SAN JOSE, Calif. – After a valiant second half effort, FC Cincinnati was unable to overcome a one-goal deficit, falling 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes at Avaya Stadium on Saturday night.
With the win, San Jose (3-5-2, 11 pts.) picked up at least a point for a fourth consecutive match and won the only regular-season meeting between the two sides in 2019. FC Cincinnati (2-7-2, 8 pts.) completed their stretch of three road matches in an eight-day span. FCC midfielders Fatai Alashe and Frankie Amaya recorded their first starts of the season in the match.
The Earthquakes’ Nick Lima tallied the only goal of the match in the 22nd minute to power the home side to victory. Although it appeared the match could take a turn when San Jose’s Cristian Espinoza was sent off following a second yellow card in the 51st minute, the Earthquakes were able to claim all three points.
The Orange and Blue will be back in action on Saturday, May 11 when the club returns to Nippert Stadium to host the Montreal Impact. The match will be televised locally on WSTR Star64, streamed regionally on FloFC, out-of-market on ESPN+ and carried on the radio on WDJO, while an audio stream will be available on the TuneIn app and fccincinnati.com.
For up-to-the-minute information about FC Cincinnati, visit the team’s official website at fccincinnati.com, or follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FCCincinnati.
San Jose Earthquakes 1, FC Cincinnati 0
Avaya Stadium | San Jose, Calif.
Saturday, May 4, 2019
SCORING SUMMARY
SJ – Nick Lima (Cristian Espinoza) 22’
FC Cincinnati: Przemysław Tytoń, Justin Hoyte (Fanendo Adi 79’), Mathieu Deplagne, Forrest Lasso, Kendall Waston ©, Caleb Stanko, Fatai Alashe, Victor Ulloa, Frankie Amaya (Roland Lamah 67’), Kenny Saief, Darren Mattocks (Emmanuel Ledesma 65’)
Bench: Spencer Richey, Nick Hagglund, Allan Cruz, Kekuta Manneh,
Stats: Shots 11, Shots on goal 3, Saves 0, Corner kicks 7, Offsides 0, Fouls 13, Possession 48.1%, Passes 404 (81.4%)
San Jose Earthquakes: Daniel Vega, Tommy Thompson (Guram Kashia 81’), Nick Lima, Harold Cummings, Florian Jungwirth, Magnus Eriksson, Cristian Espinoza, Jackson Yueill, Anibal Godoy, Shea Salinas © (Judson 72’), Danny Hoesen (Chris Wondolowski 90’)
Bench: Eric Calvillo, Marcos Lopez, Andrew Tarbell, Valeri Qazaishvili,
Stats: Shots 11, Shots on goal 1, Saves 3, Corner kicks 8, Offsides 5, Fouls 15, Possession 51.9%, Passes 448 (83.3%)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
CIN – Caleb Stanko (caution) 6’
SJ – Shea Salinas (caution) 13’
SJ – Cristian Espinoza (caution) 15’
SJ – Nick Lima (caution) 29’
CIN - Forrest Lasso (caution) 31’
SJ - Cristian Espinoza (second yellow, ejection) 51’
CIN - Fatai Alashe (caution) 67’
Referee: Dave Gantar
Assistant Referees: Mike Rottersman, Diego Blas
Fourth Official:Elton Garcia
VAR: Daniel Radford
AVAR: Peter Balciunas
Weather: 62 degrees and sunny
Attendance: 16,743
HOW IT HAPPENED
- 12’ | San Jose’s Florian Jungwirth won an aerial duel with Kenny Saief following a Przemysław Tytoń kick to midfield. Jungwirth headed the ball to Shea Salinas on the left flank, who found Jackson Yueill just outside of the Earthquakes attacking third. The second-year pro took four touches, caught Tytoń leaning the other way and took a right-footed shot that trickled just wide of the near post.
- 20’ | After a successful stretch of buildup play from their attacking half, San Jose’s Cristian Espinzoa dispossessed Frankie Amaya in San Jose’s attacking third to put the ball at the feet of Salinas at the top of the 18-yard box. Salinas played a through ball to Tommy Thompson, which was laid off to Magnus Eriksson. Forrest Lasso slid in front of Eriksson’s ensuing attempt to direct the ball out of danger.
