ORLANDO, Fla. – Despite a first-half goal from Darren Mattocks to give the visitors an early lead, FC Cincinnati fell, 5-1, to Orlando City SC at Orlando City Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
FC Cincinnati (3-8-2, 11 pts.) dropped their first match under Interim Head Coach Yoann Damet. Orlando City SC (4-6-3, 15 pts.) players Nani and Tesho Akindele recorded braces to propel the home side to victory.
After the two teams were tied at halftime, Orlando scored three goals between the 50th and 64th minutes to establish a three-goal advantage. Dom Dwyer tacked on Orlando’s fifth and final goal of the match in the 82nd minute.
The Orange and Blue will be back in action on Saturday, May 25, when the club returns to Nippert Stadium and hosts the New York Red Bulls at 7:30 p.m. in the club’s “Soccer for All” game. 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.
Orlando City SC 5, FC Cincinnati 1
Orlando City Stadium | Orlando, Fla.
Sunday, May 19, 2019
SCORING SUMMARY
CIN – Darren Mattocks (Eric Alexander) 24’
ORL – Tesho Akindele (Will Johnson, João Moutinho) 37’
ORL – Nani (unassisted) 50’
ORL – Nani (Ruan) 59’
ORL – Tesho Akindele (unassisted) 64’
ORL – Dom Dwyer (Josué Colmán) 82’
FC Cincinnati: Spencer Richey, Mathieu Deplagne, Justin Hoyte, Kendall Waston ©, Greg Garza (Alvas Powell 10’), Eric Alexander, Victor Ulloa, Frankie Amaya, Emmanuel Ledesma, Kekuta Manneh (Kenny Saief 65’), Darren Mattocks (Fanendo Adi 64’)
Bench: Przemysław Tytoń, Nick Hagglund, Nazmi Albadawi, Caleb Stanko
Stats: Shots 5, Shots on goal 3, Saves 4, Corner kicks 4, Offsides 1, Fouls 13, Possession 38.9%, Passes 351 (83.5%)
Orlando City SC: Brian Rowe, Ruan, Lamine Sané, Robin Jansson, Sebastián Méndez, Will Johnson, João Moutinho, Cristian Higuita (Josué Colmán 78’), Nani (Dom Dwyer 66’), Chris Mueller (Benji Michel 85’), Tesho Akindele
Bench: Greg Ranjitsingh, Kyle Smith, Kamal Miller, Oriol Rosell
Stats: Shots 17, Shots on goal 9, Saves 2, Corner kicks 11, Offsides 0, Fouls 9, Possession 61.1%, Passes 547 (88.8%)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
ORL – Will Johnson (caution) 43’
ORL – Sebastián Méndez (caution) 45’+4’
CIN – Alvas Powell (caution) 45’+6’
CIN – Victor Ulloa (caution) 71’
ORL – Dom Dwyer (caution) 74’
CIN – Frankie Amaya (caution) 75’
CIN – Emmanuel Ledesma (caution) 87’
REF: Nima Saghafi
AR: Eduardo Mariscal, Chris Elliott
4TH: Luis Guardia
VAR: Geoff Gamble
AVAR: Eric Weisbrod
Weather: 90 degrees and sunny
Attendance: 22,341
HOW IT HAPPENED
- 21’ | Frankie Amaya forced a turnover in midfield and chipped a pass ahead to Darren Mattocks. The Jamaican dribbled into FCC’s attacking third, cut into the 18-yard box and played a ball to Emmanuel Ledesma, who fired a first-timed, left-footed shot off the crossbar.
- 24’ | CIN GOAL – From the middle third, Eric Alexander sent a through ball to Mattocks, who caught up with the pass at the top of the 18-yard box. With two defenders in front of him, Mattocks feinted a dribble to his right, took one touch to his right, then cut back to his left before blasting a left-footed shot by Rowe under the crossbar and into the top of the net.
- 32’ | From outside of Cincinnati’s 18-yard box, Cristian Higuita passed the ball to Tesho Akindele, who stood at the edge of the box. After a heavy touch on the ball, Kekuta Manneh was able to poke the ball away, however, it rolled to Higuita, whose right-footed blast went right of the goal.
- 37’ | ORL GOAL – After receiving the ball from Will Johnson near the left flank of the field, João Moutinho dribbled inwards and returned the ball to Johnson, who had made a run to the outside of the 18-yard box. With his back towards goal, Johnson laid the ball over to Akindele with his first touch. Akindele’s right-footed shot from the center of the box bested Spencer Richey to give Orlando an equalizing goal.
