FC Cincinnati stun Crew SC in US Open Cup

Photo Credit: Chris Asbrock/FTI Sports

by Chris Asbrock

The 30,160 fans at Nippert Stadium on Wednesday, witnessed quite the historic moment for FC Cincinnati, as they stunned their big brother from just up the road on Interstate 71. The Columbus Crew and their supporters came into this US Open Cup match, not expecting to head home with a loss. That is exactly what happened due to the play by Djiby Fall and FC Cincinnati.

The highly anticipated match saw both teams come out hard to knock the other one their perch. Columbus came into this match with a purpose, to knock FC Cincinnati back down to reality. From the opening whistle, Columbus took the play to FC Cincinnati, applying pressure and keeping much of the possession. Within the first seven minutes of the match, Columbus had already had three attempts, two of those were on target.

With Columbus applying much of the pressure, the FC Cincinnati defense played extremely well, doing a lot of bending, but never breaking. The defense was led by Tyler Polak who had a phenomenal game for the boys in orange and blue. Columbus managed to attempt 11 shots, however two of those were an actual attempt on goal. While Cincinnati only had four attempts in the half, their best chance came in stoppage time, when Matt Bahner struck a beautiful free kick that was knocked away by Crew keeper Brad Stuver. The first half ended like it started, scoreless.

The second half went almost exactly like the first, with Columbus applying tons of pressure on the Cincinnati defense. It wasn’t until the 64th minute, when Djiby worked extremely hard to win a second header and placed it beautifully over the outstretched hands of Stuver, sending Nippert Stadium into absolute pandemonium. The goal was set up from a beautiful cross from substitute Justin Hoyte. The goal immediately broke Columbus down but to the Crew players credit, they did not give up.

FC Cincinnati immediately hunkered down putting almost everyone behind the ball, expecting the massive amount of pressure for a tying goal. As they did all game, the Cincinnati defense did a great job of not allowing many solid shots on the goal of FCC keeper, Mitch Hildebrandt. With their backs against the wall, Columbus continued to press for the tying goal, attempting six more shots, with only three of those on target. It was Crew forward Frederico Higuain who had the best chance but just couldn’t bury it.

All of the credit needs to go to coach Alan Koch and the players for executing a tactical masterpiece against a Columbus Crew team that was looking to take down FCC. It is normal for MLS clubs to play most of their reserves in these Open Cup matches, but that was not the case here. Both Columbus and Cincinnati came out with solid lineups. With many eyes on this matchup, it delivered with a spirited game between two hopeful MLS rivals. The win for FC Cincinnati now gives them another US Open Cup match at Nippert Stadium against another MLS foe. This time, the Chicago Fire head to Cincinnati on Wednesday, June 28 showdown.