FC Cincinnati returns to TQL Stadium on Saturday and will look to continue its hot streak and maybe a little bit of revenge as St. Louis CITY SC rolls into town.
Last year, FCC played maybe its worst game of the season against STL, as the match ended with a 5-1 shellacking in favor of STL, which also ended FCC’s unbeaten run to start the season.
FCC comes into the weekend affair red-hot form-wise, having won five in a row, allowing only three goals combined in those matches. Also in those five matches, Lucho Acosta has really started to come on, returning to the MVP form we saw from him last year.
In this time, FCC has nearly caught up to Inter Miami in the Supporters’ Shield standings, only one point behind the Floridians. However, FCC also has a game in hand at the moment, meaning they could have the opportunity to jump Miami even without the leaders having to drop points.
For FCC, the possibility of catching up to Miami in terms of goal-scoring is more of an impossibility. The Fighting Lionel Messi’s have so far scored 35 goals in just 14 matches played, which is in a completely different stratosphere than what FCC is doing. There is even a possibility that Miami will break the record for most goals scored in a single season at 85, currently held by the 1998 LA Galaxy and 2019 LAFC.
However, FCC might have an even more important statistic to go up against Miami, and that is its outstanding defense. FCC has only allowed 10 goals on the season, which is the lowest in all of MLS. Miles Robinson and Matt Miazga’s partnership has so far been everything we hoped it would be, catapulting the team to multiple wins where the team has had to defend for the entirety of some matches.
It isn’t known what that might look like for this upcoming match, though.
The Opposition
St. Louis CITY SC is currently ninth on the Western Conference table, with a record of 3-7-2 for 16 points. STL has so far scored 18 goals on the season and allowed 17.
St. Louis has seen significant regression from their play last year when they were first in the Western Conference.
Star striker Joao Klauss has scored five goals on the season, which is actually ahead of his pace from last season when he slotted in 10. However, one of the biggest issues is their loss of striker Nicholas Gioacchini to Serie B side Como. Gioacchini scored 10 goals on the side last season.
In comparison, STL only has two players on the roster with more than a single goal, those being striker Samuel Adeniran and midfielder Célio Pompeu with two goals and three goals on the season, respectively.
STL also has seven players with one goal. That is many more goalscorers than FCC. They have also scored more goals on the season, two more in fact.
Despite that, FCC’s defense is where it separates from STL, as the home side has allowed seven fewer on the season.
It’s hard to predict what could happen in this match because STL is varied in its performances. Just in their last four matches alone, STL has allowed six goals and scored six goals, getting one win, one loss and two draws. Really, anything could happen, but STL’s propensity for draws, seven on the season, shows that FCC should prepare for all eventualities.
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