FC Cincinnati lost to the Rochester Rhinos 3-2 amid many questionable decisions from the referee. Wal Fall converted two penalties for Rochester including the winner after they got out to an early lead from a Jochen Graf goal. Jimmy McLaughlin provided an equalizer and Danni Konig converted a late penalty for Cincinnati.
10 yellow cards, one being a second yellow, and one straight red were given out tonight along with three penalty kicks. Eight of the yellows went to Cincinnati, with two for the visitors who didn’t receive one until the second half when Cincinnati already had four. The fouls were fairly even with Cincinnati earning 18 while Rochester had 17. In the first half Cincinnati had three cards on six fouls.
Cincinnati head coach Alan Koch commented on the match saying, “I guess I have more questions than comments.”
Koch later said, “We all are expected to come to work in this business to go out and deal with the elements. It is important for a coach to be nice and calm and collected during the game. It is also important for his players to go out and embrace the game, to go in and put in a good shift. It is also important for the officials in the game, not to get caught up in the game and lose control. Unfortunately some of those things did not happen tonight.”
He did later comment on the positives he saw tonight, “The fact that we played a man down for 60 minutes and were right in it until the end.”
Cincinnati started off slow and on their heels for the first 15 minutes of the game. They allowed Rochester to attack on the left leaving Austin Berry to stifle any of the attacks. He handled the responsibility well and most of the attacks were stopped quickly.
Graf gave Rochester the lead with a shot off the post after a mishandled clearance from Justin Hoyte in the 12’. A cross was headed down at Hoyte’s feet and it bounced right to the striker. Mitch Hildebrandt had no chance to stop the shot.
Djiby picked up his first yellow for hitting a Rochester defender in the head as they jumped for a header. This was his first foul of the match and the yellow was probably based on Djiby’s reputation.
Cincinnati looked promising on the attack after the 20’. They were finally looking to take the game to Rochester instead of sitting back and absorbing pressure.
McLaughlin equalized in the 29’ passing the ball into the back of the net from 20 yards out. A bad back pass from Rochester to the keeper allowed McLaughlin to get to the ball before the keeper.
Everything changed in the match in the 42’ when Djiby picked up his second yellow going for a 50/50 ball with Wal Fall of Rochester. Fall hit the ground grabbing his leg and Djiby was given his second yellow and marching orders. The replay showed Djiby hit the ball but his follow through also hit Fall. The Cincinnati captain commented on the foul after the game, “I have seen that given a yellow, I’ve seen that not given a yellow.” From the moment the foul happened Fall was given a chorus of boos every time he touched the ball until the end of the match.
Coming out of the half Cincinnati played a tight defensive formation and played very well keeping Rochester at bay.
Hoyte picked up a yellow card on a normal tackle where he was a little late getting to the ball and hit the Rochester player. He received the yellow while laughing at the referee.
Rochester received a penalty in the 78’ after Andrew Wiedeman clattered into the back of Fall conceding the penalty. It was the only call the referee seemed to get right all game. Fall stepped up and converted the penalty to another chorus of boos from the crowd. Celebrating he put his hand over he ears and then taunted the crowd to receive a yellow card.
Four minutes later Rochester was given a penalty for a handball that hit Kevin Schindler in the center of his chest. Fall converted his second penalty this time running back to his half with his hands over his ears taunting the crowd.
Cincinnati caught a break right off the kickoff when a handball from Rochester was called for a free kick just outside the box initially. After protests from the Cincinnati players and a conversation with the assistant on that side the call was changed to a penalty.
In the time after the handball was given and the call changed to a penalty there was pandemonium on the Cincinnati sideline. Assistant coach Yoann Damet was sent off as well as substitute keeper Dallas Jaye.
After everything was settled Danni Konig stepped up to covert the penalty in the 86’.
News and notes
The attendance tonight was 23,548. The attendance tonight pushes the average above 20,000 for the season.
Cincinnati moves to (8-7-6) with 30 points. They dropped to sixth place in the Eastern Conference subsequently switching places with Rochester.
Cincinnati is now second in the USL in red cards with 4. They are tied for 14th in yellow cards with 32.
Kevin Schindler made his first league appearance tonight after debuting against Valencia CF on Monday.
Next Up
Cincinnati travels to take on Miami FC for the replay of the US Open Cup match that was postponed on July 12 due to rain. This will be the first meeting of between the two clubs. Miami is in the NASL and won the Spring Season by an incredible 10 points going (11-2-3). They will be the best team Cincinnati has seen all competition with the players put on the field.
Orlando City B comes into town next weekend August 5. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Orlando is currently in 11th place with 22 points (5-6-7). Their last meeting was a 1-1 draw in Orlando on July 1.
Final Thoughts
Cincinnati was robbed of a decent chance to win this game after Djiby was sent off. The first yellow was definitely questionable but was 50/50 on a card or not due to hitting Rochester’s Bradley Kamdem Fewo in the face. Fewo went to the ground holding his face with some embellishment. Also the assistant referee was adamant on the yellow card because head referee allowed play to continue for a couple seconds before calling the foul.
Rochester does deserve credit because they knew that Cincinnati doesn’t play well to start matches and tonight was no different. The first 20 minutes or so Cincinnati was slow to everything and were on their heels. The first goal was a product of good passing and a lucky break in Hoyte mishandling the clearance.
Miami FC is far from a must win and the lineup put out this Wedensday will be better than the one originally planned for the match. An hour before the scheduled kickoff Cincinnati announced that three key players would not be starting. Andrew Wiedeman, Harrison Delbridge and Justin Hoyte were the three and all three of them could start the match this time around.
You can “Like” The Game Haus on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles written by other great TGH writers along with Evan!
“From Our Haus to Yours”