Preview: FC Cincinnati hits halfway point in MLS season at Vancouver Whitecaps
Even with everything swirling around FC Cincinnati – the addition of a new forward player and a possible marquee cup match against Lionel Messi being a few of the most recent developments – the club’s sights are set squarely on Vancouver Whitecaps.
FC Cincinnati's singular focus on the task immediately in front of it has been, perhaps, its greatest strength in 2023. And given that Vancouver is up next on the schedule, that is all the club is concerned with even as the North American soccer landscape is shifting under FCC's feet.
FC Cincinnati departed Thursday in order to properly acclimate for Saturday’s game against Vancouver at B.C Place in British Columbia, Canada, and there is nothing else on the club’s collective mind other than ending the first half of the Major League Soccer season the way it started it: With a win.
The first half of the campaign has been an ebullient journey for FC Cincinnati, which sits atop the league-wide standings on a 12-1-3 record and 39 points in the standings. Including Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches, the next of which will likely pit FCC against Inter Miami CF and the 35-year-old international soccer icon that is Messi, Cincinnati is 15-1-4 over 20 competitive matches.
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In short, it’s been a dream season so far for FC Cincinnati. The club has navigated a congested schedule over the last five weeks. Seeing out that span in victory Saturday would be the most fitting end to what’s shaping up to be a special 2023 season.
Vancouver in the way
The Whitecaps are standing in the way of FC Cincinnati's league-leading 13th victory, which would eclipse the club’s modest, 2022 single-season wins record of 12. Vancouver is 5-5-6 in MLS play and sits sixth in the Western Conference. That would make them the seventh club currently in a playoff position that FCC’s defeated this season.
But there are variables that make this road match, which is the farthest distance-wise in FC Cincinnati history, a treacherous proposition.
“There's a lack of familiarity (for) our group in their’s. And myself included, you don't see Vancouver a lot on the schedule,” FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said during a Thursday news conference. "With a quick turnaround, the focus is how much can we take from their most recent games, you like looking at games that are played on turf, in their home building which has been this most recent stretch. I think, defensively, (they are) an organized team and a team that does a good job of getting pressure to the ball. Even when they have numbers behind the ball, I do think they know how to release players to the ball to still defend in a pretty compact way.
“They've shown to not be a team that's easily broken down. And then like I said, with the ball, a big focus will be how we deal with wide areas, and how we prevent crosses into the box that allow them to get numbers into the box. That's where they're one of the top teams in the league. And so those are two things that we'll continue to talk about, and really will over the next 24-36 hours, my knowledge and my information on the opponent will hopefully improve because that started yesterday, but we have a couple of days now to prepare in their market for what we expect."
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Perhaps more important to Saturday's game is the fact that Vancouver on Wednesday defeated CF Montreal in the Canadian Championship final, becoming Canada’s open-championship tournament winner for 2023 at the same time as FC Cincinnati pursues the American version of that feat.
Vancouver beat Montreal, 2-1, and will be physically taxed after the midweek outing, but also energized by the victory that granted the club passage to the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
In league play, Vancouver has five times as many losses as FC Cincinnati but the same number of goals scored, which means its attack is varied and complex.
The Whitecaps boast five multi-goal scorers led by Brian White’s six tallies as White has attracted some MLS All-Star consideration approaching the midway point in the season.
"I think you see a good fit for the player in terms of how they play and a team that's at the top of the league in terms of deliveries from wide areas in successful deliveries and in goals scored from those crossing scenarios, and he's (White) the primary target,” Noonan said of White. “(He's) somebody that runs really well on the box, kind of fearless in how he attacks the ball, you know, whether it's aerial duels, whether it's balls being cut back, his movement to be able to create some space and finish plays off has been very good. And he's a willing runner on both sides of the ball. He's certainly somebody that we'll talk about in the coming days. But they have a lot of weapons.”
FC Cincinnati’s finish line
The Vancouver match marks the end of 10 matches over 35 days for FC Cincinnati, and a much-needed nine-day break between games awaits after the club returns from British Columbia..
Noonan on Thursday said he was eager for the team's injured and weary to receive recovery time, and for the squad to resume a normal training regimen after multi-game weeks left the club without adequate time to perfect its methods.
As FCC prepares to hit the halfway point in the league campaign, here’s what’s going well:
Cincinnati has an eight-point lead in the race for the Supporters Shield, which is awarded annually to the best regular-season club and brings with it a CONCACAF Champions Cup berth. That's a sizable gap.
FCC is the fifth-leading scoring team (26 goals) and the fourth-best team defensively (15 goals allowed).
The club will this summer add to its prolific attack with designated-player forward Aaron Boupendza, who should add a new dimension to the club’s offense and boost FCC’s push for multiple trophies.
There’s not much to nitpick about FC Cincinnati. Asked to scrutinize his club for faults on Thursday, Noonan initially responded by rhetorically asking: “You’re gonna make me criticize our group that’s lost one game?”
“It’s hard because, after a very difficult stretch, for us to have been able to have the success under the circumstances, I couldn’t be more pleased with how the guys have gone about it,” Noonan said. “I think if you’re looking at performances, there’s still certain parts of our game where we could be better with our decision-making to just be more connected in all phases of the game. I still think, especially with the ball, the decision-making still leads to us not being able to pressure the ball effectively or having to defend the box where, if you’re not perfect you’re conceding goals.
“One of the challenging things recently is not training a whole lot. It’s just (been) games and recovery, and just a lot of 11-versus-11 walkthrough stuff. When we get into a normal routine, we’ll have the ability to do that after this Vancouver game. We can address some things in training.”
The game
Kickoff: 10:30 p.m., ET Saturday | B.C. Place; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Stream/radio: Apple TV/ESPN 1530
All-time series: FC Cincinnati trails in the all-time series with Vancouver on an 0-1-1 record.
Cincinnati.com prediction: FC Cincinnati 2, Whitecaps 0.
FC Cincinnati
Record: 12-1-3; 39 points, first in MLS
Goals for: 26
Goals against: 15
Head coach: Pat Noonan - second season as head coach
Projected starting XI:
Roman Celentano, goalkeeper
Alvaro Barreal, left back
Santiago Arias, right back
Yerson Mosquera, center back
Matt Miazga, center back
Ian Murphy, center back
Junior Moreno, midfielder
Obinna Nwobodo, midfielder
Luciano Acosta, midfielder
Brandon Vazquez, forward
Dominique Badji, forward
Vancouver Whitecaps
Record: 5-5-6, sixth place in MLS Western Conference
Goals for: 26
Goals against: 20
Head coach: Vanni Sartini
Projected starting XI:
Yohei Takaoka, goalkeeper
Mathías Laborda, right back
Ranko Veselinović, center back
Tristan Blackmon, center back
Luís Martins, left back
Robbie Gauld, midfielder
Julian Gressel, midfielder
Andrés Cubas, midfielder
Pedro Vite, midfielder
Brian White, forward
Sergio Córdova, forward
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Preview: FC Cincinnati hits halfway point in MLS season vs. Vancouver
