August 2, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release
The Orange and Blue had the upper hand from kickoff to final whistle. It took nearly 70 minutes to actually take the lead, but the performance as a whole – despite being short-handed by injury and precaution – prompted optimism and earned FC Cincinnati a win.
Yamil Asad earned the match winner. A shot he scorched off the goalkeeper’s hands and through to the back of the net after picking up a perfectly lined up pass from Sergio Santos. That would stand as the only goal either club scored on the night, but a relief from FC Cincinnati as the hosts peppered the opposing goal all night. By the end of the night, FC Cincinnati had racked up 24 shots, tallied 3.3 xG and held Querétaro FC to just 0.4 xG and three shots on target.
From the get go, Querétaro clearly displayed signs of a club that was comfortable playing a nil-nil game and rolling the dice in penalty kicks at worst, and at best looked to bunker in and pounce on a lucky moment to strike. FC Cincinnati, to their credit, put the pressure on and never conceded that one lucky moment, earning the clean sheet and the victory.
But until that goal from Asad came in the 64 minute, it wasn’t smooth sailing despite the dominating performance. But the win was certainly, obviously, welcome.
“We were strong outside of the finishing,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said from the podium for his postgame press conference. “The two criticisms were…poor turnovers that really, in moments where we had time, we rushed plays and then our final third play tonight was subpar. I think that was pretty obvious.”
“But we put ourselves into enough good situations to not have it be as interesting as it was…the result was important, because anytime you go through a losing streak, the longer that carries on, the harder you’re pushing for the win… I think in a lot of ways, we performed well. But for this group at this moment, I think it was important.”
Finishing was a problem. The Orange and Blue were not without opportunities to score, those 24 shots are proof of that. So the box for creative and attacking play can be checked off as a success, but the box for “thing that wins soccer games” was only checked once despite plenty of opportunities. Of the 24 shots, only five made their way on target. Five more were blocked, so credit to the defense there and Los Gallos Blancos goalkeeper Allison had some truly spectacular saves. But until that goal was finally…
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