FC Cincinnati once again rolled out a new and unique lineup for their weekend tilt with Nashville SC, and once again overcame their rotating lineup with another defensively stout performance at Geodis Park. Thanks to goals from Luca Orellano and Luciano Acosta, FC Cincinnati earned a come from behind draw and salvaged a point from Nashville SC 2-2.
NSC got the early lead with some help from some chaos in the FC Cincinnati box. After intercepting a pass, Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar drove to goal before crossing through the box. After the pass bounced off a few bodies, Sam Surriage slipped a shot through heavy traffic and scored from point-blank range.
But the lead would not stand for long, the Argentine connection of Lucho Acosta, Yamil Asad and Luca Orellano connected for some goal scoring magic. Orellano drove down the wing and beat his man in a 1-on-1 challenge, leaving him open for a perfect centering pass. The short look to the middle rolled directly to Yamil Asad, who wisely let the ball roll through him to Acosta, who took a touch and guided his shot to the far post to equalize. While Asad would not receive credit for the assist, he certainly deserved it. The goal from Acosta was his 12th of the season and Orellano’s assist registered his seventh of the year.
In what would develop to be a back and forth first half, Nashville SC retook the lead off a corner kick header from Sam Surridge. The Brit earned his brace by slipping away from his mark and deflecting a header to the far corner in the 25th minute.
The livewire half continued on with both teams creating dangerous moments with near misses on target. Yuya Kubo, playing this match as a midfielder with Pavel Bucha missing the match due to personal reasons, took two wonderful strikes but missed or was saved on both.
An equalizer appeared to arrive, but was taken away with controversy moments later after Gioacchini picked up a loose ball in the box and put the perfect spin on a shot to curl around the keeper. After much celebration, the assistant referee signaled for offside, wiping away the goal to the confusion and frustration of all in Orange and Blue.
With that goal wiped away, the clubs went into the lockers at half with Nashville leading 2-1.
But FC Cincinnati did not come out of the locker room feeling sorry for themselves, and attacked for an equalizer that came in the 52nd minute thanks to another beautiful set piece ball from Orellano.
After a free kick just outside the box was won by Niko Gioacchini, Orellano stepped to the ball along with Acosta to take the free kick. The goalscorer from earlier deferred to his assist man and Orellano proceeded to curl an unstoppable shot to the upper corner to the keepers right, bringing things to level with 40 minutes to play. The goal was Orellano’s ninth of the season and added to his collection of awe inspiring free kick goals this season. It was also the Argentine’s fourth multi goal contribution game of the season.
With all the momentum now, FC Cincinnati pressed for more. By controlling the action in the second half, The Orange and Blue won the possession battle with 63 percent and 14 shots to NSC’s seven.
With the draw, FC Cincinnati brought their record to 17-8-5 (56 points).
After a frantic road trip this week, FC Cincinnati now return home for a Saturday night matchup for their next match. The Orange and Blue will host LAFC next weekend, Saturday, September 28 at TQL Stadium in a matchup of top teams in each conference. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. After the home tilt with LA, FCC will hit the road again in the midweek visiting NYCFC in a game held at Red Bull Arena.
