On most nights, and some nights at the very least, a 2-2 draw between two top-of-the-table squads may be good enough. But not on Saturday night at TQL Stadium. Not for this FC Cincinnati squad.
FC Cincinnati scored a 55th-minute equalizer to earn a 2-2 draw with the second-place club in the Supporters’ Shield standings, New England Revolution. Still, the lasting takeaway was that three points were there for the taking, given the quality of play that the Orange and Blue displayed.
“I felt like there were three points there for us.” FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said post-game, “I think the disappointment is in the way we created chances and how we conceded them. We were short of a couple of points tonight based on the performance.”
FC Cincinnati spent the early moments of the match dominant over the visiting New England Revolution. They dominated possession and had more shots, more shots on target, interceptions, a higher xG (by over triple), and far more high-danger opportunities.
The Orange and Blue even got on the board first. Scoring in the 11th minute on a sensational team build-up that was secured by a Dominique Badji touch for his third goal of the season. A goal only made possible thanks to a perfectly placed pass from forward Yuya Kuba.
That’s when the luck well turned off. FCC continued to dominate, but they couldn’t capitalize. Meanwhile, the New England Revolution didn’t have many opportunities. Still, with the little luck they were given, they took advantage and claimed a 2-1 lead less than 15 minutes later.
The first Revolution goal came from an own goal created after Roman Celentano accidentally punched a shot save directly off the foot of Badji, which ricocheted back into the net. An unfortunate break.
The second came just nine minutes later when Ray Gaddis missed an attempted clearance in the box, which landed on the foot of Gustavo Bou, who, after one touch, fired home the shot just past the outreached glove of Celentano.
“To concede like that, in those ways, we know it’s preventable and you kind of have an idea of how you can eliminate those moments,” Noonan said of the unfortunate situations that led to the goals, “From there to not concede against a team that’s very good…it was a good response."
For the first time all season, FC Cincinnati was trailing at home, taking a 2-1 deficit into the locker room. The Orange and Blue risked losing ground in the MLS standings and their record-setting winning streak at home.
Since joining MLS, FC Cincinnati has never come from behind to win while going to the locker room at the half. With an 0-46-4 record all-time when trailing at half-time and a 0-16-1 record at home, if FCC wanted to continue their potentially historic winning streak at TQL Stadium, they would have to come out in the second half and do something they had never done.
The second half began similarly to how the first ended; the Orange and Blue controlled high-danger play. But it wasn’t until the 55th minute that, once again, Dominique Badji found the smallest of windows to score the equalizer.
“It was just a great ball from (Luciano Acosta) that I happened to cut back in on to my preferred left foot and I just put it in the corner,” the striker Badji said. “It’s football. Sometimes you’re not going to score every chance you create…if we have the same performance on any given day, we’re scoring more than we’re missing.”
Badji played the hero for FCC, scoring both goals and earning praise from his gaffer for taking advantage of the opportunities presented to him. But with the result not being what the Orange and Blue were looking for, the feeling from the FCC locker room was that of wanting more.
“Goals feel a little different when you don’t win.” Badji added, “I think for a lot of teams, the result would have been good, but we hold ourselves to a higher standard and so it feels good (to play well) but it’s not satisfying.”
The result led to mixed feelings in the locker room. On the one hand, it was clear the home side felt they had played with quality and created enough opportunities to win the match, but on the other, winning – especially at home – is essential.
“We played well…we had good energy,” defender Yerson Mosquera said after the match, “We had control of the game…we need to win at home.”
“Yeah we played well overall, but we had many chances and we didn’t take it,” Kubo added. “We took 12 or 13 shots and we scored just two and it’s not enough. But still, we took a point.”
The performance from FC Cincinnati was encouraging to players and coaches alike as it earned a come-from-behind point and showed a significant rebound from their last appearance, where the Orange and Blue were defeated by D.C. United.
The other factor in the evening’s match was the weather; with temperatures rising into the mid-80s and humidity between 75% and 85%, the elements played a significant role in developing the game.
“The guys put a lot into it tonight,” Noonan said of his team’s effort, “You can tell the temperatures affected the play, the tempo, the recoveries, but they push through them.
“It was a good response…it was a much better performance than in D.C. The first 30 minutes I think is as good as we played all year. Some really good sequences.”
