Nick Hagglund soared for a header that bulged the back of the net in front of TQL Stadium's Bailey supporters section in the 83rd minute and, for a few fleeting moments, FC Cincinnati appeared to have rescued the first match in its new home.
Hagglund's header knotted the score at two against an Inter Miami CF side that jumped on FC Cincinnati early, took a 2-0 lead into halftime and threatened to rout the hosts on their special day.
Then, late on, the on-field magic FC Cincinnati was once known for but has lacked in Major League Soccer seemed to return after Hagglund's header.
The club's historic, first-ever match at TQL Stadium was all but saved.
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With less than 10 minutes to play, all FC Cincinnati had to do was manage the game in order to secure a draw that would be long-remembered as a gritty first outing at the stadium.
The sense of magic was short-lived and the prospect of a respectable draw to open TQL Stadium dissipated quickly as Inter Miami ended up dashing hopes of an FCC comeback.
Three minutes after Hagglund scored, Gonzalo Higuain tallied his second goal of the game, restoring a lead for Miami it wouldn't relinquish. They went on to win, 3-2, stunning an FC Cincinnati fan base that hadn't been permitted to attend a home match since September 2019 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
"There's 10 minutes left in the game," Hagglund said. "We have to lock it down there."
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Higuain's late winner was the final blemish on an FC Cincinnati performance that, for the positives that were shown by the hosts, left too much to be desired.
It also cast a shadow on the debut of TQL Stadium, which was the centerpiece of a national TV broadcast for the game.
Alvaro Barreal scored FC Cincinnati's first goal in the new stadium in the 59th minute.
Hagglund then appeared to have salvaged a game that could have gone sideways at 2-0.
But even in scoring twice in the match and snapping a spell of more than 300 minutes across four matches without a goal, FCC wasn't clinical enough in most phases throughout the game.
"In the first half we conceded two easy goals. I think it's sloppy defending. It's not aggressive enough in terms of how you concede them," FC Cincinnati head coach Jaap Stam said afterward. "Created opportunities ourselves as well. We had a couple of shots from close range. Their goalkeeper (John McCarthy) made a couple of saves. We should have scored in the first half as well ... All in all, losing a game – not happy. We've seen a lot of good things as well. We've seen intensity from the team. They showed heart. They fought for it as well.
"Very positive that we came back into the game very good but still what's costing us is giving up three easy goals. We scored two but we still don't win a game ... that's a thing we need to get out of the system."
In falling behind 2-0 going into halftime, FC Cincinnati found itself mired in a stretch of 12 opposition goals that went unanswered.
Barreal's goal "broke the seal," Hagglund said. The team had finally responded to the deluge of opposition attacking success.
Hagglund's goal looked to be one that would flash on FCC highlight reels for years to come.
But Higuain's goal marked the 13th conceded by FCC against just four goals for the club through four matches. It also dropped Cincinnati to 0-3-1 this season and 0-8-1 since its last win, which came against what's now known as Columbus SC on Oct. 14.
In spite of Sunday's missteps, FC Cincinnati can see a positive way forward based on some of the day's performance.
Stam noted the team's positive response to going down by two goals and indicated the expectation would be that the players build off that.
If the club can couple a solid defensive outing with the kind of consistent attacking play it demonstrated against Miami, there's still plenty of hope in the 2021 season with 30 matches yet to be played.
"If we can continue to score goals and look at what we're doing defensively that's causing the goals and trying to get to the root cause of that," Hagglund said, "and make sure we nick out these little transition goals or these little things that where there's a little miscommunication. If we can focus on that, then we have the ability to score goals and there has to be a focus on being able to do both well."
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