USL FC Cincinnati

Game Preview: FC Cincinnati vs. Toronto FC II

September 13, 2018 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
FC Cincinnati News Release


USL Regular Season | Match #29

FC Cincinnati vs. Toronto FC II

Sunday, September 16, 2018 | 4:30 p.m.

Nippert Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio

TV: CW Cincinnati | Stream: ESPN+ | Radio: ESPN 1530 AM

Talent: Tom Gelehrter (play-by-play), Kevin McCloskey (analyst), Lindsay Patterson (sideline)

Team Records

FC Cincinnati: 19-3-6, 63 pts. | First in USL East

Toronto FC II: 3-20-3, 12 pts. | 16th in USL East

LEDESMA TIES USL SINGLE-SEASON ASSIST RECORD

Emmanuel Ledesma recorded his 12th assist of the season in FC Cincinnati's most recent match at Louisville City FC

Ledesma's assist tied the USL single-season assist record, which was met twice previously: Chris Wehan (Reno 1868 FC, 2017) and Matthew Dallman (Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, 2013)

ORANGE AND BLUE CLINCH PLAYOFF BERTH

FC Cincinnati became the first team to clinch a berth in the 2018 USL Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on Sept. 1

Furthermore, the Orange and Blue secured a home playoff match after defeating Louisville City FC, 1-0, on Sept. 11

FCC has now earned a spot in the USL Cup Playoffs in each of its three seasons in the league: 2016, 2017 and 2018 ... the 2018 postseason is set to begin on Saturday, October 20

FCC SEEKS TO EXTEND CLUB-RECORD SIX-GAME WINNING STREAK

FC Cincinnati claimed its sixth consecutive USL win - the longest winning streak in club history - when the Orange and Blue defeated Louisville City FC, 1-0, on Sept. 11

Real Monarchs SLC hold the USL's all-time longest winning streak of nine matches, which they achieved in 2017.

FCC previously won four consecutive games, two of which were U.S. Open Cup contests, in May 2017

During the current streak, FCC has outscored its opposition 14-3 and has posted three clean sheets

FC CINCINNATI ON LONGEST UNBEATEN RUN IN CLUB HISTORY

FCC enters Saturday's match riding a 17-game unbeaten run during which time FCC is 13-0-4 in USL play ... this is the longest undefeated run in club history

FC Cincinnati recently completed its third-consecutive unbeaten month, having posted an unbeaten record in June (4-0-2), July (3-0-1), and August (4-0-1) ... overall, FCC has tallied seven unbeaten months in club history

During the run, FCC is 8-0-2 at home and 5-0-2 on the road

The club's previous longest undefeated run was 11 games in the first half of the 2016 season (7-0-4)

KONATE, LAHOUD RETURN FROM INTERNATIONAL DUTY

Defender Pa Konate and midfielder Michael Lahoud were called in to their respective national teams for Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers

Lahoud and Sierra Leone played and fell to Ethiopia, 1-0, on Sunday, Sept. 9, at Hawassa International Stadium in Awassa, Ethiopia ... Lahoud did not make an appearance

Lahoud has four caps for Sierra Leone, which is competing in Group F of Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying with Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia ... Sierra Leone now has a 1-1-0 record in group play

Konate, who has previously represented his native Sweden at the senior international level, used his one-time FIFA nationality switch to play for his ancestral Guinea, where his father was born

Guinea hosted and defeated the Central African Republic, 1-0, on Sept. 9 in Conakry ... Konate did not make an appearance

Guinea is in Group H of qualifying and has a 2-0-0 record in group play, which also includes Central African Republic, Ivory Coast and Rwanda

FC CINCINNATI SUPPORTING CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

This September, FC Cincinnati is working with several local non-profit organizations to bring greater visibility to their respective efforts in the childhood cancer field

At each of the team's three home games in September, FCC will host different organizations as the club's Community Outreach Partner, which is presented by Home City Ice

The Orange and Blue will host Cancer Free Kids for the match against Toronto FC II on Sept. 16 ... Cancer Free Kids seeks to eradicate cancer as a life-threatening disease in children by funding promising research that might otherwise go un- or under-funded

Cincinnati will also host The Cure Starts Now for FCC's match against Indy Eleven on Sept. 29 ... The Cure Starts Now focused on research to find a cure for DIPG, a rare form of pediatric brain cancer

FCC welcomed the Dragonfly Foundation for the club's match against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on Sept. 1 ... The Dragonfly Foundation helps pediatric cancer families and patients find strength, courage and joy throughout treatment and recovery in the form of support and comfort services

In addition to the club's community partners, goalkeeper Evan Newton, FCC and Cincy Shirts have collaborated on a fundraising effort for Cincinnati Children's Hospital ... specially designed t-shirts - featuring Newton's silhouette a making heart-shaped hands symbol while diving for a save - are available for purchase through Cincy Shirts ... all profits from the sale of the special-edition shirts will be donated to Cincinnati Children's Hospital

PREVIEW QUOTES

FC Cincinnati Head Coach Alan Koch

On the health of the team...

"Everybody who played is okay, we obviously controlled people's workloads today, just to make sure everybody is going to be okay for training tomorrow and Saturday before Sunday's game. A big positive today is Matt Bahner was fit to go at 100 percent. We controlled his workload a little bit, but he got through everything and tomorrow he will be 100 percent good to go."

On having Pa Konate and Michael Lahoud back from international duty...

"Yeah, it was awesome. Obviously, having grown up in Africa and having travelled back and forth between Africa and North America, I know it's a long, long way. You could see it on both of their faces today. They're both pretty tired, and that's why we controlled their workloads today. They joined the regen group even though neither of them played, but it's taken a lot out of them obviously to travel across the world. We went light with them today, and then hopefully they'll be good to go and join the group completely tomorrow."

On the team's ability to grind out results when needed...

"I think the guys have obviously shown the ability to play good soccer this year, but have also shown the ability to grind things out. Having said that, that's the past. I hate to keep saying [it], but we move forward. We get ourselves ready for the next one. If we play great soccer on Sunday, great, if we have to grind it out, that's part of the business, sometimes you have to do that. I think we've shown we have the ability to do both and I think the second any team shows that they can play good soccer, but they can also grind out results, that's a huge positive for the group."

On preparing for a Sunday match...

"We've had to adjust things a little bit this week, obviously because we weren't anticipating playing another game on Tuesday. Even though Saturday was just 37 minutes, and then the game on Tuesday was 60-odd [minutes] if that's what we're going to call it, those are both games that you have to prepare for mentally and physically. You have to go warmup, you have to go play, you have to allow your body and your mind to cooldown after those games. We've had to adjust the workload for certain players, but we feel like after today, once everybody is rested and recovered from today's session and [has gotten] the required sleep and everything, I think we should be good to go and tackle our preparations on tomorrow and then on Saturday in getting ourselves ready for Sunday."

FC Cincinnati Midfielder Michael Lahoud

On the team's ability to grind out results when needed...

"I think Justin Hoyte said it best after Tampa, "You create your own luck.' Other teams can say what they want, but at the end of the day, we're not going to look back at how we won. The best teams around the world, the teams that are champions, you do have those character moments, those gut check times and that's what champions are made of. We're not done yet. I think it would be naïve for us to have a respite and look at the next remainder of the season and say "Ah, we've done it,' because this next stretch of games is the hardest. It's easy to get up for Louisville, it's easy to get up for Pittsburgh, but it's the teams that have absolutely nothing to lose - Penn, Richmond, Toronto - those are the real character defining games."

Check out the FC Cincinnati Statistics



United Soccer League Championship Stories from September 13, 2018


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