PHILADELPHIA – FC Cincinnati needs the 2021 season to be over.
After two rounds of front-office firings and elimination from the playoffs confirmed weeks ago, FC Cincinnati tried but has so far failed to give fans anything to cheer about down the final stretch of another failed MLS campaign.
With new general manager Chris Albright in place, it's really all about getting through the final match against Atlanta United on Sunday at TQL Stadium and continuing to set the table for 2022.
As part of the table-setting process, the recent matches have served a purpose as players and staff are being evaluated ahead of next season.
Results continue to evade FC Cincinnati, which is now on an 11-match losing streak, but the club is finding out about the players on its roster, as well as the interim coaching staff. You can't paper over the club's shortcomings this season, but that doesn't mean FC Cincinnati hasn't made productive use of the recent games.
Here's a list of what has worked, and who has performed well, in the closing stretch of the 2021 season:
Brandon Vazquez
Vazquez’s least-effective match recently was against Philadelphia, and it’s understandable that he didn’t get a foothold in the game considering he’s being relied on for goals and heavy minutes for the first time in his MLS career. Vazquez still found a few moments to try to hold play up and create for others around him, in spite of heavy legs and the appearance early on that he might not have the spark to score himself. As it is, Vazquez still has a career-best four league goals in 2021, a career-best three assists and last week became the first player in club history to score in three straight games. He's scoring with power and pace (see: versus Nashville SC), finesse and fine skill (see: versus Chicago Fire FC) and just plain capitalizing on simple opportunities that weren't falling for him earlier in the year (see: at Inter Miami).
Suddenly, Vazquez is FC Cincinnati's third-leading scorer and has more goals than Alvaro Barreal (three) despite having played 1,428 fewer minutes and logging 21 fewer starts than Barreal.
Quite simply, Vazquez has stepped up more than most on the FC Cincinnati roster during a difficult moment and has been the most positive on-field story down the stretch for FC Cincinnati. He's also opened up his full locker of skills and it's been pretty impressive. A consistent front partnership of he and Brenner Souza da Silva makes you wonder for 2022.
The interim coaching staff
Tyrone Marshall, Larry Sunderland, Ricardo Páez, Cristiano Scapolo. Those names comprise FC Cincinnati's interim first-team coaching staff. They haven't produced a result yet, but this group was also given the unenviable task of playing out nine matches knowing that missing the playoffs was all but certain, and that they'd have to contend with all the attitude and locker room issues that accompany a failed season. They all stepped up to take on the task, and by all accounts they did so with zest.
Each of these individuals had a role in the academy prior to taking on interim positions. It's widely expected they'll all return to giving their full-time attention to the academy when the interim ride is officially over (it's worth noting Marshall expressed clear interest in becoming FC Cincinnati's next head coach on a permanent basis).
The academy and club at-large will have been enriched by having these men – all respected in various capacities including youth development – taking their respective interim roles. Not only have they demonstrated flexibility by pivoting over to a disastrous first-team situation but they're gaining valuable experience. The club is going to have a nice bullpen of staffers with first-team managerial and coaching experience when the interim period ends. It will be up to Albright to manage that dynamic as a new staff comes into the club, but maybe one or more of this interim coaching quartet is actively earning a spot on the next staff. Promoting from within – that's a heck of a way to improve morale at the Mercy Health Training Center, where the need for a cultural shift was long ago identified.
Yuya Kubo
Is Yuya Kubo on too much money for the role he plays ($1,091,000.00 in base salary)? Is the role he’s playing the right one for him? Does the club need to buy-down his contract?
All valid questions. Chris Albright will be in touch soon to let us know how he feels about all of that. In the meantime, what’s also valid is that Kubo has proven himself throughout his time at FC Cincinnati, and especially lately, to be versatile and skilled at many positions. He remains one of the elite tacklers statistically in MLS in 2021, and he's shown recently he hasn't forgotten how to join the attack.
Kubo also has a good attitude and, at a time when some of the club’s biggest and best players won’t step up to the microphone to face questions about this season, Kubo has. Character. Leadership. Quality play (including he forward runs against the Union) and versatility on the field. The games haven’t counted for much but Kubo is still rising to the challenge. Albright needs to build around players like that.
Kenneth Vermeer
The complaint du jour around the FC Cincinnati fan base is once again targeted at the goalkeepers. Kenneth Vermeer didn’t get much love from supporters after FC Cincinnati conceded six times against Nashville SC. That's to be expected given the nature of that particular loss. But did you see the defending that night? It’s not Vermeer’s fault Ake Loba, C.J. Sapong and others were strolling in on goal literally without opposition. The FC Cincinnati backline was missing-in-action. Anyway, the reality is Vermeer is signed through 2022 and will probably be back with the club next season. Seeing as that’s the case, it's worth pointing out that he bounced back with a solid night against the Union, making five saves on a night when Philly generally besieged his net. Who knows if FC Cincinnati will try to move Vermeer along in the off-season. My guess? With the relatively low money he’s on (yes, I'm aware he occupies an international roster spot), the club could try to make it work with him as a backup. Don’t forget that Vermeer is the only GK currently on the roster that’s signed for 2022 and has experience as an MLS starter. So, if he’s gonna stick around and play some role next year, the response he had against Philly after the Nashville game is what you want to see from Vermeer.
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