ORLANDO – Seeking a response to a 5-0 loss to New York City FC, FC Cincinnati only managed to disappoint once again.
FC Cincinnati lost its second consecutive match in a 3-0 defeat against Orlando City SC at Exploria Stadium on Saturday before a limited-capacity crowd of 11,503.
Orlando's Tesho Akindele opened the scoring less than 30 seconds into the match as he pounced on FCC center back Nick Hagglund's back-pass didn't have enough steam on it.
The score was the fastest in Orlando City's MLS history and was a quick blow to the club's designs for the match.
Luis Nani doubled the lead in the 18th minute with a creative, highlight-reel-worthy individual effort and Junior Urso knocked home a loose ball in the FC Cincinnati penalty area in the 80th minute to round out the scoring.
FC Cincinnati was kept off the scoreboard for the second straight game after it was unable to convert on any of its seven shots.
Cincinnati was out-shot 22-7 by Orlando.
Here's what we learned from Saturday's match:
• FC Cincinnati disappointed in not responding the way it needed to after losing 5-0 at New York City FC. Cincinnati was flat-footed out of the gates and a careless giveaway led to a 1-0 deficit inside of 30 seconds. Orlando's pressure kept coming and produced a second goal on a quality effort by Nani. Junior Urso's goal in the 80th minute was just more salt in the wound for FCC, which now hasn't scored since Brenner Souza da Silva's penalty kick in the 12th minute of the season-opener against Nashville on April 17.
Despite some possession and a handful of decent chances against Orlando, FC Cincinnati hasn't scored in about 258 minutes. They've conceded 10 goals through three games. Basically, not much is working the way it's supposed to for FCC. The club is buoyed by the draw it picked up against Nashville and aspects of that match also weren't pretty.
• Przemysław Tytoń returned to the starting lineup after he was a late scratch against New York City FC one week earlier and was plenty busy. He had some acrobatic stops and looked like a No. 1 goalkeeper. There wasn't much he could have done on the first goal, although the second goal seemed to be within his range. In any event, he didn't get to that one but steered other shots away. And Tytoń would obviously want to give a good accounting of himself with the expected arrival next week of goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer, who was claimed by the club off waivers.
• Winger Isaac Atanga debuted for FC Cincinnati after less than a week of practice and looked decent considering that. His name won't jump off the stat sheet but 55 minutes of run is a good way to get him acclimated. Head coach Jaap Stam brought Calvin Harris on for Atanga early in the second half, so maybe Atanga wasn't a great tactical fit given his limited time at the club but if the pacey winger is going to have an impact in the near future, better to get him started now. While I'm not sure he brought much to the proceedings at Exploria Stadium, he still knocked out some objectives that could be of benefit down the road. He also wasn't part of the problem in the loss.
• Gustavo Vallecilla made his debut, too, after Tom Pettersson went down with an injury. Vallecilla trained with FC Cincinnati for the first time on Friday, so his appearance was a real baptism-by-fire and might not have been in the plans originally. The fact that he got his debut out of the way and logged some minutes so early in his time at FCC is a positive.
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