FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts – The quiet of FC Cincinnati's post-match locker room spoke volumes.
The scene deep in Gillette Stadium could have just as easily been that of a losing side even though a heavily-rotated FC Cincinnati was in the ascendancy and scored the last of four goals in a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution.
It was a tie that moved FC Cincinnati into fifth place in the Eastern Conference on a 7-7-4 record, and unbeaten in four matches (1-0-3) against a gauntlet of east powers in Philadelphia Union, Orlando City SC, New York City SC and the Revolution.
"Obviously, it's nice that we're getting draws and not losing games," rookie goalkeeper Roman Celentano said. "I think we're more on the disappointed end than the happy end with some of these draws. I think it's a good sign from this group that we're pushing for more this year and we think we can get more out of these games. We're happy with some of the results but we're not satisfied in any way."
The mentality conveyed in the quiet, contemplative post-match scene also accurately reflected that of a team that, despite five changes to its starting lineup, twice came back from a goal down to earn the road draw before a crowd of 20,193.
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Brenner Souza da Silva, the reigning MLS Player of the Week, notched his fifth goal in three games to cap Cincinnati's come-from-behind effort. In the 74th minute, Brenner scooped the ball home with his left foot .
The score followed Brenner's Wednesday hattrick against defending MLS Cup champion, New York City FC, and the match-winning goal June 24 against Orlando City SC.
"A hard fought point. It wasn't pretty all the time, but I was pleased with the fight of the group, going down twice and working our way back into it against a good team with some real quality going to goal," FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said. "It's a stretch of four games now, against four of the top teams in the conference, where we found ways to get results. So I'm very pleased with that. The guys put a lot into it, you can see the character of the group and just the end of the game there— guys cramping, guys giving everything to defend the box to make sure we walk off the field the point, so I'm really happy with the group, and just the mental toughness of seeing out that game.”
New England (6-5-7, 25 points), would move to 10 games unbeaten on the night but felt the worse of the two clubs following the tie.
Revolution head coach Bruce Arena gave a one-word response when asked if he felt his side dropped points: "Yeah."
The Revolution opened the scoring 30 minutes into the contest through Dylan Borrero, who was forced to exit the match late in the first half due to injury.
Brenner involved himself in Cincinnati's response 11 minutes later as consistent pressure, and a shot by Brenner deflected out of bounds by the Revolution, led to a corner kick. The ensuing kick was then headed in for an own-goal by New England's Henry Kessler, although the tally was initially awarded to Brandon Vazquez.
On the other side of halftime, Gustavo Bou nodded home a header in 55th minute to see the Revolution retake the lead.
"Obviously, with the second goal, with Bou's near-post header, I was just like 'these guys can do anything,'" Celentano said. "They were showing it on the night so it was just about trying to be ready for those moments."
Celentano finished the night with five saves.
Defensively, and with a defensive-midfield partnership of Allan Cruz and Yuya Kubo standing in for Junior Moreno (injured) and Obinna Nwobodo (suspended for yellow-card) accumulation, FCC managed to stave off further damage even as New England pushed on.
For a period following Bou's goal, Cincinnati ratcheted up the pressure. Goalkeeper Djordje Petrović made an acrobatic double-save on a deflected shot by Luciano Acosta and also snuffed out Vazquez's attempt on the rebound.
When Brenner's cool, left-footed finish arrived, it secured the point for FCC. He was played in by Acosta, with Allan Cruz notching an assist on the play to help unlock New England's resistance.
Brenner took most of the plaudits on a night when FC Cincinnati drew, but Noonan praised the work of the entire team.
“I'll use one of Jim (Curtin)'s lines, where, statistically you don't typically see teams getting results when you're making more than I think it was four changes in the game," Noonan said. "So, it's true. We knew going into it that it was it was going to be tough with that many changes and rotations. But we felt that the group that we put out, there was a group that was going to get us a result. And I think all the guys that started the game provided good minutes.
"It wasn't perfect early on, I think we struggled with the overloads in the wider areas that that they had, and tried to find ways of getting out Allan (Cruz) and Yuya (Kubo) a little bit wider, you know, and letting Geoff (Cameron) be the one to release centrally, if there was a number that floated inside or (Gustavo) Bou coming off the backline. And I thought they did a better job of that as the as the half of the game progressed. And we just need to be better with the ball.
"The careless turnovers add up to how long you have to defend. And so when we got that a little bit cleaner, in the last 15 minutes of the half, I thought we created some really good chances, some really good combinations from our front three to get looks at goal. But overall, I thought the contributions from all of our players were good. And it's it shows the depth that we have of the group and the trust we have in guys to step in and perform for us.”
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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Welcome to Cincinnati.com's live coverage of FC Cincinnati at New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. Refresh this page throughout the 7:30 p.m. match for live updates and analysis, and follow Enquirer beat reporter Pat Brennan on Twitter (@PBrennanENQ) for further updates.
In-game updates:
• Final: New England 2, Cincinnati 2.
• 74th minute – GOAL, FC Cincinnati: Brenner Souza da Silva tucked home his fifth goal in three matches to tie the game at two.
• 55th minute – GOAL, New England Revolution: Gustavo Bou scored on a near-post header.
• 41st minute – GOAL, FC Cincinnati (1-1): Own goal, Henry Kessler. An FC Cincinnati corner kick was nodded home by New England center back Henry Kessler. It was initially awarded to Brandon Vazquez but changed to an own-goal.
• 30th minute – GOAL, New England Revolution (1-0): Dylan Borrero.
• Match underway at 7:38 p.m.
Pre-match updates:
• FC Cincinnati starting XI: Roman Celentano (GK), Alvas Powell, John Nelson, Nick Hagglund, Geoff Cameron, Ian Murphy, Yuya Kubo, Allan Cruz, Luciano Acosta (captain), Brenner Souza da Silva, Brandon Vazquez.
• FC Cincinnati bench: Haris Medunjanin, Zico Bailey, Isaac Atanga, Tyler Blackett, Kenneth Vermeer (GK), Ray Gaddis, Alvaro Barreal, Nick Markanich, Harrison Robledo.
• New England Revolution starting XI: Djordje Petrović (GK); D DeJuan Jones, D Andrew Farrell, D Henry Kessler, D Brandon Bye; M Wilfrid Kaptoum, M Maciel; M Dylan Borrero, M Carles Gil (captain), M Sebastian Lletget; F Gustavo Bou
• New England bench: GK Earl Edwards Jr., F Jozy Altidore, D Jon Bell, M Emmanuel Boateng, D A.J. DeLaGarza, D Omar Gonzalez, M Damian Rivera, D Ryan Spaulding, M Arnór Traustason
