All FCC clinched was a 4-20-8 record, and the club's record-breaking, third consecutive last-place finish in MLS.
"It hurts because, you know, it's like déjà vu every time we play at home," Vazquez said. "I think most of the games we play at home, almost every single one, we've played great, we play really good, and a couple seconds of lack of focus in the second half cost us the game. It hurts, you know? The city deserves more. This club deserves more. Our group of guys deserve more. You see the quality in training every single day and the work we put in, so these results hurt."
A ball served in from the wing by Haris Medunjanin was knocked in for an own goal by Romney six minutes into the match. That was followed up with a penalty-kick conversion by Brenner after Yuya Kubo drew a foul in Nashville's penalty area.
Brenner's goal was his eighth of 2021, making him the single-season goals leader in FC Cincinnati's MLS history. He surpassed Allan's Cruz's 2019 haul of seven goals to earn the distinction.
A video review by the officiating crew led by referee Ramy Touchan resulted in overturning an offside call, and simultaneously confirming a foul in Nashville's penalty area.
That resulted in another penalty kick to FC Cincinnati, and Brenner took the attempt but his lofted chip-shot down the middle of the goal mouth was easily caught by Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis.
Nashville took full advantage of the miss just moments later and halved its deficit through Walker Zimmerman in the 28th minute.
Crucially, the match swung from what might have been a 3-0 lead for FC Cincinnati to a slim, 2-1 lead.
But the two-goal advantaged was restored for FC Cincinnati four minutes later. Vazquez scored from about 25 yards out, giving him four goals in 2021 and making him the first-ever FCC player to score in three consecutive matches.
"I was one-on-one with (Willis)," Vazquez said. "I felt the players start closing in on me and I knew I had to put it in the corner at that moment. That's what I did."
Marshall said the first half was indicative of the style of play the club is aspiring to, even if it conceded twice against the run of play.
Marshall also suggested Nashville might have started the game sluggishly because of Cincinnati's position at the bottom of the MLS standings.
"That's how we want to play here. You guys see that? That's the type of football that FC Cincinnati, and moving forward, that's what we want to look like," Marshall said. "Attack with pace, be organized defensively but when we do break, we break in transition, we break with numbers, we break with speed and we finish off opportunities. I thought if you took that first half, bottled it up and had it over the course of the season, you know, it's a different result for us in terms of standings and all that good stuff."
The back-and-forth first half still had one more goal to come. It arrived in added time as Leal volleyed home from the top of the Cincinnati's penalty area, making the score 3-2.
The goal felt familiar. It was the "déjà vu" Vazquez described, and the feeling gripped a chilled TQL Stadium.
Sure enough, the match did slip away. A free-kick restart inside FC Cincinnati's defensive third of the field resulted in Sapong's equalizer, which he knocked in with his head.
Over the next nine minutes, Leal scored his second to complete Nashville's comeback at 4-3, and Loba scored for 5-3 to stamp out any chance of an FCC comeback.
Sapong's second goal in second-half added time added more style points to the Nashville win.
Cincinnati has two matches remaining in 2021 – a road match Sunday at Philadelphia Union and a Nov. 7 finale at TQL Stadium against Atlanta United.
Both opponents are pushing for playoff berths, with Philadelphia nearer to clinching and Atlanta likely to enter the season finale needing at least a draw to clinch its playoff position.
“I think in the last two games, we know what the problem is. We have to play better defensively as a team," Kubo said. "Also, we have to play for the team with pride in the last two games. I think that's the most important thing.”
