FC Cincinnati matched a club-best three first half goals, but visiting Nashville SC’s four second half goals led to the visitors earning a 6-3 win Wednesday night in front of 20,581 fans at TQL Stadium.
The Orange and Blue struck first after Dave Romney’s own goal in the 6th minute, the first own goal in FCC’s favor in over a year, put the hosts up 1-0.
Ten minutes later Yuya Kubo was fouled in the box which led to Brenner converting a penalty kick in the 17th minute. Brenner’s goal, the second from the penalty spot this season and the first since the season-opener at Nashville, was his eighth goal of the season, a club record for most individual goals in one season.
Brenner had a chance to score from the penalty spot again in the 25th minute but his attempt was saved by Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis. All-time in MLS regular season contests, FC Cincinnati players are 7-for-9.
After Nashville grabbed one goal back, in the 32nd minute, Brandon Vázquez became the first player in club history to score in three consecutive games with his long-distance strike curled past Willis to give FCC a 3-1 lead.
The Six-Strings scored right before halftime, and scored four goals in the second half, all of which came in the final 20 minutes of the match, to secure a 6-3 win.
FC Cincinnati hit the road for the final road trip of the season Sunday at Philadelphia Union. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on WSTR 64, streamed regionally on fccincinnati.com/stream, out of market on ESPN+, on radio on Fox Sports AM 1360 while an audio stream will be available via the iHeartRadio app.
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 TQL Stadium is now available at TQLstadium.com. For more information about 2022 Season Ticket Deposits and Renewals, which are coming soon, visit TQLstadium.com or the stadium’s social properties on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at @TQLStadium, or by calling the team’s sales and service staff at 513-977-5425.
FC CINCINNATI MATCH REPORT
FC Cincinnati vs Nashville SC
Date: October 27, 2021
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: TQL Stadium – Cincinnati, Ohio
Attendance: 20,581
Kickoff: 7:38 p.m. ET
Weather: 49 degrees, clear
CIN – Dave Romney (own goal) 6’, Brenner (PK) 17’, Brandon Vázquez (unassisted) 32’
NSH – Walker Zimmerman (Hany Mukhtar) 28’, Randall Leal (unassisted) 45+2’, C.J. Sapong (Walker Zimmerman, Hany Mukhtar) 71’, Randall Leal (Hany Mukhtar) 76’, Ake Arnaud Loba (Randall Leal) 80’, C.J. Sapong (Ake Arnaud Loba) 90+2’
GAME NOTES
- Brandon Vázquez became the first player in club history to score in three consecutive games.
- With his eighth goal of the year, Brenner became the all-time leader in goals in one season in FC Cincinnati history.
- Dave Romney’s early own goal to put FC Cincinnati up 1-0 was the first own goal scored by FC Cincinnati opposition since July 22, 2020 at the MLS is Back Tournament, when Florian Valot scored in his own net while he was with New York Red Bulls.
- Brenner scored from the penalty spot, just the second PK awarded to FC Cincinnati this season (season-opener at Nashville) … for the first time in club history, the Orange and Blue were awarded two PK’s in one match … all-time FC Cincinnati players are 7-for-9 from the PK spot, with Brenner’s second attempt miss being the second all-time miss (Emmanuel Ledesma – 8/17/21 vs NYCFC).
- The starting match temperature of 49 degrees is the coldest of this season.
- Kenneth Vermeer made his first start in goal since September 4 vs. Inter Miami CF.
- Luciano Acosta will miss Sunday’s match at Philadelphia due to yellow card accumulation.
