FC Cincinnati shows potential (and backbone) in beating CF Montréal

All season long, FC Cincinnati has found ways to lose. On Saturday afternoon, they flipped the script and FC Cincinnati found a way to win, a 2-1 victory over CF Montréal.

The win is the first of the season for FC Cincinnati. It also built on the resilience shown by FC Cincinnati the previous week, a 3-2 loss against Inter Miami where the Ohio side battled back from being down 2-0 to level the score, only to lose late in the match.

In this one, FC Cincinnati fell behind first, a 56th minute poacher’s effort by Djordje Mihailovic putting CF Montréal up 1-0. But a 71st minute effort off the head of Jürgen Locadia leveled the score then FC Cincinnati took the lead 15 minutes later via Gustavo Vallecilla’s own header.

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An important win for FC Cincinnati to turn their season around, especially after a tough start to the second half.

“We kept running back, instead of going forward. After, we did well,” FC Cincinnati head coach Jaap Stam said of his team’s start to the second half.

“Very good response in scoring that equalizer. Afterwards, they’re pushing forward to get the second one as well, which is very good. You could see that they want to work every game, very hard to get the result. They’re very dedicated to what they need to do. They try to do their best.

“Also, a win in a road game in these circumstances … it’s not easy to come back against a very good side. They’ve got players, good team. At times it was difficult, but we moved forward and showed what we can do. We all know in these games we need to work very hard. We need to work very hard to get something out of it, to get a result. That’s what we did today. So, I am very proud of the team and what they’ve done.”

With the win, FC Cincinnati is now 1-3-1 (4 points). The result drops CF Montréal to 1-3-1 (4 pts).

The winner was set up on a beautiful free kick taken from about 40 yards out from goal and down the left side. Ronald Matarrita bent a beautiful curving ball with his left foot to 12 yards out where Vallecilla met it in stride and then, fully extended, was able to head past Clement Diop in goal for CF Montréal.

“Truth is that I am very motivated after scoring my first goal this season. I hope to score many more and I hope to give the club more good memories,” Vallecilla said after the match.

“The team feels very good. We had been working hard. We deserved the victory, because the club had been working hard. Thanks to them, we were able to get our first win.”

Follow Kristian Dyer of ‘MLS Multiplex’ on Twitter @KristianRDyer