- 45’+2’ | Chris Mueller whipped a low right-footed cross in to the six-yard box, where an oncoming Akindele tried to get his right foot on the ball. The cross, however, was beyond Akindele’s outstretched foot and Spencer Richey was able to claim the ball.
- 45’+5’ | Following a free kick taken by Emmanuel Ledesma from approximately 40 yards out, Kendall Waston headed the lofted ball to the center of the box. Mathieu Deplagne sent a headed shot on frame, but Rowe was able to put the ball over the crossbar to keep the scoreline level.
- 46’ | Just seconds after the start of the half, Mueller received a pass from Sebastián Méndez halfway between the left touchline and the 18-yard box. The forward split a pair of FCC defenders, dribbled into the box and took a right-footed shot, which Richey directed beyond the endline.
- 50’ | ORL GOAL – Following a foul from Kendall Waston on Lamine Sané in the penalty area, Orlando was awarded a penalty. Nani stepped up to the spot and took a right-footed shot directly into a diving Richey, however, Nani followed his shot and scored on a rebound attempt to give the home side the lead.
- 59’ | ORL GOAL – After collecting a pass at midfield, Ruan dribbled down the right flank, beyond Waston and towards goal. As Ruan approached the byline, he passed the ball back to Nani at the edge of the six-yard box, who slammed it in for his second goal of the match.
- 62’ | Following a foul by Alvas Powell on the edge of the 18-yard box, Orlando City SC were awarded a free kick in a dangerous area. Mueller took a right-footed curled shot, however, it went over the crossbar.
- 64’ | ORL GOAL – Mueller sent a corner kick to the edge of the six-yard box, where nobody was able to play the initial ball. The loose ball bounced off of Ledesma and directly to Akindele, who first timed a left-footed shot beyond an outstretched Richey and inside the far post to complete his brace.
- 82’ | ORL GOAL – From the right corner flag, Colmán sent a cross to the near post. Dom Dwyer tucked away his header inside of the far post from the corner of the 6-yard box.
GAME NOTES
- With today’s loss, the Orange and Blue fall to 3-8-2 through 13 MLS matches … in addition, FC Cincinnati fall to 1-6-1 in away contests … FC Cincinnati’s all-time record against Orlando City SC sits at 0-1-0 after the teams’ first-ever regular-season meeting … Cincinnati is now 2-4-1 against Eastern Conference opponents
- Darren Mattocks scored his first goal from open play in the 24th minute … the forward recorded his first goal of the season via the penalty spot against Sporting Kansas City on April 7 … Mattocks is now tied with Allan Cruz, as both players have scored two goals apiece through FCC’s first 13 matches
- Eric Alexander picked up his first assist of the season on Darren Mattocks’ 24th minute strike … the veteran midfielder has now recorded 25 assists during the course of his 11-year MLS career
- Interim Head Coach Yoann Damet made three changes to the starting lineup from FC Cincinnati’s most recent match against the Montreal Impact on May 11 … Eric Alexander (CM) Kekuta Manneh (LM) and Emmanuel Ledesma (RM) shifted into the starting lineup, while Leonardo Bertone, Allan Cruz and Roland Lamah were dropped … today’s lineup is FC Cincinnati’s 12th unique lineup of the season … the only times this season FCC carried over the same starting XI was on March 10 and March 17
- Emmanuel Ledesma and Kekuta Manneh returned to the FC Cincinnati starting lineup for the first time since April 27 against New York Red Bulls … Ledesma made three consecutive substitute appearances since his last start, while Manneh entered as a sub in two of FC Cincinnati’s last three contests
- Victor Ulloa and Kendall Waston made their 125th career MLS starts in today’s match … both players have started 11 matches for FC Cincinnati this season
- Eric Alexander returned to the FC Cincinnati lineup for the first time since May 1 … with today’s loss, FC Cincinnati fell to 1-3-1 in matches where the veteran midfielder makes an appearance
- Corben Bone (shoulder), Fatai Alashe (hamstring), Victor Cruz (ankle) and Leonardo Bertone (hamstring) were unavailable for selection this evening because of injury
- Roland Lamah was unavailable today while he attended to a family emergency in the Ivory Coast … today’s match marked the first time Lamah did not appear for FCC this season
