FC Cincinnati loses to Louisville City FC 2-0 in a tense rivalry match at Nippert Stadium in front of 26,495.
Louisville’s Cameron Lancaster scored the first goal off a well-placed free kick in the 15’. Their second came off a deflected shot from substitute George Davis IV in the 73’.
Louisville dominated from very early on pushing the tempo and creating the vast majority of the chances. The possession was about even but you would not have guessed that watching the match.
Cincinnati Alan Koch stated after the match, “Disappointing result obviously, but equally disappointing performance. We were happy with how we performed tonight what so ever… They won the game and deserved to win it.”
The first Louisville goal was set up by an unnecessary foul from Richie Ryan who clipped a Louisville attacker a little outside the box. There were two Cincinnati defenders who looked like they would have been able to stop the run. Lancaster snuck the free kick through the wall and had it bounce in front of keeper Evan Newton before going into the bottom corner.
Louisville’s second goal came off a few well-played passes leading to Davis being unmarked at the top of the box. His shot was charged down by Keinan but got past and deflected off Matt Bahner and looped into the net.
Cincinnati had lot of giveaways all over the pitch stopped promising attacks and put the defense in tough situations. Several attacks were stopped early but bad passing or two many passes. Richie Ryan had an errant pass intercepted which would have led an open Emmanuel Ledesma into a promising position with Danni Konig in space to his right. Also Corben Bone and Nazmi Albadawi played one too many passes between each other in their best attacking chance of the first half.
The second half Cincinnati started off looking better and the passing started to click, but it didn’t last very long before Louisville was back in control. Cincinnati did create a great chance in the 66’ when Corben Bone put a beautiful cross in for Welshman to head home but he didn’t get enough on it. He ran in unmarked inside the six-yard box.
After Louisville scored their second goal Cincinnati was able to put pressure on Louisville only because they were allowed to. Louisville handled the pressure extremely well and iced out the final minutes of the match.
Both Koch and Keinan after the match commented on the work rate of both teams, complementing Louisville and questioning that of Cincinnati. This will be something to watch when the starting 11 is selected for the next few matches.
Cincinnati only managed one shot on target tonight and it was off a free kick by Ledesma. It is very tough to win when you can’t put shots on target.
On the sidelines words were exchanged between the two coaching staffs multiple times. The fourth official had to intervene multiple times and eventually sent Cincinnati assistant coach Yohann Demet to the stands. Demet will miss he this weekends match against the New York Red Bulls II.
Keinan picked up a yellow card tonight and will miss this weekend’s match against the New York Red Bulls II.
Moment by Moment
15’ Cameron Lancaster opens the scoring with a free kick from 23 yards out. He put it through the wall and bounced it a few feet in front of Newton who had very little chance. Richie Ryan had the foul leading to the free kick. It was fairly unnecessary with him having both central defenders behind him.
30’ Paddy Barrett receives the first booking of the match after running through the back of a Louisville attacker.
33’ Richie Ryan booked for tripping a Louisville player in the midfield. He was lying on the ground after a fair challenge.
55’ Paco Craig of Louisville picks up a yellow card after fouling Danni Konig about 25 yards out. The resulting free kick was pinged off the post by Emmanuel Ledesma and cleared by the Louisville defense. He had the keeper beat.
57’ Yohann Demet, Cincinnati assistant coach, was sent off for some words exchanged with the Louisville bench.
66’ Emmanuel Welshman just misses a header after a great cross from Corben Bone. He got a touch but not enough to steer the ball into the net from inside the six-yard box.
73’ Louisville sub Davis IV scores on a deflection off Matt Bahner before looping into the net. Lazy defense led to a few passes being played before Davis was unmarked just outside the box. Keinan charged down the shot but was unable to get anything on it, Bahner was a little behind and couldn’t do anything to move out of the way.
81’ Keinan is booked for a foul outside the box leading to a free kick in an identical position to the first Louisville goal. Newton came up with a great diving save to keep the deficit at two.
Up Next
Cincinnati travels to Red Bull arena to take on New York Red Bulls II on June 2nd at 1:00 p.m. New York currently sits in ninth place with 14 points (3-2-5). This will be the first match of the season between the two teams.
June 6th at 7:30 p.m. Minnesota United will travel to Nippert Stadium for the US Open Cup Fourth Round. This is the same round that Cincinnati played the Columbus Crew last season and was the catalyst for a run to the semi final. Minnesota is in their second season in the MLS currently sitting in eighth in the Western Conference.
Final Thoughts
Cincinnati did not play very well tonight and Koch looked to want to address it this week. Louisville out worked Cincinnati for large stretches tonight and deservedly walked away with three points.
Two players who looked good tonight in my opinion were Keinan and Newton. Keinan came close to scoring on a header off a set piece and made a few very good challenges to stop Louisville attacks. He continues to impress and his presence in the backline will be sorely missed this weekend. Newton may have been able to stop the first goal but it was a very good shot and he is not to blame because a shot cannot be allowed through the wall. He had two saves late that very well could have been goals for Louisville and made a bad night worse, one a diving save to deny a second free kick goal.
This loss will soon be forgotten due to the “Special Event” being hosted with MLS commissioner Don Garber where Cincinnati will be announced as the next MLS team.