CINCINNATI – FC Cincinnati fell to D.C. United, 2-1, at Nippert Stadium on Sunday night.
D.C. United (3-10-6, 15 pts.) opened the scoring when defender Donovan Pines capitalized on a loose ball in the box and left-footed a shot beyond Bobby Edwards in the 36th minute.
FC Cincinnati (4-11-4, 12 pts.) were able to equalize in the 66th minute. when Siem de Jong fired a shot on net and Brandon Vazquez was in position to score his second goal of the season via a rebound opportunity.
The Black and Red went on to score the game-winning goal in the 78th minute as defender Chris Odoi-Atsem finished a rebound of his own following a Kevin Paredes shot on goal.
FC Cincinnati will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 24 when they will play Minnesota United FC at Nippert Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on WSTR 64, carried on the radio on WDJO (99.5 FM, 107.9 FM and 1480 AM), streamed regionally on fccincinnati.com/stream, out of market on ESPN+, while an audio stream will be available at TuneIn (WDJO) 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. Additionally, fans are encouraged to download the team’s official mobile app on the Apple App Store or Google Play for instant access to mobile tickets, team content and match notifications.
Information about seating options at the club’s state-of-the-art West End Stadium – which will open in Spring 2021 – is now available at westendstadium.com. Season ticket deposits are now being accepted for traditional reserved seating and The Bailey. For more information about 2021 season memberships, visit westendstadium.com or the stadium’s social properties on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at @WestEndStadium, or by calling the team’s sales and service staff at 513-977-5425.
D.C. United 2, FC Cincinnati 1
Nippert Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio
October 14, 2020
SCORING SUMMARY
DC – Donovan Pines (unassisted) 36’
CIN – Brandon Vazquez (unassisted) 66’
DC – Chris Odoi-Atsem (unassisted) 78’
FC Cincinnati: Bobby Edwards, Saad Abdul-Salaam (Rashawn Dally 54’), Nick Hagglund, Tom Pettersson, Andrew Gutman, Kamohelo Mokotjo (Siem de Jong 60’), Haris Medunjanin ©, Frankie Amaya, Brandon Vazquez, Joseph-Claude Gyau, Alvaro Barreal (Zico Bailey 86’)
Bench: Beckham Sunderland, Hassan Ndam, Tommy McCabe, Caleb Stanko, Jimmy McLaughlin
Stats: Shots 11, Shots on goal 6, Saves 2, Corner kicks 5, Offsides 0, Fouls 11, Possession 53.5%, Passes 455 (79.2%)
D.C. United: Chris Seitz, Frédéric Brillant ©, Chris Odio-Atsem, Joseph Mora, Donovan Pines, Edison Flores (Kevin Paredes 72’), Julian Gressel, Yamil Asad, Moses Nyeman (Oniel Fisher 87’), Gelmin Rivas (Ola Kamara 65’), Erik Sorga
Bench: Earl Edwards Jr., Griffin Yow, Axel Sjöberg
Stats: Shots 13, Shots on goal 4, Saves 5, Corner kicks 3, Offsides 1, Fouls 12, Possession 46.5%, Passes 394 (79.2%)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
DC – Yamil Asad (caution) 27’
DC – Moses Nyema (caution) 32’
DC – Chris Odoi-Atsem (caution) 90’+3’
Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
Assistant Referees: Eric Weisbrod, Claudiu Badea
4th Official: Matthew Thompson
VAR: Alan Kelly
Weather: 57 degrees and cloudy
Attendance: N/A
GAME NOTES
- With tonight’s loss, the Orange and Blue are now 4-11-4 through 19 MLS matches … FCC are now 1-2-4 in matches played at Nippert Stadium … FC Cincinnati’s all-time, all-competition record against D.C. United moves to 0-2-2 … The Orange and Blue are now 4-10-4 against Eastern Conference opponents this season
- Brandon Vazquez scored his second goal of the season in the 66th minute of tonight’s match … with two goals, Vazquez has matched his single-season high mark of two goals with Atlanta United FC in 2019 … Vazquez ranks second on the team behind midfielder/forward Yuya Kubo, who has scored three goals this year
- Jimmy McLaughlin made the matchday squad for the first time since FC Cincinnati joined MLS … McLaughlin suffered a season-ending injury prior to the 2019 MLS season … the midfielder once again picked up an injury during the MLS is Back Tournament … McLaughlin’s last official appearance was on Oct. 27, 2018, in the USL Cup Playoffs while his last MLS appearance was June 6, 2015, for the Philadelphia Union
- Head coach Jaap Stam made two changes to the club’s most recent match against Columbus Crew SC on Oct. 14 … Frankie Amaya and Joseph-Claude Gyau replaced Allan Cruz and Yuya Kubo
- Allan Cruz, Mathieu Deplagne, Greg Garza, Yuya Kubo, Jurgen Locadia, Spencer Richey, Przemysław Tytoń, Kendall Waston and Maikel van der Werff were excluded from the matchday roster because of injuries
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati head coach Jaap Stam
On whether conceding first affects the team’s plan
“It doesn't affect the overall game plan at all, because of what we can do after that. You can keep on playing. The other thing is, you need to be a little bit more patient at times. That's what we said. Second half, you do the same thing basically. You press a little bit higher, and what we said we needed to do. You create an opportunity. You score a goal, an equalizer. Then you expect to keep on going, keep on pushing. And then we give a ball away ourselves, and they can score that second one. If you concede two goals like this, then it becomes very difficult to get a result. Because it is narrow. They keep it tight. Not easy to get through it. So the opportunities that you get, you need to take them. You need to be a bit accurate at times as well. It’s also a matter of not giving away opportunities. That’s what happened today. You gave away two, maybe three. They missed one and scored two. Then it becomes difficult for us to get that result that you want.”
