Match Preview: FC Cincinnati vs. DC United:
DC United will head to the TQL Stadium in Cincinnati to play FC Cincinnati. FCC is the number one team in the league in terms of points from home, getting 5 wins in 5 whilst only conceding 2 goals while scoring 7.DC United on the other hand will hope to continue their great run of form, only conceding 1 goal in their last 3 games and winning all three, with 3 goals in ⅔ of them. DC has had a massive climb back from last season as the wooden spoon winners, picking up multiple players that would be key for them so far this season, the main one being Lewis O’Brien from Nottingham Forest, and with a plethora of youth players playing well for the first team, you never know what you are going to get against a team like DC.
Some things to look out for from D.C. United:
DC Striker Christian Benteke scored the goal of the weekend last week thanks to a 75-minute bicycle kick. That goal helped FC win 3-0 against Charlotte FC over the weekend. He currently has 5 goals in 10 games and is top 5 in the golden boot race.
Mateusz Klich has been a beast in midfield for DC since joining from Premier League side Leeds United in January. Getting 3 Assists alongside a goal for himself, he has been a vocal point in DC’s massive improvement from last season to this one.
After not starting the first 5 games of the season due to injury, Taxiarchis Fountas has finally started to hit a good run of form recently. Taxi has gotten a goal in each of the last two MLS games, against Orlando City and Charlotte respectively. Taxi was the single bright spot last season in a very poor season, getting 12 goals and 1 assist in 21 games, and looks to have an even better season this season.
Some things to look out for from FC Cincinnati:
Yerson Mosquera has been a unit in defense this season. Currently the Columbian already has 40+ clearances, 30+ headed clearances, 25+ interceptions and over 80% Tackles won with 18/22 tackles won. The defender also has scored 2 headers already this season, both of which would become points clenchers this season for FCC. The defender is only here on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, but while he is here it looks to be a massive improvement to a defense that now becomes a top defense in the league.
Alvaro Barreal has been creating a massive batch of magical moments this season for Cincinnati. The Argentine is up to 4 assists on the season after getting another assist in a 1-1 draw against New England Revolution. The 22 year old currently is 3rd in chances created on the season (26), only behind San Jose’s Cristian Espinoza and Atlanta United’s Thiago Almada.
FCC has been an absolute unit at home, winning all 5 of their games at home this season. In those 5 games, they have only given up 2 goals and have scored 7 goals. With the chances look to be in FCC’s favor once again, it looks like once the game is over, there is a good chance that their home record goes up to 6-0
Match Review: FC Cincinnati vs. New England Revolution
FC Cincinnati headed to New England to play the Revolution in a game between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. In the end it played out to a 1-1 draw, with decisions from the referee being a major reason why.
The game started off with both teams having a strong possession game, with both teams creating good chances on goal that in the end came up to nothing. The game would have to be stopped for an extended period of time when Revs star winger Dylan Borrero went down with a significant leg injury. Following the injury, both teams started to heat up with FCC’s Luciano Acosta and Revolution’s Carles Gil both showing off their wonderful passing skills.
In the end it was Alavaro Barreal who would get the pass needed to put FCC up first, as he would hit a corner kick right to Yerson Mosquera who would hit it home. Both teams would both find their attacking touch, with both defenses having to be at their best. New England would equalize in the third minute of extended stoppage time, where Brandon Bye picked off a Barreal misplayed ball and got a pass off to Emmanuel Boateng for the goal.
The second half would be way less interesting, as neither teams were able to do anything for the first 20 minutes of the second half, with a downpour not helping either. Then in the 66th minute Andrew Farrell nipped Acosta in the leg and took him down. Originally the referee called it as a penalty, but would later reverse his call to a goal kick. The referee would keep the call at a goal kick even after going to VAR.
By the end one of the two teams picked up the form, as New England started to create multiple chances and looked close to get another goal. But by the end neither team was able to break the deadlock, and both teams left the game staying 1st and 2nd in the Eastern Conference and Supporter Shield standings.
Other News
Quimi Called Up: As Guatemala prepares for the 2023 U20 World Cup, their key player looks to be FCC’s academy star Quimi Ordonez. Quimi got 5 goals and led Guatemala U20’s to shock wins against Mexico and Canada U20’s. Quimi, who already has 2 appearances for Guatemala’s senior team has been having a world class season with FCC2’s in MLS Next Pro, scoring 6 goals and getting 1 assist in only 3 games (that’s a goal contribution every 38.5 minutes!).Quimi; whose real name is Arquimides; just recently got his first career start for FCC in a 5-1 loss against St Louis. He also has 12 appearances at only 19 years old, and looks to be getting even more minutes in the upcoming 2nd half of the season with Brenner leaving to Udinese.
Injury Report:
Santiago Arias: Arias is still dealing with a thigh injury that he has been dealing with for a while, but looks to be coming back very soon. Pat Noonan stated yesterday that Santiago Arias is expected to be back in the group next week. So it looks like this is hopefully the last time we will see Arias in the injury report for a while.
