Prior to FC Cincinnati’s preseason finale Saturday night against Columbus Crew SC, Head Coach Alan Koch said Columbus would be a difficult opponent to break down.
“Columbus is a well-organized machine,” Koch said on Friday. “They know how to play together. You can see this week they’ve played together for a long, long time.”
It showed Saturday, as 10-man Cincinnati lost 3-0 to Columbus to end the 2019 Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston, S.C.
Here are three takeaways from the match.
Time difference
FC Cincinnati’s first preseason as an MLS club started roughly a month ago (Jan. 22). Since then, the Orange and Blue have learned each other’s names, the way Koch wants them to play, and have had to reintegrate injured players into the playing rotation. That means a lot is happening in a quick period.
Saturday night, it showed the difference between the two clubs and their timelines. The Crew put together a starting lineup that could debut in their first regular-season match. Most of their players have been in Columbus for multiple seasons. Most of Cincinnati’s players have been with the club for multiple weeks.
The loss was the first time Koch used this specific starting lineup. Center back Kendall Waston, who had only played 66 minutes of this preseason previously — in the first two preseason games — started and featured for the third time in seven games. Eric Alexander played slightly higher up the field than he’s played previously, too. And when Roland Lamah was red carded for a tackle in the 29th minute, Cincinnati reverted to a 4-4-1 formation that forced Fanendo Adi to sit back and help with defensive duties rather than attack.
The game showed Cincinnati is still building chemistry and working on lineups as you may expect from a first-year club, whereas its in-state rival Columbus showed more as the established team.
Dealing with adversity productively
Already trailing 2-0, the Lamah red card didn’t help matters in a comeback.
Throughout his time on the field, he was a bright spot for Cincinnati. While the Orange and Blue used a playing style that was more direct — long balls that skipped the midfield to Adi — Lamah used his pace on the flanks to create space and dribble at the Columbus backline. Once he was gone, that was lacking and the club bunkered down in a 4-4-1 formation to stop Columbus from scoring more.
“You can’t take anything tactically out of the last 60 minutes,” Koch said. “That was sheer necessity.”
Before the 4-4-1, FCC played a 3-4-3. Once the card occurred, the club restructured and returned to a back four for the first time since the first preseason game against the Montreal Impact.
“It tries to help you narrow the space as much as possible,” Koch said of the formation change. “It doesn’t really mean anything, but there were positives the group managed the last 60 minutes relatively well considering we were a man down against a very good team.”
The regular season starts now
Earlier in the week, Koch was asked when the MLS regular season officially starts. He said as soon as the final whistle blew in Charleston.
Thus, the regular season is here.
After years of speculation of whether or not FC Cincinnati would become an expansion franchise, now the debate moves to what starting lineup will play against Seattle Sounders FC next Saturday night in the team’s MLS debut.
It’s a historic and exciting time — and one that should be celebrated, even if the result Saturday night in the CCC was one to forget and move forward from.
Koch was somber in his postgame interview. He said players were disappointed in the result and some addressed the team in the locker room.
While preseason results don’t matter, they can affect the team’s mentality. In this instance, it’s a learning lesson that arrives without reflecting the league standings.
“We need to learn from tonight,” Koch said. “Tonight is a huge growth opportunity.”