- 22’ | SJ GOAL - From the right corner flag, Eriksson played the ball short to Espinoza. Espinoza passed the ball to Nick Lima whose driven shot from outside of the 18-yard box snuck inside Tytoń’s far post to give the home team the lead.
- 24’ | Eriksson dribbled down the left flank before playing a properly weighted pass to an oncoming Lima. The San Jose left back played a low cross to a half space in the middle of three FC Cincinnati players and to the feet of Salinas. Salinas took one touch and struck a right-footed shot just wide of the far post.
- 39’ | A combination play from Saief and Victor Ulloa led to the former being able to cross the ball into the box just feet from endline. Saief’s cross connected with Darren Mattocks’ head, which led to a loose ball just outside the six-yard box. Mathieu Deplagne tried to toe-poke the bouncing ball, but his lunging effort went just wide of the near post.
- 51’ | SJ RED CARD - Following a backheeled pass from Saief to Ulloa in FCC’s attacking third, the midfielder played a through ball to Deplagne just outside the penalty area. Just prior to taking the ball into the box, Deplagne was brought down by Espinoza, which led to the San Jose midfielder being sent off after receiving a second yellow card.
- 60’ | After Danny Hoesen was dispossessed by Ulloa about 30 yards from net, Yueill pounced on the loose ball, took a touch and struck a right-footed curler just wide of Tytoń’s right post
- 73’ | After San Jose fouled Fatai Alashe near FC Cincinnati’s bench, Emmanuel Ledesma lofted a cross to the 18-yard box and connected with Alashe. His bouncing header towards the far post forced Daniel Vega to make diving effort and keep the Orange and Blue from equalizing.
- 75’ | Roland Lamah received a pass from Ulloa at the edge of the 18-yard box. The winger took a touch and a few stutter steps before taking on Harold Cummings in a one-on-one situation. From inside the area, Lamah provided a cross to Alashe, whose header was on frame, but Vega was able to tip the ball over the crossbar
GAME NOTES
- With tonight’s loss, the Orange and Blue move to 2-7-2 through 11 MLS matches … in addition, FC Cincinnati fall to 1-5-1 in road contests
- FC Cincinnati’s all-time record against San Jose Earthquakes sits at 0-1-0 after the teams’ first-ever regular-season meeting
- Cincinnati is now 1-4-1 against Western Conference opponents
- By replacing Justin Hoyte in the 79th minute, Fanendo Adi returned to action for FC Cincinnati for the first time since FCC’s home opener against the Portland Timbers on March 17 … Adi had missed each of FC Cincinnati’s previous seven contests
- Head Coach Alan Koch made seven changes to the starting lineup from FC Cincinnati’s most recent match against the Philadelphia Union on May 1 … Przemyslaw Tyton, Justin Hoyte, Forrest Lasso, Fatai Alashe, Victor Ulloa, Frankie Amaya and Kenny Saief shifted into the starting lineup, while Leonardo Bertone, Allan Cruz, Nick Hagglund, Roland Lamah, Kekuta Manneh, Alvas Powell and Spencer Richey were dropped … today’s lineup is FC Cincinnati’s tenth unique lineup of the season … the only times this season FCC carried over the same starting XI was on March 10 and March 17
- Fatai Alashe and Frankie Amaya made their first starts of the season in tonight’s match … Amaya was recalled from a short-term loan to USL Championship side Orange County SC on Thursday and met the team in San Jose … Alashe made his first appearance in San Jose since his July 2018 loan to then-USL side FCC, which then became a trade on Jan. 1 as Cincy moved up to MLS … Alashe was drafted by the Earthquakes fourth overall out of Michigan State in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft and made 85 appearances in San Jose before arriving in Cincinnati
- Forrest Lasso made his third MLS appearance - also his third start … his last start came on March 30 against the Philadelphia Union at Nippert Stadium
- Corben Bone (shoulder), Greg Garza (calf) and Alvas Powell (ankle) were unavailable for selection this evening because of injury
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Head Coach Alan Koch
On the result
“Disappointed with the result having gone a man up the last 30-odd minutes and literally threw everything that we could, trying to get ourselves a result. So that was very, very disappointing.”
On the current situation after three road losses
“Tough road trip. We knew it was going to be a tough road trip and it’s proven to be a tough road trip. We knew this season was going to be difficult and it’s proven to be difficult.”
