CINCINNATI – The Philadelphia Union topped FC Cincinnati, 2-0, at Nippert Stadium on Saturday night to snap the Orange and Blue’s three-match unbeaten streak. Marco Fabian and David Accam recorded a pair of second-half tallies for the visitors.
Following a back-and-forth scoreless first half, Fabian opened the scoring and provided the eventual game-winning goal for the visiting side in the 47th minute. Ten minutes later, David Accam scored to extend the Union’s lead.
Frankie Amaya, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft, made his professional debut in the 76th minute, coming on in the FCC midfield.
Next Sunday, April 7, FC Cincinnati will turn the town orange for its annual “Orange Out” game during its nationally televised match against Sporting Kansas City at Nippert Stadium. The match will be televised nationally on ESPN and streamed on WatchESPN, and it will be carried on the radio on WDJO, while an audio stream will be available on the TuneIn app and fccincinnati.com. Season tickets, mini plans and individual-game tickets are on sale at fccincinnati.com/tickets or by calling 513-977-5425 (KICK).
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.
Philadelphia Union 2, FC Cincinnati 0
Nippert Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio
Saturday, March 30, 2019
SCORING SUMMARY
PHI – Marco Fabian (David Accam) 47’
PHI – David Accam (unassisted) 58’
FC Cincinnati: Spencer Richey, Greg Garza ©, Forrest Lasso, Nick Hagglund, Mathieu Deplagne, Victor Ulloa (Caleb Stanko 71’), Leonardo Bertone, Allan Cruz (Frankie Amaya 76’), Kekuta Manneh (Kenny Saief 60’), Roland Lamah, Darren Mattocks
Bench: Jimmy Hague, Justin Hoyte, Alvas Powell, Eric Alexander,
Stats: Shots 5, Shots on goal 2, Saves 1, Corner kicks 7, Offsides 1, Fouls 7, Possession 43.9%, Passes 408 (76%)
Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake, Kai Wagner, Auston Trusty, Jake Elliott, Ray Gaddis, Haris Medunjanin, Alejandro Bedoya ©, David Accam (Cory Buke 66’), Brenden Aaronson (Warren Creavalle 90’), Marco Fabián (Jamiro Monteiro 71’), Fafa Picault
Bench: Ilsinho, Matt Freese, Mark McKenzie, Olivier Mbaizo
Stats: Shots 16, Shots on goal 3, Saves 1, Corner kicks 10, Offsides 3, Fouls 8, Possession 56.1%, Passes 532 (79%)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
None
Referee: Rubiel Vazquez
Assistant Referees: Logan Brown (AR1) and Michael Kampmeinert (AR2)
Fourth Official: Matt Franz
VAR: Ricardo Salazar
Weather: 41 degrees and rain
Attendance: 25,867
HOW IT HAPPENED
- 11’ | From the left corner flag, Kai Wagner sent a lofted cross to the far post to Marco Fabian, whose right-footed volley flashed through traffic and went out for a goal kick.
- 31’ | Kai Wagner collected the ball in the left flank of the field and laid the ball off to BrendenAaronson. Aaronson knuckled a shot as soon as he entered the penalty box, but Spencer Richey was able to knock the bouncing shot out of bounds for a corner kick.
- 47’ PHI GOAL | From just beyond the halfway line, Fabian played a through ball to a sprinting David Accam to the upper-right corner of the 18-yard box. Accam took two touches and played a return ball to Fabian, who calmly took one touch and curled a left-footed shot beyond Spencer Richey
- 50’ | Darren Mattocks played a ball from 25 yards out to Allan Cruz at the right edge of the 18-yard box. Cruz found Roland Lamah near the penalty spot with his back to goal. Lamah turned and fired a shot at Andre Blake, but the goalkeeper was able to corral the attempt to preserve Philadelphia’s lead
- 58’ PHI GOAL | Following a loose ball that ended at the feet of Accam inside the penalty area, the forward took a touch past Nick Hagglund, dribbled beyond Forrest Lasso and slotted a ball to the back post from the top of the six-yard box.
