These days it’s hard to believe that FC Cincinnati ever gave up a league-worst 75 goals last year as an expansion team.
Since Jaap Stam took over the club on May 21, Cincy have played five matches and conceded five goals. More notably, it’s been just one goal allowed in the last four games with their latest clean sheet coming in a scoreless draw against D.C. United in Week 6.
“You play with 11 players on the pitch and they all need to defend,” said Stam, who was a world-class defender in his day. “It’s the whole team that is working and trying to work as a block … You see the opposition [D.C.] can’t play through and the last couple of games [FC Cincinnati] have been solid and that’s what it’s all about. We all want to go forward and create opportunities, but we don’t want to concede because from every game you want to take something out of it. And the last couple of games we’ve done that and it’s a positive thing.”
Against D.C. United at Nippert Stadium, FC Cincinnati allowed just a single shot on goal: a 24th minute angled drive by D.C.’s Ulises Segura.
And it was Cincinnati who nearly came away with all three points when Jurgen Locadia’s blast in the 84th minute struck the left post (highlight below). But the 0-0 draw was enough for FC Cincinnati to move up to 7th place in the East.
“I’m a central defender, I love clean sheets to be honest,” Cincinnati center back Tom Pettersson said postgame. “It’s important for us that we feel we can defend in a really good way and that gives us the feeling that we only need to score one goal instead of conceding and then needing to score three or four goals to win a game. We know if we just keep going, we can get a chance and score and get the three points … We’re on the right path.”
FC Cincinnati struggled out of the gates and they acknowledged that DC’s press presented issues to their playing out of the back in the opening 20 minutes. But Cincinnati soon adjusted their tactics and controlled the second half.
“You’re playing an opposition [D.C. United] that in the past played with four [defenders] at the back and now they came over here and changed their system for us, so they played with five [defenders] in the back. That tells us something about us,” Stam noted about D.C.’s formation. “And then in the second half, [D.C.] changed their system again because they found it very hard to keep the pressure on us.”
“All in all, it’s a deserved point at least,” Stam said. “We all want to win. But from where we started until now, and not losing games and not conceding, I think we can be very happy.”
And things are only looking up for FC Cincinnati during the current summer transfer window. They announced the acquisition of experienced South African midfielder Kamohelo Mokotjo and there are reports from Argentina claiming that the club is closing in on Alvaro Barreal of Velez Sarsfield.
“With Mokotjo coming, it’s a very positive thing. He’s a good player. He’s a great investment for the team that lifts the level of our roster,” Stam said. “And we’re looking or more players we can add and we have to make decisions on who’s going to play, who’s going to stay and who’s going to go. If you want to go somewhere and you want to build and develop, everyone needs to go with that … We’re not finished yet, I think. We’re still looking out for quality.”
“Throughout the whole team we have quality and it’s promising to see,” winger Joe Gyau added. “If we stick to our guns like this moving forward, we’re going to be alright.”
