With history knocking on FC Cincinnati’s door, The Orange and Blue fell just short in a disappointing 2-0 loss to Nashville SC. Snapping the club's record long seven-game win streak and falling at home for the second time this season.
In a frustrating evening on all fronts, FCC was kept off the score sheet for the fourth time this season across all competitions (all at home) and now must wait over two weeks to take to the pitch again.
Despite a short week, FC Cincinnati went with a starting XI extremely similar to the one that they used over the weekend. The notable exception being Nick Hagglund making the start for Ian Murphy in the center back group. DeAndre Yedlin also returned to the starting XI after making his return from injury as a sub against Toronto.
Set pieces were again a problem for FC Cincinnati as the first goal of the match came off a Nashville SC corner kick that Jack Maher poked in after taking a deflection. The corner was won thanks to a heroic save from Roman Celentano to punch an attempt over the bar, but when the finish from Maher came, the keeper was helpless to react. Conceding in the same way and similar time frame as they did in the match over the weekend.
But Nashville wasn’t finished. After a controversial won tackle that left Obinna Nwobodo limping, Hany Muhktar pounced on the counter and dribbled through the middle on net. At the last moment the midfielder dumped a pass over to Jacob Shaffleburg, whose powerful low shot caught a piece of Celentano but eventually found the back of the net. Giving Nashville SC the first two goal lead against Cincinnati any club has had this season at just the 30 minute mark.
FC Cincinnati would head into halftime with that 2-0 scoreline despite some opportunities to halve the score before the break. When the whistle blew, expected goals for either side were tallied at just 0.6 for Nashville and 0.5 for FC Cincinnati, suggesting a very different game than what had happened on the field.
The second half yielded no better results for The Orange and Blue as Nashville, largely content with their two goal lead, moved to a defensive formation and stymied FC Cincinnati attempts despite some close calls. FC Cincinnati would ultimately outshoot Nashville to the tune of 16 shots to 9 and five shots on target to three.
With the loss, FC Cincinnati falls to 10-3-3 with 33 points. In perhaps the only bit of luck on the night, Inter Miami also lost at home to a struggling Atlanta United side, meaning FC Cincinnati remained in second place in the table, still just one point back of Miami with a game in hand.
FC Cincinnati will not play again until June 15 at San Jose Earthquakes - 16 days between matches thanks to a bye week this Saturday and the international break immediately following. The Orange and Blue won’t return to TQL Stadium for a month, next hosting Philadelphia Union on June 19.
