Why FC Cincinnati's NYCFC rout was the biggest win of 2023: MLS takeaways

When FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said on Wednesday following the club's U.S. Open Cup disappointment that "this one hurts," he was dead serious.

Describing the scene at the Mercy Health Training Center Thursday morning, FC Cincinnati center back Nick Hagglund described the atmosphere as "pretty somber, pretty quiet... probably the lowest (moment) we've had this year."

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The mood improved by Friday morning's training session, but a fragility still existed within the team, Hagglund confessed during a post-game interview on Saturday. That general feeling of unease and uncertainty could be felt throughout TQL Stadium.

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FC Cincinnati put the unease to rest quickly against New York City FC, scoring in the sixth minute through Aaron Boupendza to take a 1-0 lead.

“I think the goal was good for the psyche of the group, just to get momentum early on in the game and that early confidence," Noonan said.

From there, FC Cincinnati rolled to a 3-0 win against NYCFC, restoring order to a season that could have gone completely off track after a loss to archrival Columbus Crew and being eliminated from the Open Cup by Miami earlier in the week.

The rest of MLS probably looked at FC Cincinnati's slip-ups against Columbus and Miami and thought this was the chance to pounce on a wounded team. But Cincinnati was flying high again by late Saturday night and in firm control of the Supporters Shield race, which is its next big-picture objective.

Here are some key takeaways from Saturday's win, and some explainers about the achievements FCC has lined up:

Nick Hagglund's redemption story

In the wake of FC Cincinnati's penalty-kick shootout loss to Inter Miami CF on Wednesday, the Cincinnati Enquirer's sports section showed an image captured of Hagglund, head-in-hands, from the moment after his spot-kick attempt was blocked in the decisive fifth round of kicks. On his way out of the stadium that night, Hagglund's disappointment was palpable.

Some online trolls then had their say about Hagglund, who played a superb 120 minutes prior to the shootout. The comments added negativity to an already sad moment for one of FC Cincinnati's great ambassadors and long-time players.

Given all that, you couldn't have scripted a better moment during Saturday's win against NYCFC when Hagglund caressed home a headed goal in the 59th minute to make the score 3-0.

His haters were silent. For Hagglund, it was just another day on the job, though.

"You know, I put (Wednesday's) game immediately behind me because that cup was over," Hagglund said afterward. "The mentality is that that's over with and we have more to push for for the rest of the season. You know, I don't want to correlate the two (moments). It can go one of two ways when you have a moment like that. You can go down and feel sorry for yourself or you can pick yourself up and look yourself in the face and move on, so, (I'm) proud of myself for moving forward and just going to the next game and doing the job."

A microcosm of a successful season

FC Cincinnati received several clutch performances against NYCFC. Some of them came from relatively unexpected players, such as Bret Halsey, whose stock is rocketing at the moment.

But it wasn't just Halsey. Junior Moreno, a player you don't typically count on for offense, scored his fourth goal of the season. Yuya Kubo, a played a starring role late in the Miami match, continued his recent strong play in the midfield in place of the suspended Obinna Nwobodo.

If you've been paying close attention, this is the story of FC Cincinnati's season as much as it was the story of beating NYCFC. You have your consistent commodities like Luciano Acosta, Roman Celentano and Matt Miazga. Increasingly Brandon Vazquez belongs in that category when you factor for his scoring touch in cup play.

But beyond those names and a couple others, FC Cincinnati's 2023 campaign has been fueled by clutch performances in tight spots from depth or role-player types (think: Malik Pinto vs. Nashville SC, Dominique Badji vs. Colorado Rapids, Alvaro Barreal's attacking play vs. Charlotte FC).

Acosta, Miazga, Celentano, Nwobodo and others don't shine without a deep squad around them.

Noonan spoke to Cincinnati's depth Saturday: "We've been utilizing a lot of our bodies to start games to come off the bench to have an impact. The guys have been pretty good about contributing all year and when we needed to rotate. Today, Obi (Nwobodo) was on cards, and Yuya comes in the middle and I thought had a very strong game. Fill in the blank of names that have done that all year long. Bret today, as well. Álvaro (Barreal) needed the rest. I think guys are hungry for minutes and continuing to push the group that we see out there most nights to start the game.”

A 10-point lead with nine games to play

We're well into the scoreboard-watching portion of the 2023 season in the TQL Stadium press box. Evidently, the players are watching in the locker room, too, and a lot went right for FC Cincinnati in other MLS action over the weekend.

When the dust settled, FC Cincinnati led St. Louis CITY SC (Western Conference) by 10 points in the race for the Supporters Shield. There's a pack of Eastern Conference clubs chasing FCC after that. The most threatening of those were New England Revolution and Philadelphia Union, both of which were 11 points back and had a game in-hand on Cincinnati.

