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Cincinnati (2-1-1, 7 points) -- an expansion
team this year -- won its second straight match, while New
England (0-3-1, 1 point) continues to struggle in the early
going.
Both sides were without players who were called in for National
Team duty over the weekend.
New England was without rookie forward Justin Rennicks, while
Cincinnati did not have Kendall Waston, Allan Cruz, Darren
Mattocks and Alvas Powell.
After a sluggish first half that saw Cincinnati take a 1-0 lead
into the break, New England turned up the heat in the second
half, including two great chances in the 61st minute.
Carles Gil and Diego Fagundez both had shots from within the
penalty area, but Cincinnati goalkeeper Spencer Richey was equal
to take the task each time, knocking the ball away.
The inability to get one into the back of the net was magnified
a short time later when Cincinnati doubled its lead and iced the
game.
Cincinnati ultimately put the game away in the 65th minute when
the two players that combined for the game's first goal went to
work again.
After New England struggled to clear a ball out the box, Kekuta
Manneh was able to get a foot on it for Cincinnati and drill a
pass to a wide-open Kenny Saief, camped four yards out from the
goal. Saief made the most of the chance, putting it way on a
first-time touch for the 2-0 lead.
Cincinnati opened the scoring in the game with a goal in the
44th minute of the first half.
Manneh hit a pass down the left side to a breaking Saief. The
midfielder Saief never broke stride, got to the ball and
first-timed a cross back to the middle where Manneh ran onto it
and put it away for the game's first goal.
--Field Level Media
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