FC Cincinnati left fans, and itself, wanting for more once again at TQL Stadium.
Playing up a man for close to 40 minutes against D.C. United, and later with a two-man advantage in the closing moments of the match, FC Cincinnati settled for a scoreless draw Saturday at TQL Stadium with an announced sellout crowd of 25,060 in attendance.
United went down a man in the second half after Moses Nyeman had the ball taken off him by Brenner Souza da Silva, who was in on goal alone but hauled down by Nyeman about 40 yards from the net.
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In second-half added time, United had a second player – Joseph Mora – ejected after receiving a second yellow card.
FC Cincinnati was still unable to win despite an advantage, though, and saw its record move to 3-7-5.
"They got the red card eventually. Then, of course, you still need to do your thing and be very disciplined in how you want to play," FC Cincinnati head coach Jaap Stam said. "It's not like we didn't create anything or that we had no opportunities. We also know that we you play an opposition like this as well against other teams in the league, you're never going to get, like, five or seven clear opportunities. I think we had a couple in the second half... Unfortunately, we didn't do that (finish) and that leaves us, again, with no win which is unfortunate."
Cincinnati enjoyed many of the best chances in the game, along with close to 70% of the possession. Still, the hosts were unable to break United's two lines of four men in the second half.
D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid made three saves in blanking Cincinnati. The game marked the sixth time in 2021 that FC Cincinnati was held scoreless.
"Disappointed with the result," FC Cincinnati midfielder Yuya Kubo said. "Again, we play well first half but we didn't score a goal at the end. A point is good for us but I wanted a win."
Cincinnati goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer also made three saves in preserving his third shutout of 2021.
D.C. United appeared to go in front early after a third-minute goal, but the score was checked and eventually cancelled out via video review due to a player being in an offside position on the play.
That was one of several key officiating decisions in the game, which saw 30 fouls committed – 15 apiece for each team – and five cards issued.
At the close of business in MLS on Saturday night, FC Cincinnati had moved to 10th place in the Eastern Conference, six points back of the seventh and final playoff position.
Asked if he was content with that position through 15 of the 34 matches to be played in 2021, Stam said Cincinnati is making progress but should have more to show for it.
"Like you're saying, we're getting that result," Stam said. "The only thing is that sometimes if you look at the games that we've played, we've played games that you need to get a bigger result and that we needed to be a little bit more consistent because you're always looking back and you're always thinking, 'yeah, if. If we had not given away Columbus or if we wouldn't have given away Montreal. If we wouldn't have given away New England, Atlanta – yeah, then the table looks a lot different but that's also a thing that we need to work on."
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