GAME NOTES
- With today’s loss, the Orange and Blue are now 2-2-1 through five MLS matches … in addition, FC Cincinnati moved to 1-1-0 in home contests
- FC Cincinnati’s all-time record against the Philadelphia Union sits at 0-1-0 after the team’s first-ever meeting
- Cincinnati is now 1-1-1 against Eastern Conference opponents
- Frankie Amaya made his MLS debut by replacing Allan Cruz in the 76th minute … he was named to the 18-man matchday roster for the first time this season … the Santa Ana, Calif., native was the No. 1 overall selection in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft
- FC Cincinnati’s shutout streak was snapped at 312 minutes when Marco Fabián tallied for Philadelphia in the 47th minute … entering tonight’s game, FC Cincinnati had not conceded a goal in 265 minutes of play
- Tonight’s match was the first match where the Orange and Blue did not score a goal … FC Cincinnati had scored at least one goal in each of their first four contests
- Head Coach Alan Koch made two changes to the starting lineup from FC Cincinnati’s most recent match against the New England Revolution on March 24 … Allan Cruz and Darren Mattocks shifted into the starting lineup, while Kenny Saief and Emmanuel Ledesma were removed
- Darren Mattocks made his first FC Cincinnati start in tonight’s match … the forward made three substitute appearances prior to his first start … he missed last Sunday’s match in New England while on international duty with Jamaica
- Caleb Stanko made his home debut in tonight’s match … the midfielder previously played four minutes as a substitute in FC Cincinnati’s season opener at Seattle on March 2
- Greg Garza wore the captain’s armband in Kendall Waston’s absence this evening … the left back also served as FC Cincinnati’s captain in their match against the New England Revolution on March 24 while Waston was away on international duty with Costa Rica
- Fanendo Adi (ankle), Waston (calf), Ledesma (hamstring) and Przemyslaw Tyton (hamstring) were unavailable for selection this evening because of injury concerns
FCC Head Coach Alan Koch
First thoughts on the match
“We just spoke to the team in the change room. We said we’ve had some high moments so far in a short season. We solely didn’t get carried away then, tonight’s a low moment and we’re certainly not going to get carried away here either. But, we need to learn from it. In my opinion, we essentially did what New England did at home against us last week. They didn’t show up and we went and we stole the points. We did the exact same thing tonight, and Philly came in and took the points so. We need to learn from this, and we will learn from this. We need to make sure we push each other and get better.”
On feeling if the team was lacking something special
“Yeah 100 percent, we just didn’t have it tonight and there is no excuse for it. Yeah it’s cold. Yeah it's wet. Yeah it’s miserable. But it’s the same weather elements for Philly tonight, too. It is one of those nights, and you're going to have moments like that in long seasons. Of course we had a moment like that tonight, but you have to learn from those moments. Of course, I think New England went through that against us last week and they learned from it because they got themselves three points (tonight). Today, we have to learn from this but it doesn’t get any easier for us. Philly was a very good team and now we get to play against Kansas City. They’re a top, top team in this league you saw what they did earlier on today. We are under no illusions. We know that this is a long journey and we sit at the start. We won a few games. We certainly didn’t get carried away. We are very, very true to exactly what we know we need to do. This is a project; we are building something. We didn’t get carried away when we went to the road and won last week. We didn’t get carried away when we beat ... Portland here at home. And it’s not going to be the end of the road obviously losing a game tonight. But we need to learn from it that is for sure.”
On weather
“The guys were frozen. Before I even had a chance to speak to the team, a few of the players were in the shower in their full kits. But the weather is the same for both teams. It doesn’t impact the result. Philly just came out there ready to play, and they deserved the three points tonight.”
