FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said the most surprising part of Saturday night's match at Subaru Park with the Philadelphia Union was "Us, we just weren't good."
After a couple weeks of earning results and their overwhelmingly positive vibes surrounding FC Cincinnati's start to the season, The Orange and Blue had its first stumble of the season, falling 4-1 to Philadelphia for the first loss of the 2025 season and providing a" wake up call" to the team in the process.
Under new Head Coach Bradley Carnell and on their Home Opening Night, Philadelphia dominated play on Saturday night and unveiled a new look Union in a significant way. Tai Baribo earned a hat-trick, scoring in the 6, 30 and 52 minutes before FC Cincinnati could themselves get on the score sheet. Then after FCC did score -- from a 59th minute goal from Evander that brought a spark back into the game – the Union put another one on the board for good measure in the 90+3 to seal the deal.
"Credit to Philadelphia. They were certainly the better team and deserved to win this game," Noonan said to open his postgame press conference. "So, on our end, just a poor performance and maybe a good early wake-up call. It could be, maybe, a blessing in disguise. I hope so. But we just had too many poor performances on an individual level and with the ball really struggled to control play and make the right passes."
In general, FC Cincinnati struggled to connect play through the midfield. When they did, they couldn't find the right cohesion in the final third to create consistent, dangerous moments going towards goal. On the other hand, the new look, fervently pressing Philadelphia Union, effectively put pressure on the ball and forced mistakes. Then when the opportunity was there, the attacking front of Philadelphia punished FCC in their own end with precision and speed. It did not then help that in the first half with the wind gusting strongly in towards the FCC goal, Philadelphia found ways to play the advantage even further and give themselves chances to push for more.
Distribution from keeper Roman Celentano would get caught up in the air and come well short of their intended target. Direct passes from defenders looking to break lines and give FCC a chance to go over the midfield were knocked down by the wind. Meanwhile, those exact same kind of plays going the other direction from Philadelphia, when needed, got an extra boost. The wind so much didn't force FC Cincinnati into a poor performance but put FCC in a position where they needed to play a certain way, strengthening the home side's approach.
"We were trying to manage the game in ways where the guys on the field will understand the difficulty of playing on the ground, playing direct. In the first half, (it was) probably easier to play on the ground just because the ball in the air was going to be very difficult to gain any territory," Noonan said postgame as to how the wind impacted the game. "Likely, it was going to be hard to win headers and win knockdowns in ways where it wasn't coming back down our throat.
"In the moments where the ball was on the ground and we were able to move it, I just thought too many times when we were able to break pressure, we didn't have the right touch. We didn't have the right body shape to advance with the ball, and that just limited our ability to get to goal. So, despite longer stretches and being able to move the ball okay, nothing really came of it."
"I think we kind of couldn't really play our style, or maybe the way they were kind of pressing with the wind made it extra hard for us to play in behind if we wanted to," FC Cincinnati defender Miles Robinson also said, touching on the same topic. "But I don't think it really affected our game plan, necessarily, but it just ended up affecting how we played."
FC Cincinnati is still looking to find its footing despite some of the success they've had thus far. Having played four matches in effectively 11 days, FCC have been at a full sprint in terms of match preparation ever since they left Clearwater, Florida. But Noonan rejected the idea that fatigue could have, or rather should have, impacted the performance for FC Cincinnati. He pointed out that all but one starter played less than 45 minutes on Wednesday and that they should have had fresh legs for this match.
However, even given the poor outcome, there were some places Noonan felt his team performed well. The Head Coach didn't rave but felt that despite how some things played out there were positive places. In the same way that there are places to look at for improvement in big victories, there are positives in disappointing defeats.
"In the first half, I was pleased defensively with our structure and anticipating, at times, when the ball was in wide positions, how the ball might move forward," Noonan explained. "I thought the first half overall, despite some difficult conditions, we weren't terrible. We just rushed too many plays when we had the ball, when we were able to break pressure and then didn't get any rhythm in the final third."
Where this leaves FC Cincinnati now, though, is a complicated spot. The frenetic pace of games on the schedule will only be compounded moving forward as a match with Liga MX giants Tigres UANL is scheduled for Tuesday evening in Cincinnati for the Concacaf Champions Cup – giving FCC two days to recover and turn the page. A league match against Toronto comes the Saturday after that before another Tuesday match (this time away in Monterrey) after that.
So it doesn't get any 'easier.' That said, given the circumstance FCC finds themselves in so early in the year, a loss is only truly devastating if they learn nothing from it. In 2024, The Orange and Blue went up to Montréal and left losers with a disappointing 2-1 result, the first back. However, the aftermath of that loss launched FCC on a seven-game win streak. A lesson was learned, and FCC was better off.
Noonan hopes FC Cincinnati take a lesson away. Hopes it turns into a "blessing in disguise." Miles Robinson, who captained FC Cincinnati, described the performance as "not enough" and highlighted how he felt FCC didn't have the proper mentality or focus on the match, particularly after Philadelphia got out to an early lead. He said the feeling the team was left with was like "getting humble pie" and "being slapped in the face." A feeling he had little interest in reliving but is something they have to bunker down and do; and the feeling they are left from is one they must learn from.
"I think just in general, it's important to be critical of ourselves just to get better," Robinson said in earnest. "To really recognize what we can do to get better. Obviously, it's kind of a new group, and guys are still kind of getting to learn each other and how we play and movements offensively and defensively. So I think with time and a kind of experience, we have growth. I think, also, with games like this we're almost forced to grow and forced to kind of bounce back.
"We just have to, you know, recognize what we can learn from it…I have to be better; the whole team has to be better. But I think we have the personalities to definitely bounce back from this and adjust in general."
The defender took full responsibility for the performance and said that everyone had to look at themselves individually – starting with himself- and ask what more they could do and come to an answer before they played next. He also highlighted confidence in his teammate's work through this moment and come out strong.
No one, beyond Robinson himself, perhaps, singled out the defender as the sole responsible party for FCC's defeat. But in a sort of accidental, perfect, circular logic Robinson displayed exactly why Pat Noonan said he was confident in his team's ability to respond to this challenge. There is no shortage of leaders, and while everyone recognizes the team has to be better, the leaders are looking at themselves first for where to change.
"It's still too early for a lot of certainty, but I like this group," Noonan said confidently. "I'm not happy about the result, but I don't think the guys are going to be affected by it in a way that we're not able to turn it around and get ready to perform again on Tuesday."
