FC Cincinnati with the attack, the defense, and the unexpected

FC Cincinnati got a win over Orlando City. They gathered three points in a match that awakened supporters and defied basic statistics. The win by  FC Cincinnati over Orlando City SC woke up some weary supporters. The team had taken two losses to start the season.

That looked and smelled like the start of Cincinnati’s previous disastrous seasons. They started this year with a combined negative-105 goal differential and 14-59-18 (W-L-D) record. Then on March 12 something happened on the pitch. Orlando City formations show a creative and capable midfield.

It’s where their more talented players work. Those include Mauricio Pereyra, Junior Urso and Facundo Torres. It was Urso and Torres who combined on the team’s only goal in this game. With their lineup, Orlando doubled-up Cincinnati on statistics including possession at 69.3%, 18-9 shots with 6-3 on-goal, 4-2 blocked shots, and 589-270 passes. They took 7-2 corners and 27-6 crosses.

FC Cincinnati makes opponents predict the unexpected

Yet Cincinnati won 2-1. FC opposed another team, but they also turned the pitch sideways and upside down in beating the statistics. FC Cincinnati overcame those statistics first by powering up their forwards. They placed Dominique Badji and Brandon Vazquez in the front. By scouting reports for this match, both FC forwards outperformed – however slightly – everyone that Orlando had on the attack.

Cincinnati de-emphasized the backline using three dedicated defenders. That placed a greater responsibility on goalkeeper Alec Kann. The keeper answered that call with five saves. The shots came as Orlando kept up a ferocious attack for the full 90 minutes.

Kann didn’t have his career game yet. But he came close to it in this brilliantly played game. Even closer to his career game is forward Brandon Vazquez, who scored both Cincinnati goals. He got assists from fellow striker Dominique Badji and midfielder Luciano Acosta.

So FC Cincinnati had three players free to attack up in front. The game plan dedicated three defenders and a high-achieving goalkeeper to stop the opposing attack. The rest of the squad committed themselves to disruption in the midfield.

Using this shocking system, Cincinnati surrendered the statistical sheet to Orlando City. That’s a system that, put up to a vote in Hamilton County – which includes Cincinnati – it would have lost in a landslide to whatever the second choice is.

Media and supporters expressed the win as a chance to feel relief, especially as the first victory for new head coach Pat Noonan. It comes after three last-place finishes for the team’s first three seasons.

What no one said is that the team has stopped thinking conventionally. Let everyone else scout their opponents the usual way. It will be useless for the rest of this season to scout FC Cincinnati until developing a system to predict the unexpected.