FC Cincinnati undoubtedly entered Thursday evening’s Champion’s Cup match versus Tigres UANL with a chip on their shoulder. After the Liga MX giants bounced the Orange and Blue from last year’s Cup, there was a feeling of unfinished business permeating the club. With recent league results in consideration as well, there seemed to be a lot riding on Thursday’s match.

FIRST HALF

The starting XI put forth by manager Pat Noonan was noticeably missing Evander, and his replacement #10, Dado Valenzuela. In an interesting alignment, the midfield consisted of Pavel Bucha, Samuel Gidi, and Obinna Nwobodo. Bryan Ramirez and Ender Echenique served as complimentary wingbacks.

The match lacked the stagnant start that has plagued FCC as of late. Merely six minutes into the match, Echenique pounced on a lackadaisical pass by Tigres keeper Nahuel Guzman, summarily driving a cross to a well positioned Kévin Denkey who made no error in slotting his shot into the bottom right corner.

This aggressiveness on defense leading to offense was an element of the game that Noonan highlighted afterwards, “I think our transition play in the attack was threatening… and I think that stemmed from some good defensive organization and...