The Orange and Blue's sprint to the end of the season continues as FC Cincinnati kick off a double-header against D.C. United this week. The first of two back-to-back games against the East Coast club kicks off this week, with the rescheduled match from earlier this summer arriving ahead of a return game over the weekend.
The home matchup with D.C. United kicks off at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at TQL Stadium. Before then, let’s look at a few key factors FC Cincinnati will use to guide them to victory in this Sunday night battle.
Just Win
The mission is clear not just for Wednesday night’s match, but for every match for the rest of the season. Win. So in this home game against D.C. United, finding ways to do so is paramount, and the only key FCC needs to focus on.
“We have D.C. next, and that's the focus. How do we position ourselves for a better result?” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said Sunday night after the team's loss in Hell is Real. “Right now, we can talk about stats all we want. We need to win. That's it. We need to win, however that looks, however that feels, we need to win games.”
Fortunately for The Orange and Blue, they are still in a position where they control their own destiny as it regards the playoffs. So winning will be enough to get in, and that starts Wednesday night again against an Eastern Conference foe who are also looking to battle their way into a playoff spot.
“We're still above the playoff line, and so while it doesn't feel good with the results right now, we have a position that doesn't have us chasing,” Noonan added. “We can worry just about ourselves and trying to win games and finish out the season.”
Find Ways to Win Games
The solution to the ineffable problem that has faced FC Cincinnati this season has, at times, felt varied in its proximity to the team. At times, it has felt like The Orange and Blue have their finger wrapped around it and are making meaningful strides to improve, and at other moments, it has felt further away than ever.
But that issue, the thing that has kept FC Cincinnati from turning strong performances into wins and weak performances into salvageable results, still sits somewhere in the aether. Intangible in many ways but concrete in others.
Fortunately for FCC heading into this game, the solution, while easier said than done, seems clear to the club. The challenge now is executing it, not identifying it.
“Yeah you still want to play the game the way we're playing it, but have a little bit more, I would say, game understanding of when you're playing with the lead, when you're trailing. When I say urgency, it’s how do we make the most out of specific moments in the game to change an outcome? Because there were enough (oppertunities) there to finish off some plays,” Noonan added Sunday. “But as a game progresses and you're down, or you've been losing games and things aren't going your way, how do you approach that mentally to either cave or keep pushing and say, ‘you know what, we're still in a position where it's in our own hands.’ We can still finish out the season in a way where, who knows, you get in the playoffs and make a run. But yeah, what does that message look and feel like for each game, because it's happening so fast that we have to forget about it and move on.”
Make Winning Plays
So how does FC Cincinnati move forward? For starters, they have had no trouble creating chances for themselves and, frankly, have done well in limiting opportunities for opponents lately.
The difference comes in the winning plays—the big moments.
On Sunday, in the 2-0 loss to Columbus in Hell is Real, FCC allowed three total shots, an excellent figure by all metrics for limiting an opponent. But they scored on two of them. Conversely, they earned 24 shots themselves but couldn’t put one in the back of the net.
So FC Cincinnati players need to rise in those moments and make the big play, because otherwise, they are playing effective football in almost every other area.
We don't need new ideas and strategies. How we approach it with our starting group, how we make in-game adjustments, that'll be dictated by what the games look like. But if you look at how the games are being played right now structurally, chance creation, we still concede in almost every big moment that we concede or give up. But I wouldn't say a lot drastically needs to change, other than winning the boxes. That's something that we haven't done,” Noonan explained.
“It felt that way tonight. A lot more half chances than clear cut chances. There's not breakaways, there's not one-on-ones with the keeper. I'm trying to go through some of our biggest moments, and you know, they add up because we were playing in their half of the field,” Noonan continued. “But possession, for me, doesn't matter, it’s where are we possessing the ball? What kind of stress are we causing? And are we in favorable positions to score goals without leaving ourselves exposed, and I thought for the most part, outside of some of the final actions, we did that in a pretty good way today.”
FC Cincinnati kicks off with D.C. United at 7 p.m. Wednesday at TQL Stadium, kicking off a double header between The Orange and Blue and DCU that will conclude Saturday at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. For more information on how to watch, or for matchday information at TQL Stadium all season, click here.
