The what-could-have-been refrain that's pockmarked FC Cincinnati's 2021 season echoed louder than ever against Nashville SC.
Playing the penultimate home match of the season and seeking a win that would have memorably thrown a wrench into the Eastern Conference playoff picture, FC Cincinnati gave away multiple two-goal leads in a 6-3 loss to Nashville SC Wednesday at TQL Stadium.
Instead of a victory to savor in the dying embers of a disappointing season, FC Cincinnati's capitulation was another dubious misstep in a campaign full of similar showings.
For Nashville, instead of being taken down a peg in the standings by Cincinnati, it clinched an MLS Cup playoff berth for the second time in two years, and did so in dramatic fashion.
After Nashville fell behind, 2-0, 17 minutes into the game, Randall Leal scored the eventual game winner in the 76th minute. The goal was his second of the match after his volley just before halftime started the comeback and cut Nashville's deficit to 3-2.
Leal's game-winning goal was preceded by C.J. Sapong's equalizer for 3-3 in the 71st minute, and followed up by Ake Loba's insurance tally in the 80th minute.
Sapong scored again in the closing moments of the contest to double Nashville's lead.
"Second half, kind of the whole old face kind of showed in the second half where, again, I wouldn't say lack of concentration but, you know, we gave up some goals (against the) run of play in unfortunate times – from distance, set pieces," FC Cincinnati head coach Tyrone Marshall said. "Again, you know, it's concentration, lack of concentration that those goals were scored in those moments, so for me, it's really a tale of two halves. I'm not saying anything to the boys because I think they know how frustrating it is."
Cincinnati held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the first half, with goals coming via Brenner Souza da Silva and Brandon Vazquez.
An own-goal by Nashville defender Dave Romney went down as the opening score, but it didn't prevent Nashville (12-4-16, 52 points) from clinching its playoff berth.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati conceded at least five goals for the second consecutive match and for the fourth time in 2021.
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."
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Much like the April 17 season opener between FC Cincinnati and Nashville, Cincinnati jumped out quickly to its 2-0 lead.
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.
Around the 23rd minute is when the proceedings started to turn wild.
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.”
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