Amid a Bad Week, the Challenges Ahead and Path Forward Becomes Clearer

July 21, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release

Weeks like this one remind you just how challenging it is to win the Supporters’ Shield. They remind you of how, even with 32 or 33 weeks of consistent and top-end performance in an MLS season, a bad week can relentlessly punish you and set you back months.

FC Cincinnati capped off a bad week, perhaps the worst week in the Chris Albright/Pat Noonan era, with a 3-1 defeat on the road at the hands of the New York Red Bulls. The Red Bulls scored three times before FCC had a response, and from whistle to whistle, the New York side controlled the game in one way or another.

There were times, sure, where FCC looked to be building momentum and even looked as though they were going to flip the script and mount a comeback. But even in those good times, FCC was chasing the game as a seventh minute goal (the earliest conceded this season from The Orange and Blue) put FCC on their heels.

Then a second goal came, and shortly after that, a third. Playing on their heels became playing on their ankles in a flash.

The whole match was played on the back foot in one way or another. It was a fitting end to a week in which FC Cincinnati had to strategize and adapt just to put the teams out there that they did.

“I don’t think anything tonight surprised us because we prepared the team well for how they play; we all kind of know how the Red Bulls like to play,” said coach Dominic Kinnear after the match, acting as Head Coach with Pat Noonan suspended due to a Red Card from Wednesday.

“But you still have to be in the moment; you have to take responsibility for the first and second balls. And quite a few times, they took advantage of that, especially early in the first half and early in the second half.”

“I think we know who we have. We know what we have as far as players go, and we don’t want to go back on ‘we have a lot of players missing,’ but we do. And I mean, it’s difficult sometimes to go three games a week when you’re missing some very important players.”

At some point the water pressure becomes too much and the dam breaks. Or maybe it just overflows. Entering this game FC Cincinnati was without four of its arguably key pieces in the starting lineup; and “arguably” really only extends the conversation to four of its five key pieces unavailable. They were without their Head Coach, who was forced to sit in a box five stories up after taking a Red Card for trying to advocate for his team. One of the more versatile…