it goes against you.’ We saw that. We could’ve put the game away 2-0. Unfortunately, they get away with a point. We should’ve got three points.”
It’s impossible, but the right mentality is probably between the “big” vs. “small” perspective.
Yes, FC Cincinnati are a first-year MLS club and played against one of the league’s powers. Considering the 1-1 draw at Nippert Stadium was only Cincinnati’s sixth game in the league shows how young the franchise still is.
But that minimizes how much the Orange and Blue have grown as a club since the season opener on March 2.
The score line said otherwise, but the first half was arguably Cincinnati’s best in 2019.
In possession, the home side played with purpose. Teammates linked spells of possession together that resulted in quality chances. When other circumstances called for a direct approach, the club tried that – successfully.
While Darren Mattocks’ first goal for FCC was converting a penalty, it was the club’s attack-minded approach that led to Roland Lamah getting fouled in the box.
As for defensively, the forwards and midfielders kept a high press that forced the visitors into tricky situations. Thus, FC Cincinnati created chances and looked lively. The only problem, however, is those opportunities didn’t lead to multiple goals.
Even though we’re a bit disappointed, we take a lot of positives from this game because we created a number of chances,” Mattocks said. “Maybe the next day we score four, five goals. That’s a really big positive takeaway from this game.”
If those created chances carry over from the Sporting Kansas City draw into an away trip to LAFC and beyond, then the two points dropped in Sunday’s loss are a minor blemish in the bigger picture.
That’s the message Koch conveyed.
“I’ve said this since the very beginning, we’re going to have our ups and downs,” Koch said. “Of course, we’ve had ups and downs already. We’ve won some great games, and we’ve lost some tough games so far.
“Today, we had some very good moments, and we had some bad moments, too. So, this game is a microcosm of what our season looks like, and we’re probably going to continue on this roller coaster.”
Again, perspectives on the result buoy between satisfaction and annoyance. What’s the most important takeaway, though, is recreating the positives for sustained success.