On the best way to move on from the road trip
“You have to move on, that’s the reality of this business. You play a game, you deal with the game, obviously you reflect on the performance. You reflect on how things went in that game and then you learn as much from that as you can and you get yourself ready for the next one. It’s the same as when you go on a winning streak, and we’ve been on a winning streak as a club. You learn from those games and you put it behind you very, very quickly. Here, when you go and you lose a few games in a row like we have, you have to learn from those games as quickly as you can, you put them behind and you move on to the next one and you continue to push.”
On Frankie Amaya’s first start
“Lots of positives tonight. Obviously, to have Frankie back was great. You could see he didn’t feel fazed at all. I thought he played very, very well. He cramped up towards the end and that’s understandable. That’s the highest level he’s ever had to play at. And then another huge positive too was to have [Fanendo] Adi back. I think it’s shown in the last few games how much we’ve missed him. We need to have him back and I think it was a big positive to get him back tonight.”
On if there have been any conversations on adding to the current roster
“Yeah, that’s why I mentioned it the other day. We’re actively looking to find and improve the group. I think every group is trying to do that. We’re not any different. We’re trying to improve our group. I had a meeting last Wednesday before the game in Philly with Jeff [Berding] and Luke [Sassano] and we discussed a variety of different options. We’re running out of days now, but hopefully as a club we can push something over the line between now and Wednesday.
On if he believes he will be given time to get the team back on track
“To be honest, as a coach, you focus on what you can control. It’s the same for the players. You focus on that you can impact on a daily basis. I can impact the game tonight and I can go back and reflect on it. I’ll just continue to focus on my job. We’ve used the word, not just me but many people in this club, that this is a project. Projects take time.”
On his reasoning for the substitution pattern
“Well Darren [Mattocks] started to get fatigued and [Emmanuel] Ledesma is an attacking player, so we put an attacking player on in Ledesma. The second one was Frankie [Amaya] was cramping, so we took him off and put on [Roland] Lamah, who’s a very attacking-minded player. We made two very attack-minded substitutions to try and go for it.”
On playing with three players who are defensive midfielders late in the match
“Yeah, but let’s not get caught up in where you typecast a player in terms of playing. We all know and I’m very aware we have a lot of defensive midfield players. We’re not going out and playing with everybody as defensive midfield players. We’ve moving players around and putting them in attack-minded positions. We went for it in the last 30-odd minutes tonight. You could tell we’re literally throwing everything and the kitchen sink to try and get a result and a point on the road tonight.”
On Fatai Alashe’s first start of the season
“Yeah, I’m excited for him. He’s had a tough start to the season and he’s been a true professional about it. He’s kept on pushing and I think in the last two weeks he’s really picked up in terms of how he’s been training. We’ve been impressed and that’s why he got rewarded. Obviously, it’s special for him to come back here and get a chance and showcase himself and I thought he did quite well tonight.”
FC Cincinnati Midfielder Frankie Amaya
On his first start
“It felt really good. I thought I played pretty good, and it just felt right playing here.”
On if he received advice from his teammates
“Of course, I had like 100 voices just tell me in the locker room to just do your thing, just have fun, and I just listened to them. Took it all in and just did my thing.”
On what he brings to the team
“I am solid defensively, but I need to attack more. I need to get in the pockets, need to shoot, need to pass. I just need to do more for my team.”
On the last 72 hours after being recalled by FCC
“It’s been crazy. There’s been a lot of traveling, back with OC (Orange County SC), back here, but it is just the soccer player life. I signed up for this, so this is my life now.”
FC Cincinnati Forward Fanendo Adi
On being able to return to the pitch
“I’m excited, obviously I need some games to get going, but to get back on the pitch again feels good. It’s a tough result knowing that we played against them [with 10 men] and we couldn’t find a goal. It’s very hard. We just need to work on a lot of things at training.”
On if it has been frustrating for him to see the team struggle to score goals
“It’s part of the game. We have to blame ourselves as players, as well as coaches, everyone has to take the responsibility. For me, I’m just happy to be back. Of course, I know that I can add something to the team. To be able to play on the pitch today feels very good for me.”
On what he is going to bring to the club going forward
“Obviously, the club has given me a lot and I have not been able to give back to the club. For me, right now is about getting back into shape and trying to score goals is going to be the top priority for me. We haven’t been winning, the forwards haven’t been scoring. Whoever plays, the whole team needs to find a player to score the goals. For me, coming back now is just to work on my finishing and trying to score goals to help the team.”
