A thundering header from Kekuta Manneh in the 104th minute was the game-winning goal in FC Cincinnati’s 2-1 win against Louisville City FC on Wednesday night at the Nippert Stadium.
With the win, Cincinnati advance to the fifth round of the 2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for the second time in club history. It’ll learn its next opponent Thursday morning.
Here are the takeaways from tonight’s match:
Needed extra time to advance
In truth, it wasn’t surprising FCC and Lou City needed extra time Wednesday night. After all, five of Cincinnati’s last six U.S. Open Cup matches have gone to extra time.
FCC took the lead in the 23rd minute when Fanendo Adi bodied Paco Craig off the ball, the slotted a shot through Chris Hubbard’s legs toward the back post.
The visitors equalized seven minutes later, however, when Cincinnati failed to clear the ball out of their own box and Louisville’s Lucky Mkosana finished Magnus Rasmussen’s cross for the equalizer.
Later in extra time, goalkeeper Przemysław Tytoń delivered a through ball down the right wing to Emmanuel Ledesma. The Argentine winger took a touch, looked up, then sent a pinpoint cross to a sprinting Manneh. The latter thumped the ball past Hubbard.
Adi scores his first goal in 2019
The Nigerian forward opened his goal count Wednesday when he put FC Cincinnati into the lead. The goal was his first for the team since it joined MLS this season. His last goal was Sept 29, 2018 against the Indy Eleven at Nippert Stadium.
With Darren Mattocks on international duty with Jamaica in the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup, Adi producing goals is even more critical to help Cincinnati score and produce results – like Wednesday.
What comes next
Following Wednesday night’s win over Louisville, FC Cincinnati advance to the fifth round of the U.S. Open Cup and will play a midweek match next week. The Orange and Blue will learn their opponent Thursday morning at 10 a.m. The draw will be streamed live on ussoccer.com and at @USSoccer on Twitter.
As for league play, Cincinnati’s next MLS match is June 22 against the LA Galaxy at Nippert Stadium. That match will be the club’s 17th this season, which is officially the halfway point in the expansion team’s inaugural season in the first division.
