FC Cincinnati made five changes to their lineup between Wednesday's game against NYCFC and Sunday's game against the New England Revolution.
The club found itself without midfielder Obinna Nwobodo, who received his fifth yellow card of the season against NYCFC on Wednesday and was placed on suspension On top of that, they still don't have forward Dominique Badji or midfielder Júnior Moreno available, as the pair are recovering from leg injuries.
It was up to FCC head coach Pat Noonan to fill those gaps and find a beneficial layout for his starting 11. This mean dropping Tyler Blackett, Haris Medunjanin, Álvaro Barreal and Ray Gaddis, and a new defensive midfield pairing in Yuya Kubo and Allan Cruz.
While Kubo and Cruz aren't the club's preference in the defensive midfield positions, and despite it having been a while since both players last saw significant minutes, Noonan said he thought they excelled
More:Brenner scores again as FC Cincinnati ties New England Revolution
More:FC Cincinnati: Playoff push could persuade club to make personnel moves
More:FC Cincinnati to face Liga MX's Chivas Guadalajara in September friendly
"This was an opportunity of them. ... Any time you have guys that have been getting consistent starts out of the lineup, other guys get the chance to step up and make the case for more minutes, (like they did tonight) under difficult circumstances," Noonan said postgame. "For not playing together at all really as starters and having not played recently as starters, (Cruz and Kubo) did an excellent job in the midfield, in terms of putting pressure on the ball, making adjustments... and connecting passes.
"I think we started getting a little bit better at finding those two to move us forward at the end of the first half and in the second half saw really good moments with our ball rotation that went through them. The effort they put in with not being game fit was really important to our success."
Overall, the 2-2 draw was something for the team to be satisfied with as it moved them 7-7-4 on the season with 25 points.
As always, forward Brenner Souza da Silva, who was voted and crowned MLS Player of the Week for Week 17 on Friday, shone bright. He now has five goals in the last three games.
Cruz was credited with an assist on Brenner's second goal, and he played all 90 minutes for the first time since September 15, 2021.
"I thought they (all) did well. Some of the guys, the load from the last two games and who we thought needed a break or a longer recovery, I thought that (their replacements) came in... and did good things," Noonan said.
