Everyone knew this could have been the final game of the season. That's the nature of a winner-take-all matchup in a cup competition. The possibility is always there but it's never really real.
Until it is.
The feeling at the core of Saturday afternoon at TQL Stadium feels like it caught you by surprise. It felt like a jump scare in a scary movie. Like you knew something was hiding in the dark of the TV screen, but it got you regardless.
For just about every moment of the game, FC Cincinnati dominated. Metrics may explain it, and stats probably point toward the quality of performance. But the eye test told the story and was true regardless of what those numbers may say. FC Cincinnati played perhaps the best soccer it has in a very long time. They dominated.…and yet, it is FC Cincinnati that begins its offseason early and NYCFC that moves on.
"A tough way to end it. I'm really proud of the season this group has had. They've endured a lot but put their heads down and went about it the right way the whole season," Pat Noonan said from the post-game press conference dais on Saturday evening. "This is us coming up a little bit short of one of our goals and that's the disappointment we feel.”
"But it wasn't for a lack of effort, desire and how (FCC players) played the game. They were up for the moment, and sometimes even when you perform well, the result doesn't go your way. That's where we're at in this moment. I'm proud of the guys."
The nightmare scenario crept its way into reality. Playing 90 minutes of dominant soccer just to lose on less than 20 kicks from the penalty spot is a heartbreaking way to end a season. It feels undeserved. Unfair.
"Yeah. That's footy though," Roman Celentano said from the locker room after the match.
"Sometimes you're the better team…We thought we were the better team on the day… but you can't... if you can't close out. Then, you leave it up to chance in the pens. That's just… that's just how footy works sometimes, and it sucks."
Roman Celentano gave FC Cincinnati its best chance to win. The 24-year-old goalkeeper answered the call and made not one but two saves in the shootout, saving the day and extending the contest when it seemed assured to be over. But the takers couldn't convert to keep things going.
Prior to Saturday night, Celentano had not saved a penalty kick this season. The very notion of a penalty kick disadvantages goalkeepers. While Celentano and his kin have to remain stationary on their line, shooters can employ all sorts of strategies to mislead or fool a keeper into leaning the wrong way.
Yet somehow, it's their job to defy the unlikely. To reject the assured.
"Penalties are the one chance you get to be a hero," Celentano said, referencing the goalkeeper's ability to be the one to end the game. "Last year we came out with it, but this year we didn't. It sucks."
"That's just how footy works sometimes, and it sucks. All the guys are disappointed, as we should be, but it'll be fuel for next year."
For a season filled with inconsistencies, highs and lows, ups and downs, it was as complete a performance as we've seen from The Orange and Blue since, at the very least, prior to the 2024 League Cup. Chances were abound. Passing was crisp, the defense was locked down, and play was dictated by FCC's ability to control the midfield and press NYCFC into turnovers and rushed decisions.
NYCFC generated 0.4 xG, the second lowest conceded xG The Orange and Blue have allowed this season. Second only to Game One of the Best of 3 series. But even with the four shots on target that were generated, and the 16 shots that never made it to target, the finishing touch just wasn't there. A struggle that has been felt all season long in the most difficult moments for FC Cincinnati.
"Our finishing let us down," Noonan said, identifying the theme of the three-game series. "We had some really good chances to get a lead tonight. Credit to (NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese). He made a really good save on Luca's (Orellano) chance, and we had a couple that we got into good spots and just couldn't finish off plays. And I think in the end, that's kind of what hurt us in the game and in the series as a whole, but really the last couple months."
There was one final surprise on the night, though. In the depths of TQL Stadium, a still uniformed Luciano Acosta stepped to the gathered press corps and bared his soul on the disappointment of falling short on not only the game but the season as a whole.
"It's painful," Acosta said. "We played very well tonight. We played well enough to win the game. Sometimes when it goes to penalties it comes down to luck, sometimes it's the decisions made on the field…but we fought right to the very end."
It was then Acosta gave the biggest shock of the night, even beyond the loss.
A reporter asked the 2023 MLS MVP about an extended embrace he and Head Coach Pat Noonan shared after the game on the field and if Acosta could illuminate what was said.
"I thanked him for these years. It's kind of hard, the feelings you have when a season ends this way, I thanked him because you never know what the future holds," Acosta said. "I think I gave everything for this club. I'm leaving sad, once again. We couldn't get where we wanted to. It could be the end at the club, we don't know. I have to keep talking, planning and take a break, give my mind a break, and think of what's coming, what's best for the club and for me."
"I said maybe it's the end for me at the club," Acosta continued after a follow-up question for clarification. "We don't know. We have to keep speaking with the corresponding people and see what happens in the future. For me, I gave my all for this club. Not reaching where we wanted to get is maybe causing this frustration of me wanting to step aside. We don't know, there are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes, away from the field. And also personal things."
It is rare that the media speaks with players while still in their uniforms. Unchanged from the gear they wore on the pitch. Typically, by virtue of timing, players are changed out of game gear and into street clothes. So to get a player still in their kit with all but their boots still hanging off them speaks to the freshness of the open wound. The grass, dirt and sweat hadn't even been showered off yet.
Emotions run high after these games and these kinds of defeats. Acosta acknowledged that, and admitted that may be part of it. But to hear any word that the 2023 MLS MVP who signed a contract extension through 2026 with an option for 2027 just last season redefined the entire night.
The Argentine attacking midfielder highlighted the disappointment of not reaching a goal as a key reason for his thoughts but also made sure to highlight some of his pains are from his personal life. We are not entitled to those details as a public; Luciano Acosta is entitled to his personal life staying personal. Regardless of the reason, any FC Cincinnati team without Lucho going forward would definitively close the book at the end of an era. Further cementing the 0-0(6-5) PK loss as a moment in history, one way or another.
"Today I played for [the fans] to remember as my last at the club... I want them to remember me like this. I gave my life for this club. I gave everything. They were amazing years. I'm not saying I'm leaving, but today I'm taking a little break and think well about what's going to happen."
There will be a 2024 postmortem at some point—an evaluation of what went right, what went wrong and what comes next. There will be hard decisions, and some of what was said in the locker room probably makes those decisions harder or at least perhaps more complicated. They certainly make them more public, but at some point, all decisions are anyway.
In past years, 'exit interviews' have been performed at the end of the season. They're an opportunity to ask more holistic questions about the state of the club, its players and what's to come next before some depart for the offseason. While those have not yet been formally scheduled (again, speaking to the shock of the moment and the season's ending), there is no reason to believe they won't be soon.
Until that time, all FC Cincinnati and its faithful are left with is Pat Noonan's parting words in the final post-game press conference of 2024:
"A strong group, some good characters. I told them they were fun to work with," Noonan said. "Sometimes, really good teams and good people don't always get rewarded with what you think you might deserve, and we came up short. But with how this season played out and the amount that was thrown at them at different times, everybody just kind of put their head down and worked, and that's what I appreciate from them.”
"It was a really strong group, and you could feel it because of the silence and knowing that this is probably the last moment we'll all be together again. So, they were a really professional group the entire year, despite the ups and the downs in the form and injuries and things off the field. That could have looked a lot different than us being in the position we were in today, based on what was thrown at them. They were fantastic."
