{"id":7074,"date":"2017-05-18T00:57:44","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T04:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/?p=7074"},"modified":"2017-05-18T00:57:44","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T04:57:44","slug":"fc-cincinnati-ekes-out-us-open-cup-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2017\/05\/18\/fc-cincinnati-ekes-out-us-open-cup-win\/","title":{"rendered":"FC Cincinnati Ekes Out US Open Cup Win in Ohio Derby"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Cincinnati, OH] –\u00a0FC Cincinnati<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0narrowly defeated\u00a0NPSL’s AFC Cleveland<\/a> by a score of 1-0 in the second round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Wednesday. A headed goal by Djiby Fall in extra time put the USL outfit through to the next\u00a0round of the tournament, and rewarded 12,790 fans at Nippert Stadium who persisted deep\u00a0into a Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

FC Cincinnati was playing their first match in\u00a0the 2017 Open Cup\u00a0based on\u00a0their second division status. The team that\u00a0had great success in 2016\u00a0has\u00a0struggled<\/a> in USL during their second season, winning only two of nine games played. 2016 NPSL champions AFC Cleveland advanced to the second round by defeating the Des Moines Menace in Iowa last Wednesday.<\/p>\n

FC Cincinnati Ekes Out US Open Cup Win in Ohio Derby<\/strong><\/h2>\n

FC Cincinnati featured a line-up with ten changes relative to the one they started last Saturday in USL action. Of particular note was the presence\u00a0of Djiby Fall, who was eligible for the match despite the six game USL suspension he is serving. The suspension does\u00a0not carry over to the US Open Cup competition and he started Wednesday’s match at center forward. Other notable players\u00a0for FC Cincinnati included frequent starters\u00a0Andrew Wiedeman and Harrison Delbridge. AFC Cleveland started a full strength roster in hopes of upending their in-state opposition.<\/p>\n

First Half<\/h3>\n

The home side started on the front foot and immediately attacked AFC Cleveland’s goal. The visitors\u00a0sat back determined to absorb the pressure. The Cleveland\u00a0defense held and after twenty minutes the fourth\u00a0division side grew\u00a0in\u00a0confidence, making\u00a0occasional forays into FC Cincinnati’s final third.<\/p>\n

The best chance of the half fell to Fall in the 38th minute. Left back Derek Luke broke through on AFC Cleveland’s goal after some quality combination\u00a0passing on the flank. He fired a shot to the far post that was parried away by AFC Cleveland keeper\u00a0Alex Ivanov. The ball fell directly into Djiby’s path. He\u00a0looked certain to clean up the scraps and poke the ball in, but AFC Cleveland defender Coletun Long intervened just in time to block the\u00a0shot.<\/p>\n

The first half finished goalless. FC Cincinnati dominated possession and had a 15-3\u00a0shot advantage, but could not convert their chances. The NPSL\u00a0side went into the locker room clearly happy with their efforts.<\/p>\n

Second Half<\/h3>\n

AFC Cleveland took the initiative in the second half, looking for opportune moments to press forward.\u00a0They were very nearly rewarded for their bravery. Midfielder Ryan Ware rattled the\u00a0woodwork of FC Cincinnati’s goal with a long range shot in the 48th minute. Ten minutes later the visitors nearly scored again\u00a0from a corner kick. The close range angled header that resulted was saved heroically by FC Cincinnati goalkeeper Dallas Jaye.<\/p>\n

In the 63rd minute, first team regulars Corben Bone and Jimmy McLaughlin entered the match for FC Cincinnati and made an impact. They home side dominated possession thereafter and created chances with very little retaliation. They\u00a0would\u00a0have taken the lead were it not for the outstanding effort put forth by the AFC Cleveland defense and keeper Alex Ivanov. 90 minutes expired and still no one scored.<\/p>\n

Extra Time<\/h3>\n

It took 117 minutes and over 40 total shots but FC Cincinnati finally got their reward. Jimmy McLaughlin exchanged passes with Andrew Wiedeman outside AFC Cleveland’s\u00a0box before Wiedeman\u00a0floated a cross to the far post. It was well placed and over the last defender’s head. Djiby Fall connected with the cross\u00a0and\u00a0headed it\u00a0back across goal into the opposite corner. FC Cincinnati had the breakthrough they’d been searching for five minutes before penalty kicks. It was heartbreak for a\u00a0resilient AFC Cleveland who battled to the end but came up short.<\/p>\n

Third Round<\/h3>\n

FC Cincinnati advances to the third round of the US Open Cup with the victory.\u00a0After the match, head coach Alan Koch said the following about Wednesday’s\u00a0contest.<\/p>\n

“That was cup soccer tonight. It’s a game of margins and we should have finished the game earlier than we did. However, I give the guys credit to get the result after a hard fought 120 minutes. I saw a lot of character.” <\/em>[FC Cincinnati]<\/a><\/p>\n

FC Cincinnati will face rival Louisville City FC in the next round. Louisville City defeated Pittsburgh minnows\u00a0Tartan Devils<\/a> by a score of 9-0 on Wednesday. The two will clash at Nippert Stadium on May 31st in a rematch of the heated derby game that precipitated\u00a0Djiby Fall’s ban.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Orange and Blue Press<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It took extra time for FC Cincinnati to eke out a win over AFC Cleveland in the second round of the US Open Cup in front of 12,790 at Nippert Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1653,"featured_media":7134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26],"tags":[1203,918,1206,1129,113,579,1204],"class_list":["post-7074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-usl","tag-afc-cleveland","tag-alan-koch","tag-alex-ivanov","tag-djiby-fall","tag-fc-cincinnati","tag-lamar-hunt-us-open-cup","tag-us-open-cup"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}