Don’t look now, but the two Ohio teams are dominating play early in the MLS season! FC Cincinnati (FCC) and the Columbus Crew (CC) find themselves in first and fourth respectively at this early point in the season.
Screenshot 4/15 MLS.com
Let’s do a quick dive into how this has happened.
FC Cincy
It all started the day that GM Chris Albright signed his former Philadelphia Union coach, Pat Noonan. Cincy had been a last place team since joining MLS. Noonan, with stops as assistants for the US Men’s National Team and stops with the LA Galaxy and New England Revolution to name a few, uses his players best attributes to create his formation of play that centers around a 3-4-1-2 style with Brandon Vazquez and Brenner Souza da Silva up top. (NOTE: Brenner will be gone come July.)
The key is having three centerbacks as your main defense. Matt Miazga, former USMNT defender, Yerson Mosquera, on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Cincy born/Xavier University grad, Nick Hagglund, form the nucleus at back for goalkeeper, and former Indiana University keeper, Roman Celentano.
These four have kept five straight clean sheets for the club this year as FCC sits at the top of the table with 17 points. And for those noticing…unbeaten in seven games!
Crew
The beginning of our story 📖
Congratulations to Wilfried Nancy and the entire coaching staff on achieving their first Crew win.#Crew96 | #CLBvDC pic.twitter.com/TViayY6Vtq
— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) March 5, 2023
After last season’s mess, the Crew brought in Wilfried Nancy from CF Montreal to take up the reins of the club after Caleb Porter’s firing. After an opening loss to Philadelphia to start the 2023 campaign which left some to question the hiring, Columbus find themselves an offensive juggernaut as they have scored 12 goals in the last three games, while giving up only one.
Nancy has found the key with the amazing start to the season for fellow midfielders Aidan Morris and Lucas Zelarayan. The Crew are the only MLS team with three goal scorers in the top 10 in the league (forward Christian Ramirez joins the dynamic duo) but what’s more incredible are the assists. (Keep in mind their most important player and possibly the MLS’s MVP, Cucho Hernandez, hasn’t seen the pitch since March 11th.)
Steven Moreira, a defender, and Alexandru Matan are in the top eight in MLS in assists. Nancy’s style of play can be defined in four words:
“Every pass means something.”
His players have embraced that and the first game notwithstanding has rewarded the coach and club with this amazing, short turnaround.
Yahoo, can you please fix this? Porter is no longer the coach, ok? Thanks!
Today’s games
FCC v STL
FCC head to St Louis to play the first year club and hope to continue their streak of clean sheets. But St Louis, though an expansion team this year, has NOT performed like one! They are currently in second place in the West at 5-2-0.
Match day!!! ⚽🔥
St. Louis City vs FC Cincinnati
00:30am Ghana time 🇬🇭#kumasinnati 🟠⚔️🔵#AllForCincy 🙌🏽❣️ pic.twitter.com/WyowFRU2m8— Zaidan Tunechi (@ZaidanTunechi7) April 15, 2023
Notes on this game from MLS:
- St Louis has lost consecutive games since their five straight wins.
- FCC has lost twice in three attempts when playing an expansion team for the first time.
- A win tonight and FCC would make the 8th team to record 20 points through eight matches of a season in MLS, the first since 2012!
- STL pressures high and they lead the league in 79 turnovers within 40 meters of the opponent’s goal!
- Cincy has won their last three matches, 1-0. No team in MLS history has won four in a row with a 1-0 score!
CLB v NER
Columbus has a similar difficult task as they host New England in a battle of top teams in the East!
MASSIVE MATCHDAY 🙌#Crew96 | #CLBvNE
— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) April 15, 2023
Notes on this game from MLS:
- Last four meetings between the two have ended in draws.
- The Crew have won three straight while the Revolution have won five of their first seven.
- NE goalie, Djordie Petrovic, recorded the first goalkeeper assist since 2011 last week off his goal kick which teammate Giacomo Vrioni scored.
FC Cincy and the Crew: By The Numbers!
Here are the key stats for the year so far for both teams. Their ranking in MLS is in parentheses. All data from MLS.
| Description | FCC | CREW |
|---|---|---|
| Save % | 82.6 (4) | 68 (18) |
| Header Duel % | 53.1 (9) | 42.7 (27) |
| Interceptions | 97 (1) | 78 (12) |
| Clean Sheets | 5 (T1) | 3 (6) |
| Assists | 8 (11) | 17 (1) |
| Passing % | 81.8 (10) | 83.4 (6) |
| Total Passes | 3087 (13) | 3424 (3) |
| 5 (6) | 9 (T2) |
The data clearly show Cincinnati is a defensive powerhouse and the Crew are pass and share happy!
#HELLISREAL!
I think the entire state and nation will be watching when Cincinnati and Columbus square off against each other in the #HELLISREAL Ohio Derby!
Saturday, May 20th 7:30 PM TQL Stadium in Cincinnati
Sunday, August 20th 7:30 PM Lower.com Field in Columbus
What a start for each club! Wonder where both will be on May 20th and August 20th? Can’t wait to watch those!
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