Cincinnati 2 leaves Chattanooga with bonus point
Drab tie thanks to strong goalkeeping
Trends exist because they’re repeated. Once again, for the third time this season, Chattanooga FC tied a home game after losing an away fixture. Once again, FC Cincinnati 2 won a penalty shootout after drawing a game, for the fourth time this season. Small sample sizes, but trends nonetheless.
Chattanooga remains unbeaten at home this season but will be sorely disappointed not to take advantage of an on-paper weaker side. They came into Saturday evening’s game 17 points and 12 places clear of Cincinnati, albeit a Cincinnati side that was relatively defensively solid (they’d conceded 18 goals, a much stronger defensive record than other teams around them).
The game ended in a 0-0 draw with FC Cincinnati 2 winning the shootout for the extra point 8-7. The Orange and Blue were the slightly stronger of the two teams, on the night. They led CFC in possession (52%), shots (13 to 10), shots on target (4 to 2), passes, pass accuracy, corners, and crosses.
Not that Chattanooga weren’t productive themselves. Their best chance came on 29 minutes when young Darwin Ortiz, in only his third professional start, went close but his shot/cross glanced the front of Cincinnati’s goal with nobody there to poke it in. Recovered by Milo Garvanian, the ball was fed by the left-back to Markus Naglestad, whose deflected shot was excellently, and one handedly saved at close range by Cincinnati’s talented keeper Nathan Crockford. The moment was ended by a Jalen James foul and a Cincinnati free-kick.
Crockford was the hero again on 39 minutes when he produced another point-blank save off Markus Naglestad. CFC’s all-time top-goalscorer, returned to the starting lineup for the first time since May 3rd (against Philadelphia Union II), had his diving header saved after a nice, low cross from Tate Robertson.
On 50 minutes, Crockford again made an important save, this time a high dive padding away a dangerous Robertson cross. The 20-year-old goalkeeper from Chicago picked up his first clean sheet of the year and the team’s third.
In some ways the game was about the two goalkeepers, as Crockford kept CFC at bay, while Chattanooga’s experienced shot-stopper Eldin Jakupović repeated the feat for his side. He was well placed multiple times in the game to scuff out any of the visitor’s chances. The Swiss international’s experience was needed late in the game to save from a Stefan Chirilă free-kick on 90+3 minutes.
Yamir Uculmana had Cincinnati’s best chance of the evening in the 64th minute but his attempt came off the right post and rebounded out. It was the one moment in the night when the mighty Jakupović may have been beaten.
Following the final whistle, both sides battled through a grueling eight-round shootout with the Orange and Blue taking an extra point in the sudden death rounds. Defender Andrei Chirilă settled matters after Crockford had saved from Steeve Louis Jean.
Chattanooga remains in second place, three points off New York Red Bulls II who won last night and have a game in-hand. In third place are Philadelphia Union II, who are six points off but have four games in-hand. CFC are rested now until 4th July weekend, when they’ll welcome eight place Chicago Fire II to Finley Stadium.
FC Cincinnati 2 next travels to New Jersey for another tough away tie, this time against the Conference leading Red Bulls. That game is on June 29th. The Orange and Blue remains in 14th place after Saturday’s result, but level on points with Inter Miami II and Atlanta United 2 above them.
Match takeaways
CFC has only lost three games this season, all away from home. While they’ve never made losing a habit, I’d like to see them come out stronger from those losses and win the subsequent games. Especially as, so far, all those losses were followed by home games in which this side boasts the luxury of the league’s largest and most supportive fan-bases.
The top of the Eastern Conference is very competitive, where a number of teams with games in-hand are encroaching upon the summit. For Chattanooga, I think the goal has to be a top four place and a home playoff spot. I don’t see this team stumbling the way its 2024 iteration did, but they’ll need to maintain strong pressure and find ways of winning to match the pace of those coming up behind them.
Saturday evening marked the 50th appearance for Chattanooga FC of Milo Garvanian. The left/wing back was signed in January of last year from New Mexico United in the USL Championship and quickly established himself as one of the side’s most reliable performers. This season he’s notched two goals and two assists in 16 appearances. He had a good game again on Saturday, with a nice low cross to Naglestad on 39 minutes almost leading to a goal.