On season’s progress
“Yeah, we said since the beginning we need to learn and grow from this experience. We went to Seattle and that was humbling. We knew it would be difficult, but we learned from it: we grew, we made some adjustments, we got better. We know we’re not going to grow in the right direction every single week. We’ve shown some positive strides already in the last few weeks and tonight is a humbling experience. It kind of brings you back down to Earth. We know we have to stay true to what were good at. We’re a good team. We’re not going to go out and beat anybody because of individual players. Every player has to be selfless and work for the team and we’ve done that the last few weeks and that’s why we had success. I think tonight the group wasn’t very good and the Philly group was much better. That’s why they won the game.”
On Philadelphia Union
“Philly is a very, very good team. They obviously went and beat Columbus last week 3-0, so we knew it would be a tough game tonight. They came in and were ready to play. They were class from the start to the end. There wasn’t any major surprises by that. I think our reflection is not really looking at them, but looking at ourselves. I don’t think we did what we needed to do tonight, we knew what they were going be good at, we just didn’t nullify it. We didn’t focus on what we needed to do to be better, and that’s the humbling and disappointing part of tonight’s exercise.”
What stood out on the attacking chances?
“We had a few attacking chances, but Philly had way more than us. They created, they controlled, they came and were the better team tonight. Obviously when you play at home you want to create as many chances as you can, and unfortunately we didn’t create that many chances tonight. But, it’s a game of moments. One of the set pieces goes in, one of the chances we create goes in, when we’re one nothing down, we could score to tie it up 1-1, but we didn’t. They go down and score 2-0 and it becomes a very difficult game. Even after that we still had chances to capitalize on those moments, and in this business you have to capitalize on those moments.”
On Frankie Amaya’s Debut
“Frankie’s coming. Right attitude. Right mentality since day one. We wanted to give him the opportunity, we had to find the opportunity, not just for him but for every player. He’s been working incredibly hard in training. He’s a quality player, you can see his quality of moments. I think he went a did a good job of helping us possess the ball and trying to maintain and secure possession. But obviously a difficult moment for a young kid to go in and play his first professional game. But we’re happy with how he went in and I’m sure he’ll learn from this and he’ll grow and continue to push him.”
How did the international break and late-week injuries affect the team?
“There’s no excuses. There’s no excuses but this week was a tough week. The factors are we did not have our players together the whole week. We had a couple players go down at the end of week of training, but those things happen. You’re going to have those things happen. We are going to have international breaks were we are going to be scrambling with players and we are going to try and get them back as quickly as possible. But it's not easy to deal with players coming back late and having to deal with these injuries. It definitely impacted how we about our business today because we didn't have an entire week to prepare ourselves. But that’s not an excuse, that’s just a factor.”
On Philadelphia’s goals
“I haven’t seen the goals back yet. So, I will have to go watch them and asses them later on tonight.”
On Caleb Stanko
“Yeah, I was really happy with Caleb, actually. He has been working very, very hard and has been very, very patient. He deserves his chance to play. I am glad we could give him the chance. I think he went in and played with a good amount of physicality but he was also very good in possession, too. So we will go reflect. We will watch the video. We will try and find some positives on the game tonight. Obviously, we will look at the things that weren't very good and we will try to adjust those. ”
FCC Midfielder Victor Ulloa
On the difference in tonight’s game
“Well, obviously not the result we wanted, and it was tough conditions but there’s no excuses for both teams, and I think in the second half we made a push to tie it. There was a stretch of a couple of corner kicks that we had and maybe we could have tied it 1-1. On transition, they catch us, and we know they have some fast players up top, and punish us 1-0, and then punish 2-0. So unfortunate result for us.”
On the lack of offense creativity
“No, I think we have to put blame on ourselves. We weren’t good enough tonight and we were at home. We were trying to make the points count that we got last week in New England, so we scratch those and we move on. We know that we have to take care of business at home and we have another opportunity next week.”
On the weather
“It was brutal, it was brutal. But like I said, it was for both teams, and all credit to them. They came in here took advantage of those opportunities, created them, and punished us.”
FCC Midfielder Frankie Amaya
On his debut
“It was an unbelievable feeling. It was a moment I dreamed of as a kid, and when he called me up and said I’m going in, it was just a shocker … I couldn’t thank him enough.”
