by Alex Eicher
Cincinnati, Ohio – FC Cincinnati lost 0-2 to the Colorado Rapids last Saturday night at TQL Stadium. The contest was the first sellout in the history of the stadium.
Colorado Rapids (5-2-1, 16 pts.) struck first in the 21st minute when Michael Barrios snuck in behind the FC Cincinnati defense and laid the ball off to Diego Rubio, who slotted it home. Jack Price’s through ball in the 72nd minute found Jonathan Lewis, whose left footed shot gave the match its final score line.
FC Cincinnati (1-5-1, 4 pts.) outshot Colorado Rapids 22-7 and had seven shots on target to Colorado’s two, but were not able to find the back of the net. Both the team’s 22 shots and seven shots on goal were season-highs.
On Wednesday night, Álvaro Barreal’s 50th minute free kick game-winning goal was one of a club record 12 shots on goal as FC Cincinnati defeated the hosts Chicago Fire SC, 1-0, at Soldier Field.
Orange and Blue look ahead to Saturday night matchup with Toronto FC in Orlando
FC Cincinnati looks to win its third road contest of the season Saturday night when it takes on Toronto FC from Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Kickoff is set for 7 PM ET, and the game will be televised on WSTR 64, carried on the radio on ESPN 1530, streamed regionally on fccincinnati.com/stream, out of market on ESPN+, while an audio stream will be available via the iHeartRadio app.
Read the SCORING SUMMARY of the Colorado Rapids matchup, MISCONDUCT SUMMARY, and POSTGAME QUOTES below…
Colorado Rapids 2, FC Cincinnati 0
TQL Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio
June 19, 2021
SCORING SUMMARY
COL – Diego Rubio (Michael Barrios) 21’
COL – Jonathan Lewis (Jack Price) 72’
FC Cincinnati: Kenneth Vermeer, Edgar Castillo (Brandon Vazquez 77’), Gustavo Vallecilla (Nick Hagglund 46’), Geoff Cameron, Joseph-claude Gyau, Luciano Acosta ©, Allan Cruz, Yuya Kubo (Haris Medunjanin 77’), Isaac Atanga (Jürgen Locadia 63’), Brenner (Franko Kovačević 82’), Alvaro Barreal
Bench: Przemyslaw Tyton, Tom Pettersson, Caleb Stanko, Kamohelo Mokotjo
Stats: Shots 22, Shots on Goal 7, Saves 0, Corners 6, Offsides 1, Fouls 8, Possession 53.8%, Passes 448 (85.5%)
Colorado Rapids: William Yarbrough, Keegan Rosenberry, Lalas Abubakar (Drew Moore 70’), Danny Wilson, Auston Trusty, Sam Vines (Braian Galvan 90’), Kellyn Acosta, Jack Price, Cole Bassett (Nicholas Mezquida 84’), Michael Barrios (Nicholas Benezet 46’), Diego Rubio (Jonathan Lewis 46’)
Bench: Clint Irwin, Oliver larraz, Andre Shinyashiki, Collen Warner
Stats: Shots 7, Shots on Goal 2, Saves 7, Corners 4, Offsides 2, Fouls 16, Possession 46.2%, Passes 384 (82.3%)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
COL – Kellyn Acosta (caution) 23’
CIN – Brenner (caution) 45’
CIN – Edgar Castillo (caution) 45+6’
COL – Lalas Abubakar (caution) 45+6’
COL – Jack Price (caution) 61’
COL – Danny Wilson (caution) 90+2’
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Ast. Referees: Eric Boria, Adam Wienckowski
4th official: Danielle Chesky
VAR: Guido Gonzales Jr.
AVAR: Jeff Muschik
Weather: 80 degrees and partly cloudy
Attendance: 25,054 (sellout)
GAME NOTES
- Head coach Jaap Stam made three changes from the previous match against New England, with Edgar Castillo, Alvaro Barreal, and Isaac Atanga replacing Ronald Matarrita, Caleb Stanko and Jürgen Locadia.
- Edgar Castillo started for the Orange and Blue to make his first appearance with the club. The 34-year old U.S. International, and former Colorado Rapid, played 77 minutes in the left back spot.
- Franko Kovačević made his first appearance for the Orange and Blue this season, and just his second appearance in total, coming on for Brenner in the 82nd minute.
- With the loss, FC Cincinnati’s record this season through seven MLS matches comes to 1-5-1 (4 points). FCC’s all-time record against the Rapids drops to 0-2-0.
- Zico Bailey, Calvin Harris, and Maikel van der Werff were all excluded from the matchday squad due to injuries.
- Luciano Acosta wore the captain’s armband for the third time this season.