For Cincinnati this was a very good result. After triumphing away over a strong New England team last weekend, they’ve now scored five points from two difficult road trips. They continue their travels next weekend at the Red Bulls, their toughest challenge yet. Belief and confidence will be sky high in the group that they can go there and etch out a result. The league will be watching. Perhaps they are poised to make a play-off run in the second half of the season.
One notable element of MLS Next Pro for me is the standard of goalkeeping, which I feel is very high. America has long produced great goalkeepers and judging by the standard on show from the young shot-stoppers around the league, that won’t change soon. This season alone Chattanooga has been visited by numerous travelling goalkeepers who have put in sterling performances for their teams. In particular, there was Philadelphia’s Andrew Rick, New England’s John Gunn, Orlando’s Carlos Mercado, and now Nathan Crockford, who were all very impressive and a real privilige to watch. Add to this that Chattanooga themselves have one of the best keepers, I would say, in the country, and goalkeeping is one of MLS Next Pro’s best assets.
Box Score
Chattanooga FC - FC Cincinnati 2
MLS Next Pro
Venue: Finley Stadium | Chattanooga, TN
Attendance: 3,106
Final Score: Chattanooga 0-0 Cincinnati (Cincinnati won the penalty shootout 8-7)
Referee: Habeeb Hooshmand
Shootout summary:
✓: M. Naglestad (CHA)
✓: T. Ikoba (CIN)
✓: T. Robertson (CHA)
✓: B. Schaefer (CIN)
✓: M. Garvanian (CHA)
✓: B. Augee (CIN)
✓: M. Kwak (CHA)
✓: C. Locker (CIN)
✓: F. Sar-Sar (CHA)
✓: N. Adnan (CIN)
✓: J. Ibarra (CHA)
✓: S. Jimenez (CIN)
✓: E. Dudley (CHA)
✓: A. Daley (CIN)
X: S. Louis Jean (CHA)
✓: A. Chirilă (CIN)
Discipline:
29' - J. James (CHA) - yellow
47' - R. Screen (CHA) - yellow
48' - M. Garvanian (CHA) - yellow
66' - A. Daley (CIN) - yellow
90'+2 - F. Sar-Sar (CIN) - yellow
Man of the Match: Nathan Crockford (CIN) - Who else? Last night, the young keeper picked up his first clean sheet of the year and helped his team ot its third. He made two fantastic saves from a hungry Markus Naglestad and decided the tie when he stopped Steeve Louis Jean’s penalty.
Line-ups:
Chattanooga FC (4-3-3): Eldin Jakupović; Milo Garvanian, Nathan Koehler (79’ Ethan Dudley), Farid Sar-Sar (C), Tate Robertson; Steeve Louis Jean, Robert Screen (79’ Logan Brown), Darwin Ortiz (64’ Colin Thomas); Daniel Mangarov (79’ Jesus Ibarra), Jalen James (65’ Minjae Kwak), Markus Naglestad
Subs not used: Michael Barrueta, J.P. Philpot, Nick Mendonca
Head Coach: Chris Nugent
FC Cincinnati 2 (3-4-3): Nathan Crockford; Noah Adnan, Brian Schaefer, Andrei Chirilă; Stiven Jimenez, Amir Daley (C), William Kuisel (89’ Dilan Hurtado Hinestroza), Peter Mangione (89’ Ben Augee); Yamir Uculmana (68’ Tega Ikoba), Stefan Chirilă, Andres Davila Mosquera (74’ Carson Locker)
Subs not used: Slade Hall, Connor Stout, Jared Cardenas, Brandon Kristel, Yorkaeff Caicedo
Head Coach: Tyrone Marshall
Next Games
• July 5th, 19:00 (ET): Chattanooga FC v Chicago Fire FC II, Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, TN (MLS Next Pro)
• June 29th, 19:00 (ET): New York City FC FC II v FC Cincinnati 2, MSU Soccer Park, Little Falls Township, NJ (MLS Next Pro)