But as many as four results could be construed to have gone FCC's way this weekend, which helped swell the lead.

Hagglund said Saturday he checks up on the updated standings as soon as he gets back to his locker post-match. He said the same thing July 8 after a 2-2 draw in Charlotte. Suffice it to say the club's players are in-tune with the latest happenings in the Shield race.

A 10-point lead with nine matches to play is formidable. If you're St. Louis, New England or Philadelphia, you might be looking at the gap and thinking it's insurmountable given how consistent and generally ruthless Cincinnati's been in 2023. That could prove to be true.

But this race could still hold plenty of drama. FCC travels to play at Atlanta on Wednesday (Cincinnati's still never won in Atlanta) and then hosts Orlando City (43 points, 25 games played) on Saturday. The next match after that is Sept. 16 when Cincy travels to Philadelphia, the No. 2 side in the east.. Those three clubs could combine to take a big bite out of FCC's lead. The club's schedule softens after that with matches against Montreal, Charlotte and Toronto before the closing stretch but the next three are crucial.

So, it's still a long road to clinching Shield but Cincinnati is unquestionably in control of its fate and in as good of a position as you could ask for with Labor Day looming.

Record-breaking pace at Fortress TQL

FC Cincinnati is 12-0-1 in league play at TQL Stadium. That keeps FCC in the historic company of the 2002 San Jose Earthquakes, which is very good company to be in.

Per MLS, FCC's 37 points in its first 13 regular season games at TQL Stadium is tied with the 2002 Earthquakes for the best home start to a season in league history through the first 13 games. Additionally, FC Cincinnati is now just six points shy of tying the single-season home points record (43) set by the New York Red Bulls in 2018.

Cincinnati has four home matches remaining to surpass RBNY's 2018 haul at Red Bull Arena. The idea of TQL Stadium as a fortress was contrived at earlier stages of this season. Efforts were being made to reach fortress status but you can't credibly claim that after the club's best home mark since joining MLS was 6-5-6 in 2022.

Nowadays? You bet it's a fortress. Across all competitions, FC Cincinnati is an undefeated 16-0-4 at home in 2023 (including a couple cup shootout defeats that are officially recorded as draws). No one has beaten Cincinnati at home from open play in any match this season, and 20 games is a fine sample size to confirm "fortress status" at TQL Stadium. A few games from now, we could be talking MLS history for the venue, too.

A note on why the Supporters Shield matters

If you're new to soccer or soccer-curious, you wouldn't be faulted for being confused by all these cup competitions and in-season tournaments. Another interesting quirk in MLS is the Supporters Shield.

Now feels like a good time to explain the trophy's value to FCC and why you should get excited about the race to win it.

The Supporters Shield is awarded to the MLS club with the best regular-season record. Unlike other major professional leagues that honor their best regular-season team (the NHL has its President's Trophy, for instance), the Shield has some added significance that makes it worth chasing.

First of all, the Shield brings with it a berth to the CONCACAF Champions Cup, which for FCC would be the 2024 Champions Cup. Qualifying for that competition, which crowns a club champion for North and Central America, and the Caribbean from a field of various other cup winners, champions and top-level qualifiers, is one of FCC's stated goals for 2023. The Champions Cup is a step beyond MLS, and it's currently the only pathway to the FIFA Club World Cup.

Only one MLS club ever won the Champions Cup (which up until recently was branded as the CONCACAF Champions League), so the FIFA Club World Cup is far, far out of the picture for now. But FC Cincinnati's an aspirational club, and one with the support and backing in place to make a reasonable push for it one day.

The other thing about the Shield is that in every other part of the world, and almost certainly in your favorite European league, the champion at the end of the season is determined by the same point system MLS uses in its regular season. The team with the most points is that season's champ, period. Unlike in MLS, there is no postseason in many countries. So, this might not be the stated intent of the Shield's founders but to win the Shield is to underscore the accomplishment that is finishing first over the long haul.

It's also to acknowledge that that team would (and should) be considered the champion in most of the rest of the world. Most MLS clubs will celebrate the honor as such − like the major trophy it is.

As you can see, this is a substantial carrot for FC Cincinnati, and they're in an excellent position to claim it. If you weren't sure why this was worth chasing, there's your answer, hopefully.

Best of all about FC Cincinnati's current situation in the Shield race is that, at this rate, they'll have clinched the Shield ahead of that ominous Oct. 7 date with Inter Miami CF in Ft. Lauderdale. This could be one trophy even the great, all-conquering Lionel Messi can't take from dominant FC Cincinnati.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why FC Cincinnati's NYCFC rout was the biggest win of 2023: Takeaways