While Not ‘Punished’ in the Outcome in Orlando, FC Cincinnati Recognize Need to Learn from Underwhelming Performance

May 5, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release

ORLANDO – The locker room had music playing, but the vibe was clearly off as FC Cincinnati began packing to leave the depths of INTER&Co Stadium in Orlando, Florida Saturday night. The Orange and Blue had earned an important three points over a conference foe on the road and extended a winning streak, but it was clear that the room, as a collective, were not leaving the stadium completely thrilled with what had transpired over the last two hours.

FC Cincinnati had earned a 1-0 victory over Orlando City SC thanks to a lightning quick strike from Luciano Acosta 17 seconds into the match, setting a new club record for the fastest goal scored, which stood as the game winner as FC Cincinnati secured its sixth win of the season and its fourth clean sheet.

But after taking that early lead so quickly and a red card that was shown to Orlando City defender Rodrigo Schlegel 23 minutes into the match for a foul on a Yuya Kubo breakaway that was deemed a DOGSO foul (denial of goal scoring opportunity) after a VAR review, FCC struggled to generate the offense that you would expect from a team playing a man up and even at times looked like the roles could have been reversed. It was actually Orlando playing with the advantage, not the other way around

“We didn’t deserve a second goal,” Noonan said postgame. “(It was a) Good start. I mean…I don’t know what that was-20 seconds, 17 seconds? So, you don’t expect that but a very bright start. Good sequence…then up until the red card, there was just some sloppiness with four or five moments where we just couldn’t control the ball and you find yourself defending.”

The disjointed game seemed to have everything going FC Cincinnati’s way. The early goal, the red card, OCSC being forced to make an early sub and burn a substation window in order to adapt to the red card, another two substitutions of starters due to injury and a largely stunned and quiet home crowd as their club’s odds took a sharp decline.

The perfect version of the night would have been FCC sniffing blood in the water and striking again to put the game out of reach. Another goal or two to have some insurance against the counter-attacking tactic Orlando quickly moved to after the red card.

But FCC struggled to gain the forward motion they needed, generating just two more shots on target through the rest of the match and despite owning 54.7 percent of possession and outnumbering their hosts, Orlando…