FC Cincinnati came into Saturday night sitting first in the East and leading the Supporters’ Shield race. By the end of the night, they’d dropped to third in the Supporters Shield Race and second in the Eastern Conference.
NYC FC’s Alonso Martinez scored the only goal of the match, finishing off a breakaway in the 55th minute after FCC gave the ball away in their own end. That was enough to seal a 1-0 win for New York.
First Half
FCC had most of the chances early but couldn’t get past NYC FC’s Matt Freese, who came up big with a handful of tough saves.
Evander also had two solid looks, both could’ve been goals, but Freese shut him down.
FCC’s keeper, Roman Celentano, made a clutch stop too, keeping things level.
Overall, it was a grind of a half. Both teams defended well, not much space, not much flow.
Second Half
Alonso Martinez finally broke through for NYC FC, burying a breakaway chance after a sloppy stretch of passing from FCC’s back end.
That gave New York the 1-0 lead in the 55th minute.
FCC continued to put pressure on NYC FC down the stretch but just could not find the equalizer in the final minutes, falling 1-0, putting them in third place in the Supporters Shield Race and second in the Eastern Conference.
Head coach Pat Noonan didn’t sugarcoat how he felt post-game.
“We weren’t up for it, for various reasons,” and that’s why the game looked the way it did. Credit to New York City, who were the better team that deserved to win.”
“Our decision-making under pressure was poor. Careless turnovers that don’t allow you to get into a rhythm with the ball and have you defending in transition,”
Noonan added, “On the ball, we were nowhere close.”
When asked about the breakdown that led to the game-winning goal, Noonan said, “That moment came from a combination of things. We’re going to change our shape a little bit and see if we can create more space.”
He added, “It shouldn’t change our urgency. We’re still trying to come into every game better every day.”
Noonan also talked about the team’s spark to end the match: “There were moments where we started to figure something out.”
And on the bigger picture of the season: “It’s no different than any other stretch. We can talk all day about those things, but we’ve got to take lessons and move forward as quickly as possible.”
FCC will next face the Supporters Shield and Eastern Conference leaders, Philadelphia Union, on Saturday, Aug. 30th at TQL Stadium. Kickoff is at 7:30 PM ET.
Author