On the disappointment of conceding
“It is disappointing. We all know that nobody is doing this on purpose. The thing is, you make it difficult for yourself to win games and get points if you concede goals like that. Then, you need to get back to the game. You need to chase it. You need to score. You need to equalize, which we do. Then after that, it happened again, which is very disappointing. If we keep on doing this, and in other games we’ve had it as well, it is becoming difficult to get points. You want to play a certain way, with possession going forward, but we also need to know, and we spoke about it, you don’t need to lose that ball. In the counterattack, they try to come out very quick, and there are threats. So, yeah it is disappointing, but everybody feels that. Everybody finds it very hard to take this one. We need to do better in certain situations.”
On D.C. United’s first goal
“He (Bobby Edwards) was trying to catch it. The ball goes wide. It wasn’t on goal, but he made the decision to catch that ball. For every goalie, if you do that, you need to catch it. He dropped it, and they scored. He could also let it go. It was going behind, but that is a decision that he makes. I don’t want to blame players, because everybody is trying to do their best. Bobby is trying to do his best as well. It’s just his second game. Things can happen. Even experienced players and goalkeepers make mistakes. You see that in this league as well, even yesterday. That happens. The thing is in how you deal with that, and how do you work as a team to do better and get back into the game. Of course, it’s a decision that he made at that time.”
FC Cincinnati forward Brandon Vazquez
On the match and his goal
“Tough game. It was one of those where it goes back and forth, back and forth, so it’s opportunity after opportunity. At the end of the game, we didn’t get the result, but I think as a team we played well. I think we got distracted a little bit at some plays and we made some mistakes, but at the end of the day, I think it’s something we can build on. My goal, it went from half field to our left side, to Siem (de Jong). He cut in, took a shot, and I was ready to pounce, thinking, believing that there was going to be a rebound. So, I sprinted towards the keeper, and exactly that happened. I saw him – the ball bounced off him, came right to me, and he spread his legs to block the second shot. I just thought I’d put it under his legs.”
On the club’s concern regarding injuries
“You know, it’s something that we, as a team, have to deal with. We have the players. I think we have a deep roster as well. It seems like every game we’re having more and more players go down, but I think we have good enough players, a deep enough roster to fill that position and to keep going for next weekend. I think just as much as players are going out, players are also coming back from injury. So that’s also a great part.”
On keeping energy despite the hectic schedule
“Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes you can notice it (lack of energy) in the game. I can notice it in myself, as well, but at the end of the day, I think you just have to play with heart. Even though your legs might be tired, or it might be freezing, or it might be too hot or whatever the factor is, I think at the end of the day, you’re playing with your heart and you have to put all that behind you, go out there, put on the best performance you can and try to get the three points.”
FC Cincinnati forward Rashawn Dally
On tonight’s match
“We came out, and it was unfortunate that we weren’t able to get a positive result, but I thought we fought hard and we just lost control of it a little bit in the end and gave up that goal. But I felt like we came out building good off of last game, off of the win, and wanted to get the three points and it’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
On his performances the last couple of matches
“I feel like I’m performing well. I’m confident and I’m getting good minutes. So, I’m just taking advantage of those and just enjoying the game as I play.”
On the biggest issue with FC Cincinnati’s attack tonight
“I think it’s, like you said, just that final pass. We get into good spots, and it’s just putting that final pass, and then execute. We were able to get one goal, which was big for us. It came off of the rebound. That was big for us, but I feel like it was just getting that final pass and executing.”
