Dado Valenzuela couldn’t resist, and who would blame him?
Asked by a reporter whether he and his FC Cincinnati teammates expected to dominate red-hot Inter Miami as they did at TQL Stadium on Wednesday night, the young homegrown responded with a measured dose of swagger.
“3-0, yeah – why not?” said the scorer of Cincy’s opening goal. “We go into the game obviously wanting to dominate, and that's what we did.”
Big time bounce back
Four days after their dream start to the Hell is Real clash with the Columbus Crew dissolved into a nightmarish 4-2 derby beating in their own house that raised questions among even their most dedicated fans, the Knifey Lions responded with perhaps their finest performance of the season – and against the GOAT, no less.
Amid substantial pregame buzz about Leo Messi’s scorching run of form – with 11 goals across his previous six games, the Argentine legend became the first player in league history to score multiple goals in five straight matches – it was FCC playmaker Evander who shined brightest in this faceoff of two leading Landon Donovan MLS MVP candidates, bagging a second-half brace to ensure this would be the sort of full 90-minute display that eluded them against their in-state rivals.
“We needed to bounce back after the last game,” the Brazilian No. 10 told MLS Season Pass after the final whistle. “We disappointed ourselves, we disappointed the fans, and we were a little bit like, we can't lose games like that. So I think tonight we challenged ourselves to be better [individually] and both be better as a team. And that's what we did tonight.
“A very great result, very great performance from everyone.”
From their effective balance of pace, intensity and discipline to the colorfully raucous TQL crowd that cheered them on, this was a comprehensive victory for FCC, one that firmly snaps the Herons’ five-match winning streak in league play while underlining Cincy’s own credentials as a title contender.
“Very pleased with the performance. We were a better team tonight than we showed on the weekend, and I'm happy the guys were rewarded for that,” said head coach Pat Noonan afterwards.
“We played the game in a better way with the lead,” he added. “Was it perfect? No, there were tough moments when we had to defend, and we had to defend [Miami’s] good movement, good one-v-one ability on the ball, and I thought our guys were up for it: Made a lot of big plays in the right moments, and scored some good goals.
"It's not easy to beat a team of that quality with the form that they're in.”
MVP favorite?
Evander’s first goal was well in character, a clinical finish after an instinctive flash of improvisational flair in a congested area at the top of Miami’s penalty box. His second was more opportunistic, a tap-in after IMCF goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo – an unexpected substitute after veteran Oscar Ustari picked up what looked like a hamstring strain in the first half – parried a Luca Orellano shot into his path.
Both impressed his coach in equal measure.
“The first one, I know we're looking to play it across – a little bit of fortune, maybe, with how it gets into his path,” said Noonan. “But the reason it gets into his path is because of his feel for how to make a touch, or how to use his body or how to attack space, and then he's free, and he scores a goal. So that's why he needs to be in those spots for us.
“The second one, it's simple. This goes back to when you were a kid: Follow your shot, that simple … that's not, like, high-level stuff, but it's when you think the game and when you're in the right spot, you make plays.”
Valenzuela's stock rises
Meanwhile, Valenzuela’s contributions were made possible by the night’s only piece of bad news for Cincy: The absence of star striker Kévin Denkey, who sustained a leg injury in the loss to Columbus and will miss “a couple weeks, hopefully” as he recovers from what Noonan described as the first significant injury of his career, which seems to have been a factor in the inability to diagnose it in the run of play on Saturday.
Replacing the prolific Designated Player in such a weighty fixture was a big ask for the 20-year-old homegrown, and he answered the call with a razor-sharp finish. The ensuing discipline and organization to make that goal stand up as the winner in the face of their star-studded opponents’ response was a collective effort, one that bodes well for the Garys’ trophy ambitions.
“You could see the movements, the spacing to try to limit their attack was strong,” said Noonan. “There were moments where they put us under pressure, and then in those moments, we defended the box the right way. So I think the energy was there, and you could see the guys wanted to respond in a good way, and they did.”
