Defeat After Slow Start Leaves FC Cincinnati with Simple Answers, But a More Nuanced Path Forward

September 29, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release

It was the kind of night where short answers were all FC Cincinnati personnel had to offer. The mistakes were glaring and clear enough that nuisance and detail wasn’t all that needed.

For example: Pat Noonan, who is not typically prone to extensive monologue, but usually has some details to add and thoughts to share, was short and clear about his opinion on his side’s performance.

“A disappointing result that I think stemmed from the poor start to the game,” Pat Noonan said to open his press conference. “Our passing was terrible for 35 minutes. There was no attacking or defensive structure because the way we passed the ball was, was really, really poor.”

FC Cincinnati came out as flat as they have in a long time and shot themselves in the foot for most of the first half of the match despite any advantages they had. There was credit to be given to LAFC. hey were coming off a midweek match where they played 120 minutes then flew cross country to play in FC Cincinnati’s home in the middle of a Tropical Storm where it rained for every minute of the match. They did their part.

But the resounding feeling from FC Cincinnati players and coaches was that they didn’t perform up to their standards, and if they had,the game would have been FCC’s by the end of the night.

“There was enough out there for us to find another goal,” Noonan continued in the press conference. “I think we let up a pretty soft second goal, from the beginning of the play and how they’re able to get down the flank. So, a couple naive plays that lead to that second goal, and that’s disappointing. But we’ll move on.”

“I don’t think we were sharp enough defensively and it cost us,” Miles Robinson added from the locker room. “There’s no excuses. In reality, I think we just weren’t sharp enough on the ball in that first half, and I think that caused us to lose possession easily. Then they run on the front foot…and we’re under pressure for a bit.

“But, obviously, I think we should have had more from this game.”

Even the answers about why the team started to look better towards the end of the first half and into the second half were blunt and simple.

“We passed better,” Noonan said in a complete answer.

Fair enough.

Noonan told broadcasters prior to the match that he felt this is the best roster FC Cincinnati had at their disposal, so it is obviously disappointing they didn’t get more from this game. It has been at the very least a…