CLEARWATER, Fla. – In a way, FC Cincinnati had two good results in its second-to-last scrimmage of preseason.
Playing New England Revolution in a 120-minute game Tuesday at the Jack Russell Memorial Stadium complex, half of FC Cincinnati's team roughed up the opponents to the tune of a 4-0 lead through 75 minutes. That was the first result.
The second positive outcome developed over the final 45 minutes as FC Cincinnati's core players played some of the Revolutions' best talents to a stalemate.
The combined efforts from players across FCC's roster produced a 4-0 victory, which served as a noticable and strong riposte to Friday's loss to the Philadelphia Union.
"Certainly, the result ‒ I was pleased with the response of the group in certain ways from the Philly game," FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said afterward. "I asked the guys in the first 75 minutes to compete more. I thought they did an excellent job of that. I said to them (after 45) they competed probably more than they needed to because we just didn't have enough good touches on the ball. When they'd win the ball, either a poor pass or trying to dribble out of pressure and then we were defending again. They competed in a strong way, defended the box (and) one-versus-one moments.
"In the last 45 minutes I thought we had some of our best sequences of moving the ball and getting into the box. Just lacked the final quality with the shot selection... But I do think that group in the last 45 competed really well, too. As a whole, defensively it was strong and we had some good moments going to goal and hopefully something to look at and build on going into the last preseason."
How the game was won
New England was on top for long stretches of the opening 45 minutes, but Stiven Jiminez and Arquimides Ordonez capitalized on FCC pressure high up the field to give the club a 2-0 lead 31 minutes into the game. New England stumbled in attempting to play out of the back and through FCC's pressure, resulting in a Jiminez goal in the eighth minute and an Ordonez goal in the 31st.
For both players, the scores were their second of the 2023 preseason.
"Our pressure caused those two goals," FC Cincinnati forward Dominique Badji said. "And that's something that we've worked on a lot because I think the defensive end of the game, you don't get credit for a lot of the time. Being patient - we were just patient. It's easy to run and press. Sometimes if you just hold like we did and are smart about when to go, those opportunities present themselves. In a real game, it's probably not gonna happen twice like that but it goes to show that we can create attacking chances on both ends of the ball."
Then FCC grew into the match and starting crafting offense through passing and attacking cohesion. In the 41st minute, Dominique Badji slammed home a Malik Pinto feed to finish off a counterattack.
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Ordonez then scored his second of the match around the 55th minute off an assist by Badji, who joined the action via a clever flick from newcomer Marco Angulo.
"It's good to be able to score in different ways, certainly," Noonan said, adding that the sum total of the club's attacking prowess was as impressive as the defensive quality.
FC Cincinnati’s second-line players did all the scoring Tuesday. Its projected regular-season starters showed game-over-game progress, too.
Perhaps most notable from the final 45 minutes was the return of center back Matt Miazga, who had been rehabbing and working toward full fitness after offseason surgery. He played for 30 minutes and was nearly given the greenlight by his coaches to finish the full period until the staff erred on the side of caution, lifting him after a half-hour.
"I felt good, I felt good," Miazga told The Enquirer afterward. "The first group got a great result, 4-0, and then the second group came on and kind of solidified it. It was nil-nil. But for me personally, it was good because I was able to get my first minutes after surgery, and four months after my last game."
Alec Kann and Roman Celentano split time in goal for FCC. Noonan maintained in his post-match remarks that their competition remains an open one.
"It's strong competition just looking at the guys returning with Alec and Roman," Noonan said. "They're, as well as many players, miles ahead of where they were last year at this time, and they're sharp. Alec is one of the best pros we have and one of the best characters, so he knows how to come into this situation and make my life, our lives difficult. He's got a strong character that's going to come in ready to compete, and that's what he wants. He wants to be hearing from myself and the coaches that this is an open competition, which it is. Both of those keepers are performing in a way where regardless of who steps on the field, week one, we're in a good place."
One preseason match left
Nearly a month in Florida is starting to take its toll on FC Cincinnati. The team has enjoyed its training fields being just four miles away from its Clearwater Beach resort hotel accommodations but seemingly everyone has had enough of living away from home.
Three days and one preseason match separate FCC from departing Friday evening for Greater Cincinnati ahead of the Feb. 25 opening match at TQL Stadium against Houston Dynamo FC.
The club will look to rest Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for the preseason finale against Nashville SC, and more positive outcomes are desired even with the end of a long preseason in sight.
Noonan said he's look to push players as much as he reasonably could ahead of the Houston match.
Badji said FC Cincinnati didn't want to enter the regular season on a sour note, too.
"Friday was a tough one. All over the place, it was pretty sloppy," Badji told The Enquirer. "Coming out here (against New England), being able to go back to our basics and know what we can do, it was great to have a great result on the backend of that game... We don't want to be in a situation where we're coming off a game like we did with Philly and we sit on that for a week. We want to be in a game where we gave it all we had (against Nashville) and we battled, fought, come away with a result... I say we're just gonna go for it."
Friday FC Cincinnati-Nashville SC match is scheduled for noon.
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