After a hamstring concern – an issue that lingered since preseason – kept him out of action after the season opener in Seattle, Przemysław Tytoń started Saturday night in FC Cincinnati’s 1-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls, ending a seven-game absence.
Tytoń finished the match with no saves, but that was because most of the action was in front of the opposite goal.
“For (Titi's) first game back, he did what he had to do,” Head Coach Alan Koch said. “There’s not too much he could’ve done on the goal, unfortunately. But for his first game back, he did a good job.”
When FC Cincinnati entered preseason, Koch said giving Tytoń minutes was a priority. After all, he hadn’t started a competitive match since Oct. 26, 2017.
So, throughout the club’s inaugural preseason, Tytoń received most of the goalkeeper starts and played most of the minutes. At the time, Spencer Richey was still recovering from offseason surgery to fix a groin injury that lingered throughout the 2018 season.
But then their roles reversed.
Tytoń started the season opener at Seattle Sounders FC – when Cincinnati lost 4-0 – and made six saves. After that, he didn’t play again until Saturday night.
In between those matches, Richey played seven matches while Tytoń worked to get to full health.
After two games on the bench ready to step in for Richey if needed, Tytoń returned to the pitch on Saturday night.
Following the result in New York, the Orange and Blue play at the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday night, followed by a match at the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.
Before the three-game, eight-day stretch, Koch said different players could see different opportunities moving forward.
There’s a chance either goalkeeper can play for FCC within the next week.
“Playing with Titi or with Spencer, to be honest, obviously they have different things, but they bring us a lot of confidence,” said captain and center back Kendall Waston. “We know that any one of them that the coaches decide to put in, they have the full confidence of everyone. We back them up until the end and we know that they are great goalkeepers. We trust a lot in them.”
