Luciano Acosta makes more FC Cincinnati history in win vs. Orlando City | Replay
ORLANDO − Most in professional sports would rather take their hard lessons in victory than defeat, and FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan will have plenty of teachable moments to dive into this coming week.
Against Orlando City SC, the earliest FC Cincinnati goal from the opening whistle ever scored by the club was the only goal in a 1-0 win at Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday before a crowd of 21,218. The 89-plus minutes that followed Luciano Acosta's goal just 17 seconds into the match were cause for frustration, though.
After bad breaks earlier in the season led to dropped points, luck seems to be back in FCC's favor as the flawed victory allowed them to improve to 6-2-3 (21 points) in MLS play, trailing only a rampant Inter Miami CF (7-2-3) in the Eastern Conference standings. Cincinnati holds a game in-hand on Miami.
On Saturday, it was the absence of a second goal, and perhaps a third, that made Noonan's post-match assessment more critical than on other nights. Especially when FC Cincinnati benefitted from an Orlando red card in the 23rd minute to go up a man.
That FCC ceded its man advantage about an hour later when Bret Halsey, who picked up two yellow cards in 25 minutes on the field as a second-half substitute, was also a point of concern for Noonan.
"We didn't deserve a second goal," Noonan said. "Good start. I mean the first 17 seconds, you don't expect that but a very bright start. Good sequence, good individual effort from 'Lucho' obviously to find the goal and then, up until (our) red card, just some sloppiness with four or five moments when we just can't control the ball and you find yourself defending.
"Once (their) red card happened, we played scared, we played not to mistakes. We lost the intensity in going to the ball. We made safe passes. We were afraid to go to goal and leave opportunities for them to transition. Credit to Orlando. They were the better team despite playing down a man... This is a good opportunity for us to learn and grow in a unique way. Playing on the road and with a man-up, with a lead. What does that look like and how do you want to play the game? It certainly wasn't how we wanted it to look."
Asked about his thoughts on Halsey's red card, Noonan responded: "With Bret, he's not that young. He's played enough in this league at this level, so it was certainly an immature stretch for him on the field and we shouldn't have been in a position to have to play 10-versus-10. Like the game, it will be a good opportunity for Bret, and our time, to learn from that particular moment."
Aside from Acosta's goal, Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano was another bright spot for FCC as he made three saves in his first match in a month to protect the shutout.
"Roman was our top performer," Noonan said. "He made two or three really good saves... He made the plays that we needed him to make to walk out of here with three points."
Luciano Acosta's latest historic goal: 'It's Lucho time'
From the far end of the field, there was nothing Celentano saw that was drastically different from how FC Cincinnati played off the opening tap. The passing sequence was their usual: Acosta to Matt Miazga, and then to either Ian Murphy or Miles Robinson, and then usually down the wing.
But then a space opened up for Acosta after Yuya Kubo made a run in the box. Right back DeAndre Yedlin, who was lifted from the match in the 55th minute as a precaution and was replace by Halsey, found Acosta.
"They saw each other and were like 'alright, let's go to goal here,' " Celentano said. "When Lucho makes a good run and has a great ball in, the rest is easy for him. The rest − once the ball gets on Lucho's foot in that area, it's all Lucho. It's Lucho time. There's never a doubt in my mind something will come out of it so having a player like that on our team is nice."
The score was Acosta's fifth of 2024 and put the reigning Major League Soccer MVP on yet another historic pedestal for FC Cincinnati a week after he scored to become the club's all-time leader in goals.
Acosta's night ended around the 60th minute as he, like Yedlin, was lifted from the match as a precaution for injury concerns. Noonan described the injury concern as "discomfort around the ankle," and indicated he wasn't concerned about Acosta's availability for an all-important game next week at Columbus Crew.
Kevin Kelsy's debut
Kevin Kelsy made his debut appearance for FC Cincinnati at Orlando. The 19-year-old Venezuelan phenom entered around the hour mark.
He failed to register a shot in his time on the field, though.
"I thought he was okay," Noonan said. "There were some things he did well with using his body, holding the ball up, a couple of good sequences, but we couldn't really utilize some of his strengths with that man advantage because it was short lived. So, then then it became us trying to protect the lead and defend more than we would have liked. So, he didn't get a whole lot of chances to show what he could do going to goal. But I won't take too much from this particular game. He was thrown out there in a strange situation, I guess you could say, with the man up and then going level—going 10-versus-10, but just okay."
Up next: Another chapter of 'Hell is Real'
It was a short offseason for FC Cincinnati ahead of 2024, but it felt long at times in part because of the bitter, Dec. 2 defeat against Columbus Crew to end FCC's 2023 MLS Cup playoff run.
On Saturday, FC Cincinnati will travel northbound on Interstate 71 to Columbus and attempt to avenge that defeat.
"It's the one you look forward to all year, for me," Celentano said. "I love playing at home but I like playing away games where it's like hell-hell. There's a little something more to it... It's something to look forward to. It's a personal one."
The Crew's Lower.com Field has been a true house of horrors for FC Cincinnati since the venue opened in 2021. FCC has posted three losses − one per season − when visiting there, and has been beaten by a combined score of 8-2 over those matches.
Under Noonan, FC Cincinnati is yet to score a goal in Columbus, although FCC defeated the Crew at TQL Stadium on May 20, 2023. The club hasn't scored in Central Ohio since Isaac Atanga's 74th-minute score in an eventual 3-2 loss on Aug. 27, 2021.
In other words, it's been 196-plus minutes of game action since FC Cincinnati scored in Columbus.
The Crew might be lower in the standings for the time being but they are the toast of MLS at the moment, and are playing the best soccer the league's first franchise has ever seen. Not only did Columbus win the 2023 MLS Cup in style but they defeated Monterrey convincingly in the home-and-away semifinal round of CONCACAF Champions Cup, earning a spot in the championship match against Pachuca FC of Liga MX.
The Crew will be well-rested ahead of "Hell is Real" as they were idle in MLS play for the week of April 28-May 4.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Luciano Acosta makes more FC Cincinnati history in win vs. Orlando