- The Orange and Blue utilized the maximum five substitutions for the third time this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati head coach Jaap Stam
“It’s a little bit from our side tonight unbelievable that we are sitting here on our side and we haven’t scored a goal. I think in how we played, how we started the game, how we went forward first half as well, sometimes impressing as well sometimes defending in a block. Doing that very well, creating very good opportunities to score ourselves. We didn’t pull the trigger ourselves.
I think we gave that goal away because one ran in behind and that ball went over the top and he was through. It’s a goal you can’t concede like this but it happens. That’s a little bit of the situation sometimes that we are in now as well in the stepping stones that we need to make and the process that we are, that sometimes we are making little mistakes and wrong choices, that’s going to cost us.
On the other hand we create we go forward you create opportunities and you can’t finish them off. Second half we kept on pushing, we spoke about what to do in the second half. We dominated big parts of the game, we created quite a few opportunities to score. Even opportunities sometime that you need to pick someone else up who’s in a better position to score.
We couldn’t do that and on the break, I believe they score that second goal and I think that’s their only shot of the second half on target. It went in, I still need to see it back. It’s all about and we spoke about it in other games as well, other games that we’ve been losing, for example, the Miami game here at home. Come back into the game you get opportunities but you give away a third goal and you cannot score yourself enough goals. New England towards the end of the game as well you create the opportunities but we cannot unfortunately pull the trigger so you don’t get a point out of it as well. Today I think we should’ve had more but should’ve could’ve it’s about…. If you get the opportunities you need to finish them off yourself as well. We also know, where we are. You’re always talking about things that go wrong but it’s not a thing that you need to write always because it’s easy also to write my comments and everybody thinks oh they must’ve played a bad game and that’s not the case because I think we played very well. We did very well. we created a lot and even in that we could’ve done better its very positive in how we approached the game and what we achieved eventually and that’s a part of what we are looking for and making progress and eventually I’m very confident we’ll get there.
Also in making these steps and making changes and maybe there’s more you never know what’s going to happen. You start here and then you’re building your way up there. It’s a lot better to start here and ending up there. That’s not building and we all know how that goes. We try to work on that every day, every game. Also you’re working with human beings, like you guys don’t always write the same piece. Players don’t always make the same decisions on the pitch. That’s at times how it goes as well.’’
On the credit he gives to Rapids keeper:
“Yeah I give him credit also we sometimes make it easy because we shoot that ball against him so he doesn’t need to do a lot if you pick an angle and you take a corner then it goes in probably but that also got to do with players when you’re under pressure. Sometimes you don’t have the time to make a decision and you just need to shoot and pull the trigger. So that happens as well but he made good saves. The difference is that we give them two opportunities and they score two. We get seven very good opportunities and I’m still very on the low side maybe and we cannot score and that’s unfortunate.
When you see the plays as well everyone is very disappointed down, because also we speak about it every week the players feel that they are close. If you can’t reward yourself then it becomes more difficult at times to get that boost to make that next step and that’s what we are looking for.’’
On two opposing shots becoming two opposing goals.
“We are aiming to do that even more, not to concede but to have more shots and opportunities. Yeah and I’ve been there myself as well, it’s very difficult when you play a game against a team and the other teams have quality as well. It’s not like we are playing and we are making progress and we are bringing other players in. The other teams are doing the exact thing and they also started from where they ended last season.’’
FC Cincinnati midfielder Allan Cruz
Note: translated from Spanish to English
On playing in front of the home crowd
“It’s great to be playing at full capacity, unfortunately we weren’t able to get the win for our fans. We just want to take this as a learning opportunity moving forward.”
On the opportunities pushing forward
“As you saw, we had opportunities to finish and score those goals. I think sometimes we were missing just the calmness to finish those plays. With regards to my position, it’s my natural position and I feel comfortable in that position. Sometimes I think I need to be a little more in the box and have more opportunities to score, but overall I like that position. Obviously, (Colorado goalkeeper Yarborough) had some good saves. We had a few opportunities and we didn’t finish them off. When you have those opportunities and you can’t finish them, there is a little bit of frustration.
On his time with Costa Rica during the international break
“I was away but while I was away I was playing. I’m always training when I’m with my national team. Coming back to the team (FC Cincinnati), it’s good to be back, thank God I’m back, we just need to get those wins.”
FC Cincinnati defender Edgar Castillo
On his first appearance and start with the club
“I felt a little nervous but I think I did good, just not the result we wanted. I think overall we played good but it’s luck, we don’t have any luck. We created so many chances and it’s a matter of putting it in. It was just unlucky for us but we have to keep our head up and keep going”
On his role stepping into the starting XI in front of TQL Stadium
“We all prepare, I train so whenever Jaap needs us, he needed me today. (You) just have to try to be ready whenever needed. It’s beautiful to have people back in the stands, it’s amazing. It’s unfortunate we did not get a win today.”
