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MLS FC Cincinnati

Eliminating 'Chaotic Moments' a Key Takeaway to Build on from Victory over Nashville SC: Notebook

July 19, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release


After taking three points from Nashville SC Saturday night in a 3-1 win, FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan wanted to celebrate the moment, but had improvements he would like to see implemented at the top of his mind.

With FC Cincinnati playing with a two-man advantage for the final 20 minutes of the match thanks to Nashville SC players earning multiple yellow cards, Noonan hoped to see his club better take advantage of the situation and capitalize with insurance goals.

"There were too many chaotic moments after we were a man up because of our decision making," Noonan said of his team after the win Saturday night. "Trying to do too much, not playing the game the right way, really careless passes and turnovers and positioning. So it'll be something that we can look at and hopefully learn from."

Santiago Arias scored to take the lead just four minutes after NSC took their second red card. Still, The Orange and Blue struggled from there despite the two-man advantage. FCC applied pressure but allowed Nashville SC opportunities to gain consistent pressure in the attacking half.

The issue came to a fever pitch when in the 94th minute, NSC's Walker Zimmerman went down in the box, and was awarded a penalty kick to potentially even the game late despite FC Cincinnati having such an advantage.

Eventually, VAR would overturn the call, and FCC would add a third goal to secure the victory. Still, the moment highlighted just how risky the opportunity was and how close to disaster The Orange and Blue could have been.

"When you get in that situation where you're up a man or you're up two men, that outcome should be the case," Noonan said of the victory. "So we'll try to take a new experience as far as being up a man, score level and better understand how we should navigate that and manage it (in the future)."

Saturday night was the first time this season that FC Cincinnati has played with a man advantage, representing another first in a year of firsts. Only twice have opponents been shown red cards this season, both coming in Saturday night's game, marking FCC the last team in MLS to play with a man advantage.

"There are some things that we can be better at and learn from, but again, to win 3-1, to be able to play with two men up...there are certainly a lot of things that we did well to position ourselves to win a game," Noonan said of the positives he took from the match, "but if we want to be a championship team...we'll have to improve because games won't always look like this."

Vazquez happy to be home

After a personally successful run with the USMNT - where he scored three goals for his national team - Brandon Vazquez has returned to FC Cincinnati and is excited to be back with the group for the stretch run of the MLS season and the MLS Cup Playoffs.

The clubs all-time leading scorer with 24 goals made his return Saturday night, starting for The Orange and Blue in their fixture with Nashville SC playing all 90 minutes of the match. Vazquez contributed to the games final goal when he fed a breakout pass to Aaron Boupendza in the 90+9 minute.

"I love playing for this team," Vazquez said after making his return to the lineup. "I'm just excited to be back in training with the team...I love playing to stay in front of all the fans. So it's just a lot of fun. I enjoy playing with this group and with the players around me."

Vazquez's assist to Boupendza for the final goal is a relationship that FC Cincinnati would hope to see grow over time, and one that Vazquez is already starting to feel.

"I saw (Boupendza) by himself so I thought it was a no-brainer to play him," Vazquez said. "It was like open season...no reason to waste any time, so I played him and it was a great finish."

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Major League Soccer Stories from July 19, 2023


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