Cover Image via FC Cincinnati
Written by: Kyra Campbell
After a two hour weather delay, FC Cincinnati (5-1-2) was handed its first defeat of the season on Saturday by expansion team St. Louis CITY SC (6-2-0). The embarrassing 5-1 loss put St. Louis back on top of the Supporter’s Shield standings. Cincinnati currently sits at 2nd in the East and 4th in the overall table.
The Orange and Blue rolled out a very different lineup as compared to the previous seven matchdays, due to injuries and transfer drama. Obinna Nwobodo returned to the starting XI after recovering from a hamstring injury. Sergio Santos also made his return to the starting XI. Arquimides Ordonez made his first MLS start. Cincinnati was without Luciano Acosta due to a shoulder injury picked up during last week’s match against the Philadelphia Union. Brenner was also missing from the matchday roster as he was sitting out of training all week impending the completion of his transfer to Serie A side Udinese in Italy.
While Cincinnati had the majority of the possession, not much else went in favor of FCC. St. Louis’ Jared Stroud opened the scoring early in the 3rd minute and from there the rout was on. Eduard Löwen doubled the host side’s lead in the 39th minute. Then, in stoppage time of the first half, Kyle Hiebert put a third past Roman Celentano. Despite some half time substitutions, Cincinnati was unable to get itself back into the match and St. Louis went up 5-0 with Nicholas Gioacchini’s 53rd minute goal and a fluke Celentano own goal in the 57th minute. FCC was able to get one consolation goal in the 62nd minute from Santos, his third of the season, making him Cincinnati’s leading goal scorer.
FC Cincinnati look to bounce back this weekend as they come back home to take on the Portland Timbers (2-4-2), who are coming off a massive rivalry win over Seattle. Kickoff is at 7:30pm and, as always, fans can catch the match on the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.