THE most important thing in Cincinnati sports for 2017 happened Wednesday.
FC Cincinnati played some soccer against the Chicago Fire in a U.S. Open Cup match. The beloved FCC against the big brother MLS team from the Windy City. It took every second of the clock to figure out the winner…and then some penalty shots, but the good guys pulled off their biggest win of the franchise’s short history.
Orchestrating such a win was the team’s stellar goalie, Mitch Hildebrandt. Mitch said no…a lot. Like every single shot that came toward the net, except for a penalty shootout goal by Bastian Schweinsteiger. Soccer fans will remember that name as the former captain of the German national team in the World Cup a few years back.
Yeah, FCC beat down some big dogs on Wednesday.
A little unprofessional analysis:
- Jimmy McLaughlin was the runner-up to Mitch for man of the match. Chicago was stuck on defense for the bulk of the time McLaughlin roamed the pitch.
- Second highest attendance ever for the U.S. Open cup. No biggie. But, ya know, Cincinnati doesn’t have a big enough media market for some MLS pundits. Uh huh…
- No Djiby, no problem. The man who leads FCC, by a wide margin, in goals scored was not present. They still found a way.
The underdogs now become the top dogs as FCC goes to Miami in a few weeks for the next round of the tournament. Miami is in the same boat as FCC as they are in an underling division looking to rise up.
Win in the Sunshine State and FCC is looking at a pairing with either New England or Philadelphia, both MLS teams.
Are FC Cincinnati done yet? Mitch says no!
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