RELATED: FC Cincinnati blanks Miami FC to move to U.S. Open semis
FCC takes on its third MLS squad Tuesday in the semifinals when it hosts New York Red Bulls as the first lower division club to make the final four since 2011.
Here are the top 5 things to know about Tuesday’s sold out match:
1. Bouncing back
FCC is coming off its worst loss in club history after falling 5-0 at Louisville City on Saturday, but the club might have been saving a little something for Tuesday.
The Orange and Blue did not start a handful of regulars, as Matt Bahner and Jimmy McLaughlin came off the bench and Justin Hoyte sat out with an injury, and they were down a man for the final 54 minutes. FCC trailed just 1-0 when Sem de Wit, who started at center back in place of Hoyte, was sent off with a red card.
RELATED: FC Cincy stuns Chicago
2. Djiby is out
Cincinnati will be without its leading scorer, Djiby Fall, because of yellow card accumulation, so the big question is: Who will step up in the attack?
Fall, who has 15 goals through all competition, happens to be the only player on the team to score in this tournament, finding the back of the net in all four of his Cup appearances. He sat out the Round of 16 game against Chicago Fire SC with an injury that surfaced just before the match, and it took a 3-1 win in penalty kicks to break a scoreless tie.
FCC likely will look to three players to fill the void: Danni Konig, who was signed during Fall’s six-game suspension at the end of April, adds eight goals in 19 league games; Jimmy McLaughlin, who has three goals with several other close chances; and Kyle Greig, a Vancouver Whitecaps loanee who scored in his first start Aug. 5.
3. Defense is the driver
While Djiby has scored the game winners in four of the five Cup games to date, it’s FC Cincinnati’s defense that has shined the most.
RELATED: FC Cincy shocks Columbus Crew
FCC has not been scored on in the tournament, and with two games that went into extra time, that amounts to 510 minutes of shutout soccer. Goalie Mitch Hildebrandt has been lights out and was the big-time hero in the last MLS matchup when he stopped three penalty kicks to lift FCC to the win against the Fire.
4. About New York
The Red Bulls (12-9-2) are sitting in fourth in the MLS Eastern Conference, right between the other two major league teams FCC has beaten in this tournament (Chicago is third and Columbus fifth).
New York appears in the Open Cup semifinals for the fifth time in franchise history, owning a 1-3 all-time record in this round. The lone victory came back in 2003, defeating D.C. United, 3-2, on the campus of Rutgers University.
»RELATED: FC Cincinnati unveils design plans for proposed new stadium
The Red Bulls have had three different goal scorers in the tournament as Daniel Royer netted the game-winner against New York City FC, Sacha Kljestan scored against the Philadelphia Union and Bradley Wright-Phillips tallied the game-winning goal in the 87th minute versus the New England Revolution in the quarterfinals.
5. What’s at stake?
The winner travels to play Sporting Kansas City in the final Sept. 20, and FC Cincinnati is looking to become just the second non-MLS club to win the Cup in the MLS era, joining the 1999 Rochester Rhinos in that category.
The Orange and Blue already have set the attendance record for a non-final, drawing 32,287 fans to the Round of 16 game against Chicago Fire, and Tuesday’s figure should surpass that as a sellout. It will not pass the Cup’s all-time attendance record, though, as Seattle holds that at 35,615 for the 2011 final and that figure is beyond Nippert’s soccer capacity.
About the Author