4 Takeaways from FC Cincinnati’s Preseason Victory over New England Revolution

February 16, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – FC Cincinnati News Release

Preseason is done. On to the regular season, to cup competitions and all the other things that will come in 2024.

Kind of.

FC Cincinnati played their final 2024 preseason friendly Thursday against New England Revolution, winning 5-2 in a 90-minute affair that had FCC roll out the same lineup they did against Philadelphia a week ago, pointing towards a continuity suggestive of the future.

There will still be training in Florida, so the preseason is only kind of over, but the match week build-up for the Concacaf Champions Cup and MLS home opener is now here, and the next time we see The Orange and Blue take the field, there will be competitive stakes attached to it. Let’s look at four key takeaways from the final preseason friendly for FCC:

Slow starts, strong finishes

The Orange and Blue have conceded first in three of four games this preseason, with the clean sheet in friendly No. 2 being the only match outside that pattern.

Is that a trend to be considered? Maybe. Is the sample size too small? Probably.

The start of matches has been admittedly slow by all accounts. Head coach Pat Noonan and captain Luciano Acosta have addressed it in their own ways, highlighting the changes from last year to this year as possible contributors to the opening phase of matches. With so many new players in the lineup and different roles for returning players, getting into the matches with confidence and assurance has been slow.

Part of this has been progressively building up playing time. Against Austin FC in friendly No. 1, each group only played 45 minutes, then 60 minutes, then 75, and then a full 90 in this final friendly. But in each of those instances, the groups progressively improved as the game pushed on, so by the end of each group’s time on the field, they had dominated play.

It’s an encouraging sign. The more time FC Cincinnati has played together, the more they’ve looked like the dominant side. But slow starts like the one against Philadelphia particularly, and conceding first on Thursday is not a trend Noonan and his staff want to see thrive.

Flurry of scoring

For the second consecutive game, FC Cincinnati netted three unanswered goals. The usual suspects of Luciano Acosta, Aaron Boupendza and Corey Baird all added to their preseason totals but this time the newly signed FC Cincinnati man Pavel Bucha opened his account by putting his first goal in Orange and Blue.

FCC goals came fast and…