Preview, prediction for FC Cincinnati vs. Atlanta United at TQL Stadium
FC Cincinnati has a new challenge to confront for its next match, which happens to be against its most familiar foe in Major League Soccer.
For the first time ever, FC Cincinnati had two key players − Brandon Vazquez and Luciano Acosta − absent for part of a regular season match week due to the Major League Soccer All-Star Game. The players returned to training Thursday but will require evaluation to see if they, along with newly-acquired center back Matt Miazga, can contribute to Saturday's match against Atlanta United at TQL Stadium.
The contest will mark the 10th all-time meeting between the clubs, which makes it the longest-running season series FC Cincinnati has played in its young MLS existence.
The match is a crucial one in the Eastern Conference playoff picture as 11th-place Atlanta is only four points behind sixth-place Cincinnati in the east standings.
FC Cincinnati should enter the contest on a wave of momentum following its 3-1 victory against east-leading Philadelphia Union last week, but Atlanta also boasts a strong win from last week as they took down Seattle Sounders, 2-1, on a late goal by former FC Cincinnati player, Andrew Gutman.
"This is a team certainly coming in with some momentum in terms of how they just got their latest result," FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said during a Thursday interview. "I think they're a team that with the ball has quality from the goalkeeper up to Josef (Martínez) up top. So, they can move the ball in ways that they can cause you problems. We need to be very connected in how we look to pressure the ball, in the moments where we try to win the ball, we have to be sharp in how we direct the ball to where we want to win it. And there's still going to be moments, even when we're connected with our defensive pressure, they have the individual quality to open up the game. And so with all of those individual abilities in one-versus-one moments, we also have to be prepared for when we lose those duels, when we lose those moments, what does it look like defensively to make sure that we protect the space behind and we just delay in ways where we can get connected and not allow them to get to goal."
Noonan indicated Vazquez and Acosta should be able to play their usual starting roles after a busy week of travel. He also likened the physical rigors of the All-Star Game to mere midweek training sessions.
That could make Miazga, acquired via transfer late in this summer's secondary transfer window, the most intriguing player to dress for FCC this weekend.
Miazga has a full week of training under his belt with the club, and Noonan's given new players their FCC debuts with far less time in town than that. Seeing as Cincinnati's defensive struggles have been well-documented again this season, Miazga will be a tempting figure to push into the starting lineup.
For now, though, Noonan is staying mum about when and how Miazga will make his Cincinnati debut.
"He's looked strong. I think the first couple days was, on top of just getting the travel out of him and getting his legs out from under him, it was the conditions," Noonan said of Miazga. "He hasn't experienced these conditions in a while. I think you could see that he was feeling it at certain moments throughout the week with the heat and humidity, but he's gotten stronger as the week's gone on and put himself in contention to be available from the start or off the bench."
An injury-riddled Atlanta roster has managed to tread water in this year's playoff race, and the club has a penchant for dashing FC Cincinnati hopes.
Only Inter Miami CF's Gonzalo Higuain has more career goals against FC Cincinnati (seven) than Atlanta's Josef Martinez (six).
In 2022, Martinez had a hot goal-scoring touch coming out of the June international break but has trailed off in the "Five Stripes" attack since then as he's without a goal in his last six matches.
"He's a very dangerous player, and a player that in and around goal, is as good as we've seen in this league," Noonan said of Martinez, who has had his own injury issues in recent years. "And so regardless of previous games, production, I can tell you that our guys are aware of the qualities that he brings. And we need to make sure that we're aware of him, of how he comes off the backline.
"(He's) very smart in finding pockets so that he can get their midfielders involved and they can get runs in behind from wider positions. And then obviously in and around goal, he's very dangerous and being able to create space for himself and attack crosses, whether it's cut-back balls, whether it's wide service, and he also has the ability to create on his own. So there's a lot of ways that he can beat us. So, we will be hopefully prepared and ready to deal with him."
More:FC Cincinnati pounds first-place Philadelphia Union in 3-1 victory
More:Brandon Vazquez, Luciano Acosta make FC Cincinnati history in 2022 MLS All-Star Game
More:FC Cincinnati's Brandon Vazquez savoring MLS All-Star Game - and looking to capitalize
The game
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., Saturday | TQL Stadium, Cincinnati
TV/Radio/Stream: WSTR Star 64 / ESPN1530 / FCCincinnati.com (in-region); ESPN+ (out of region)
Series info: Atlanta leads the all-time series against Cincinnati with five wins, one loss and three draws.
Cincinnati.com prediction: FC Cincinnati 2, Atlanta United 1.
FC Cincinnati
2022 record: 8-8-8, 32 points; sixth place in MLS Eastern Conference
Goals for: 40
Goals against: 43
Coach: Pat Noonan –- first season at FC Cincinnati
Projected starting lineup:
Roman Celentano, goalkeeper
Alvaro Barreal, right back
Geoff Cameron, center back
Matt Miazga, center back
Nick Hagglund, center back
Alvas Powell, left back
Obinna Nwobodo, midfielder
Junior Moreno, midfielder
Luciano Acosta, midfielder
Brandon Vazquez, forward
Brenner Souza da Silva, forward
Atlanta United
2022 record: 7-9-7, 28 points, 11th in Eastern Conference
Goals for: 31
Goals against: 34
Head coach: Gonzalo Pineda - second season as Atlanta head coach
Projected starting lineup:
Rocco Ríos Novo, goalkeeper
Aiden McFadden, right back
Juan Jose Sanchez Purata, center back
Alan Franco, center back
Caleb Wiley, left back
Santiago Sosa, midfielder
Matheus Rossetto, midfielder
Ronaldo Cisneros, midfielder/winger
Thiago Almada, midfielder
Luiz Araújo, midfielder/winger
Josef Martinez, forward
Noteworthy: Atlanta is just four points back of FC Cincinnati in the Eastern Conference standings, but has lagged for road results and is just 1-7-3 away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium this season
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Preview, prediction for FC Cincinnati vs. Atlanta United at TQL Stadium
