NASHVILLE - FC Cincinnati's forgettable 3-0 loss to Nashville SC will be one Arquimides “Quimi” Ordonez always remembers.
The 17-year-old made his FC Cincinnati debut on Saturday at Nissan Stadium. He entered the match in the 74th minute for Edgar Castillo to become the youngest and first homegrown academy player to appear in an MLS match for FCC.
Ordonez joined the postgame Zoom press conference trying to conceal a smile.
“(I) definitely was a little nervous but the entire coaching staff kind of trusts me," Ordonez said. "I just thought ‘I got to play simple, play like I do in practice and stop thinking so much about everyone watching around.'"
Watching around sat the largest crowd Nashville SC welcomed this season, with a small traveling group of FC Cincinnati supporters sitting atop the far corner.
Head coach Jaap Stam pulled from his bench early in the match, giving Nick Hagglund and Isaac Atanga starts for the second half. The heat, busy schedule and early strikes from Nashville contributed to the list of substitutions.
Ordonez, who signed his pro FCC contract on July 2, got the appearance from the work he does in training sessions.
"He deserved to get a couple of minutes to get used to the level of the MLS," Stam said. "There are also other players that maybe could have played but for me, this is the decision that we made because sometimes you need to also reward a player for what he’s bringing in the training session."
More: Arquimides Ordonez, FC Cincy's second Homegrown player: 'This is business now'
Ordonez entered the match with FC Cincinnati down 3-0. He said although it was tough to enter in the deficit, he didn't think too much about it when he took the field.
"I came in as a left back so I was just trying to make sure we didn’t give up any more goals on my end and then I tried to help out my defensive part," Ordonez said. "It's definitely not the ideal situation but what can you do, you just have to play as best as you can.”
Ordonez said he will walk away with two especially memorable moments from his FCC debut.
“In game, they had a 1-on-1 and they were about to score and I tracked back and I took the ball from them. I think that was pretty good in game," Ordonez said. "Off the field, I talked to (Hany) Mukhtar, he’s one of my favorite players so it was good to talk to him. He gave me some words of advice that were pretty nice to hear.”
FC Cincinnati is now 3-7-4 in 2021. The team will return home to host D.C. United on July 31.
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