Lineups:
CIN: Kenneth Vermeer, Zico Bailey (Isaac Atanga 90’), Geoff Cameron, Tyler Blackett, Edgar Castillo, Yuya Kubo (Calvin Harris 81’), Caleb Stanko (Kamohelo Mokotjo 81’), Haris Medunjanin (Arquimides Ordonez 90’), Luciano Acosta (c), Brenner Álvaro Barreal 84’), Brandon Vázquez
Substitutes not used: Przemyslaw Tyton, Florian Valot, Joseph-Claude Gyau, Kyle Scott
Interim Head Coach: Tyrone Marshall
NSH: Joe Willis, Walker Zimmerman (c), Dave Romney, Tah Anunga (Jack Maher 84’), Anibal Godoy, Daniel Lovitz (Taylor Washington 66’), Luke Haakenson (Ake Arnaud Loba 46’), Alistair Johnson, Hany Mukhtar (Matt LaGrassa 90’), Randal Leal (Alex Muyl 84’), C.J. Sapong
Substitutes not used: Bryan Meredith, Eric Miller, Jhonder Cadiz, Abu Danladi
Head coach: Gary Smith
Stats Summary: CIN / NSH
Shots: 9 / 15
Shots on Goal: 5 / 8
Saves: 2 / 3
Corner Kicks: 1 / 1
Fouls: 16 / 13
Offside: 0 / 1
Possession: 47.2 / 52.8
Misconduct Summary:
NSH – Daniel Lovitz (caution) 21’
CIN – Geoff Cameron (caution) 35’
CIN – Luciano Acosta (caution) 70’
Officials:
Referee: Ramy Touchan
Ast. Referees: Claudiu Badea, Corey Rockwell
Fourth official: Timothy Ford
VAR: Hilario Grajeda
AVAR: Cory Richardson
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Interim Head Coach Tyrone Marshall
On the match
“You wish you could press timeout, you know? And say ‘hey guys, let's go, wake up, you know?’ They score goals in some moments, you know, the set-piece. Again, your head goes down, and you look now it's 3-3. Then you're on the bench; you're trying to make some adjustments. Se who we can bring on to potentially see it out, inject some more life.”
“Next thing, it's 4-3. So for me, we have to be more attentive and more focused in those times OK? We are still in the game. Can we get back in our blocks and stay organized? We need that; we didn't have that tonight. Now you can see it's just like here we go again, and the heads start going down. so it's a tough one but it's hard to motivate the guys, because when you're not in the playoffs and you're struggling. It's a tough one, but again we are trying to inject as much energy and life into the field with making some subs and seeing if something can happen, and then, unfortunately, it didn't. So we move on and see what happens the next time.”
On the adjustments Nashville made in the second half
“In the first half, obviously, I think playing with the two strikers up top helped for us. You know, having numbers in the box and those early services. Again I think Brenner was sharp tonight; I thought Brandon [Vázquez], three games, three goals, he's been clicking. I think Yuya [Kubo] coming back has given us some energy, some quality in the midfield, as well.”
“I don't think they expected us to play in that 4-4-2 setup. I think they were more looking at a diamond. But with us having a 4-4-2, I think we covered the width of the pitch. How we were able to find those pockets for those guys. Early crosses and getting on some stuff and picking off the balls in the right moments. And look, for me, I think Nashville is a great team, but sometimes you're in a situation where you know what you're going up against an opponent that hasn't won in a while.”
On the takeaways
“You kind of take it a little bit lightly, and I thought they did in the first half. That's why I think we scored those goals but as you can see, they had some quality, they came back, and they scored. For us, in the second half, I don't think they made much of an adjustment. It's just now that they have some opportunity; they put away their chances. Where we had our chances and put away some of them but the penalty kick, maybe if we score that one, it could've been 3-0 as opposed to 2-1 after we missed that. Then going into the half, they've scored again, instead of being 3-1 up, it's now 3-2. So now, You're thinking, oh, we could get an opportunity if we just keep going. Instead of going in 3-1, and they're like, we'll pack it up and go back home.”
“So, yeah, it's a tough one and not much of an adjustment. They are still playing the same way; it's just that now they've put away their chances, and we just didn't have an opportunity to close it out for them.”
FC Cincinnati midfielder Yuya Kubo
On the match
“First half, we played well. We scored three goals. Second half, I don't know. Maybe we didn't stick together. As a defense, we didn't play well. We didn't connect with each other, that’s a problem. In the first half we connected really well. We scored, we took two penalties. It was almost 3-0 or 4-0. We could have beat them, but I don't know. What can I say? We scored three goals and then it was 6-3.”
On the team’s mentality
“Last game against Miami we also scored in the first half and it was 1-1, then after in the second half, we didn't play well. I don't know if it's mental or not. I think we have to focus more in the second half as a defense. If we play together as a defense I think at a minimum we can take one point, but we didn't do that.”
On the final two matches remaining
“I think in the last two games, we know what the problem is. We have to play better defensively as a team. Also, we have to play for the team with pride in the last two games. I think that's the most important thing.”
FC Cincinnati Brandon Vázquez
On the result
“They tried to play the ball between me and Lucho [Acosta] and I picked it off, the ball just happened to be in front of me. I was one on one with the keeper. I felt the players closing in on me, I knew I had to put in the corner at that moment.”
On the result
“Yeah it hurts, it's like deja vu every time we play at home. We played really well the first half and a couple seconds of lack of focus in the second half cost us the game, and it really hurt.”