Feelings after the loss
“Yeah, yeah, it’s always difficult losing, I hate losing … no matter if I’m on the roster, if I’m on the bench, if I go in – I hate losing. So, it was a difficult loss.”
His self-evaluation of his performance
“Yeah, it was a small time, but I thought I did pretty well. I could’ve been a little bit better defensively, and a little more higher … yeah, I could’ve done more things, but that’s all I did.”
On difficulty of entering match down 2-0
“Yeah, no matter what the score, I was going to come in with the mentality of trying to do my best, and trying to do anything better for the team. And that was just my mentality coming into the game.”
How prepared he was for the debut?
“I felt pretty prepared. I had a good week in training. I got pushed a lot, and I was just happy that I got in the game.”
On how appearances will help his chances for U-20 World Cup
“They just give me more motivation and more hunger to want more. It’s just, now that I got this chance, I know I can do more and this goes uphill from here.”
FCC Midfielder Caleb Stanko
On the result
“2-0 is hard always. I tried to play forward as much as possible and help out the guys but it was a tough situation. We were already down 2-0 but the guys fought a hard game.”
Coming on trailing 2-0
“Coming into the game at 2-0 was hard but I just tried to make the best of it and help out the guys as much as possible.”
On the difference in tonight’s game
“Of course the weathers a factor but both teams had to play into that. I thought because they played with four in the middle, the diamond, it was hard for our two center mids because they were just overloading the middle. I thought we did better in the second half with that but Philly did a good job.”
Philadelphia Union Head Coach Jim Curtin
On the result
“Overall, you know a real complete performance from the guys. I really happy with the way we defended as a team. It was very organized Cincinnati that had 10 guys behind the ball. It was difficult to break down.I didn't like our movement in the first half but I think the guys up top adjusted in the second half and ran into some deeper spots and broke up that triangle between Fafa (Picault), David (Accam) and Marco (Fabian). We made some really good runs into the corners and that actually lead to two of our goals. Overall I couldn't be more proud of the group. Points on the road in this league are really hard to come by. So to take three today is something special. We have a very strong team.We’ve had good performances now in each of our games. I think our team has gotten better, adjusting to a new system and a new style. The payers are really taken to it and I think we could’ve scored three or four goals today. ”
On what switched in the second half
“More of the same in the defensive half. Our back four has been solid all year, the guys in front of them, the midfielders and even the forwards have done a good job of limiting chances and making it an easy night for (Andre Blake), which is important. But then attacking-wise, the amount of corners we created in the first half, I believe nine, just shows we were in the attacking half and on the front foot. We just had to be more clinical with our final pass, get movement in the box and you saw that in the second half. We still could’ve finished a few more, like I said. I think that will come, but anytime you can get a shutout in a tough environment on a tough day with the elements and the turf and all these variables, to win 2-0 on the road is always something special.”
On David Accam
“(He was) really good. I thought the play he makes on the goal is special. The composure he shows to fake a shot to get the defenders to dive in and then to calm down in front of goal and just finish and just slot it in was excellent. He’s hot right now. He’s done a great job for us. He started having a little tightness he started to feel, and you don’t want that, especially on (turf), it could become something that pops and you’re chasing it for a couple weeks, so give him a lot of credit.”
Philadelphia Union Midfielder David Accam
On second-half execution
“He told us we worked really well but we needed to do a lot of runs to create more space for our self and for and I think that is what we did, made a lot of good runs and created a goal for Marco (Fabian) and also in my goal it was just a good play from Brenden (Aaronson) and I was in a good position and scored the goal.”
On switch in the back of his last name
“It means a lot because it was a name that me and my dad shared. For me. I think this is the best way, to wear Titi on my back, to honor my late dad.”
On his fitness and what is clicking for the team
“Yeah, yeah I think I feel much better now. My fitness, it’s not there yet but it’s almost there. I have like a good feeling about myself. You know I think it’s just about me trying to get fitter and fitter and get better”
