FC Cincinnati defeated Chicago Fire FC, 1-0, Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 25,513 at TQL Stadium. The game marked the sixth of eight games in a 25-day stretch.
Three of those six games in this current stretch have been played on just two days of rest, including Saturday night. And with the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals quickly approaching on Tuesday night, the fixture against Pittsburgh will mark a fourth such game played just three days following another.
But despite the congested schedule, Head Coach Pat Noonan’s side and the Supporters’ Shield leaders halfway through the MLS season keep winning. Under Noonan, FC Cincinnati are 6-0-2 in games on two days rest, including Saturday night.
“A really gutsy performance,” Noonan said following the team’s 1-0 win over Chicago. “A different type of game than we've seen just in terms of how much we had the ball, where we had the ball and the numbers that we're looking at right now. The first 45 (minutes), there wasn't enough ball rotation to find different ways to get in the box to create our chances. But in the second half, there were a couple of slight adjustments in terms of how we wanted to position ourselves to be able to better threaten their backline and make them think about different things to allow Quimi [Ordoñez] in striker position and our wingbacks to get in the box.”
Cincinnati’s line up looked much different than it had on Wednesday night at New York City FC. The aforementioned Homegrown Arquimides Ordoñez earned his first career start in front of the home supporters at TQL Stadium. Yuya Kubo and Marco Angulo each started, and Alvas Powell in the central defense mapped out the Starting XI for the Orange and Blue.
“A couple things,” Noonan said as the reasoning for the rotated lineup. “Guys that deserve minutes from the start, rotation to make sure that we continue to get fresh legs out there. And in saying that, there's still guys that were logging a lot of minutes that we had to just kind of monitor as the game went on. Then with the rotations, how over the course of tonight's game and Pittsburgh [on Tuesday] can we position ourselves to win two games? And a lot of who was rotated tonight kind of factored into what led up to it with just the outputs of some guys.
“When I say rotation, there's just guys that deserve minutes and are ready to start the game for us and help us win. You can see sometimes the chemistry is maybe a little bit off or there are nerves with performances, but that's natural. I was still pleased with the group that started the game to get us to a point where when we had to make some changes, the game was level.”
The first half produced no major chances for either side. The first, best chance of the match came just after halftime as Ordoñez nearly found the back of the net in the 52nd minute. Powell created the chance as the defender, making his third start of the year, barreled through the Chicago midfield. With a quick stepover, Powell positioned the ball for a strike with his left foot at the top of the area but his shot was blocked.
A fortunate deflection found the feet of Ray Gaddis, who quickly played a low pass across the face of goal in an attempt to pick out Yuya Kubo but was well defended once again by the Chicago defense. Ordoñez was first to the reclaim possession near the penalty spot, but curled his effort wide of the far post.
Shortly after the hour mark, both sides made three substitutions, with Junior Moreno, Dominique Badji and Brandon Vazquez entering for the Orange and Blue.
In the 70th minute, Santiago Arias entered. And the Colombian’s veteran experience and skill proved vital in the lone goal of the night just 13 minutes later.
Driving down the right side, Arias sent a ball into the box from nearly midfield, which found an on-running Acosta. The captain’s first touch allowed Lucho to put himself in position to score his team-high seventh goal of the season.
“You felt like it was going to come down to one moment for either team, and we found it in a pretty impressive way with Santi's delivery to Lucho and an excellent touch and finish,” Noonan said.
“I think you saw some experienced players recognizing a space to attack. So, with Santi as he's getting the ball, there was space for him to drive, and in that moment, I think I'm telling Dom [Badji] and Brandon [Vazquez] to move away. He had some space, so could we move some defenders away, but if you watch Lucho on the play, the second that Santi gets the ball and starts to advance, he's playing the back shoulder there and they had a distance from the center back to the widest player there where his movement was really good to be able to time his run and being onside position, but then the next part of it is the touch. Being able to face up the defender, and I'm not sure how it went in … but that's just the creativity of our captain to make that point. That was a good goal.”
Acosta’s goal was the lone shot on goal – by either team – on the night. The captain has been playing at an All-Star level again. He has scored six goals in his last six games for FCC.
Acosta has started and played at least 75 minutes in each of FC Cincinnati’s six games in the past 18 days, including the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 match at the New York Red Bulls. He played the full 120 minutes in that contest.
“If you're just looking at production and in the ways in which he's helping our team win games and the way in which he's leading, I think it's fair to say might be the best form that I've seen since we've been working together,” Noonan said on Acosta. “But if you look at the rotations that we've had and the fact that he's still out there today, it's part of him convincing me that he's OK. And I believe that, but he's a competitor and I think he recognizes how special this group is, and he wants to be out there leading the way to us going and trying to accomplish things. I couldn't be more pleased with his leadership, his production. He's a big part of why we're in this position.”
Next up for FC Cincinnati is a match against old USL rivals Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Tuesday night in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. from TQL Stadium, and tickets are available at FCCincinnati.com/Tickets or by calling (513) 977-5425 (KICK). The match will be streamed for free on the Bleacher Report YouTube channel and the B/R app.
