Cover Photo: Mohammed Taha
April 18, 2024 (CINCINNATI, OH) – Recap of FC Cincinnati’s loss in Montreal, a preview of their match in Atlanta, plus a breakdown of the new rules being implemented this weekend.
CF Montréal 2, FC Cincinnati 1.
FC Cincinnati lose their second straight match in CF Montréal’s home opener.
- MLS Regular Season Matchday 9
- Stade Saputo, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- April 13, 2024 – 7:30 pm ET
- MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+
Lineups
CF Montréal (3-4-1-2): Sirois; Sosa, Waterman, Campbell; Edwards (Wanyama 63′), Piette, Choiniere, Ruan; Duke (Lappalainen 85′), Lassiter, Coccaro (Martinez 26′, Toye 85′)
FC Cincinnati (3-4-1-2): Kann; Murphy (Hagglund 72′), Miazga, Robinson; Orellano, Bucha (Santos 89′), Nwobodo (Valenzuela 78′), Yedlin; Acosta; Boupendza (Baird 72′), Kubo
Scoring Summary
45′+4′ CF Montreal – Josef Martínez (Assist: Raheem Edwards, Mathieu Choinière)
58′ FC Cincinnati – Yuya Kubo (Assist: Luciano Acosta, Pavel Bucha)
62′ CF Montreal – Ariel Lassiter (Assist: Josef Martínez, Mathieu Choinière)
Stats Summary: MTL / CIN
Possession (%): 50.4 / 49.6
Shots: 17 / 8
Shots on Goal: 4 / 4
Saves: 3 / 2
Corner Kicks: 5 / 4
Fouls: 15 / 11
Offside: 3 / 7
Misconduct Summary
CIN – Luca Orellano (YC, 18′)
CIN – DeAndre Yedlin (YC, 23′)
MTL – Joel Waterman (YC, 29′)
MTL – Samuel Piette (YC, 34′)
MTL – Raheem Edwards (YC, 39′)
CIN – Ian Murphy (YC, 66′)
Photo Gallery (Mohammed Taha, IG: Mohammed.photographe)
Atlanta United vs FC Cincinnati
- MLS Regular Season Matchday 10
- Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
- April 20, 2024 – 7:30 pm ET
- MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+
- Announcers: Steve Cangialosi, Danny Higginbotham
2023 Matchups
August 30, 2023: Atlanta United 1 (Mosquera 10′), FC Cincinnati 2 (Acosta 75′, Vazquez 80′)
October 21, 2023: FC Cincinnati 2 (Badji 25′, Acosta 45’+2′), Atlanta United 2 (Giakoumakis (12′, 32′)
FC Cincinnati won their first ever match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium last year, a come-from-behind 2-1 win. Previously, they struggled against the 5 stripes at MBS, or rather all artificial turf surfaces. Their record on the road in these “artificial” surfaces still isn’t great, especially against this strong Atlanta United attack, who’ve scored 6 goals in the last 3 matches… and they’re about to get better.
At the time of writing and from sources close to Atlanta United, both Portuguese winger Xande Silva and Greek striker Georgios Giakoumakis were both unavailable over the weekend, but have been training with the team this week and are expected to be available against FC Cincinnati. They’ve been out for the last few matches with injuries, and now they’re reportedly back to pair with Saba Labzhanindze and Thiago Almada… the Cincy backline will have a tall task ahead of them on Saturday.
FC Cincinnati’s attack continues to flail and underperform, just 4 goals across their last 4 matches. They aren’t exactly underperforming their xG stat, with a cumulative 4.83 xG across those matches. But an average of 1.21xG per match isn’t exactly great – FC Cincinnati now sit 23rd in MLS on xG on the season (9.4 xG), 7th worst in all of MLS. That needs to improve against Atlanta, who sit 10th in all of MLS in xG (11.3) despite losing Giakoumakis and Xande Silva for multiple matches.
New MLS Rules
MLS and PRO referees had plans for multiple rule changes ahead of the 2024 MLS season. Then came the PSRA lockout, effectively putting a halt to the new rule changes. Then, PRO and PSRA came to an agreement, the PSRA referees are back refereeing MLS matches, and the rules are now set to be implemented for Matchweek 10. The three new rules:
Off-Field Treatment Rule
“The Off-Field Treatment Rule allows medical professionals with time to assess and treat players off the field of play in a less pressurized environment.
If a player with a suspected injury remains on the ground for more than 15 seconds, the referee will stop play and wave the medical crew onto the field to evaluate the player. When safe, the player will be removed from the field and remain off the field for a minimum of two minutes for further assessment and treatment.
First implemented in MLS NEXT Pro midway through the 2022 season and continued through the entirety of the 2023 season, the Off-Field Treatment Rule has allowed medical staffs time to treat players, while also allowing match play to resume quickly.
Exceptions to the Off-Field Treatment Rule include instances of potential head injury, goalkeeper injuries, serious medical events, and fouls resulting in yellow or red cards.”
MLS Communications
Are you upset with players laying on the ground milking a foul, only to get up immediately as if nothing had happened when the call doesn’t end up going their way? This can help prevent… some rather embarrassing moments we’ve all witnessed either live or on TV. (cough cough, Bruno Fernandes)
Any player that lays on the ground for 15 seconds, they have to come off for at least two minutes. That should help prevent players that aren’t actually hurt from milking fouls and delaying the restart of matches.
Timed Substitution Rule
“Maximizing effective match time, the Timed Substitution Rule requires that a substituted player exit the field within 10 seconds. Failure to exit from any point on the field within the 10 seconds will cause the incoming player to wait for a 60-second holding period, before entering the game at the next stoppage. During the holding period and prior to the substitute entering, the team will play down a player. Exceptions to the rule include injury and goalkeeper substitutions.
Enacted in MLS NEXT Pro during the 2023 season, 99.7% of the more than 3,200 substitutions were completed in 10 seconds or less.”
MLS Communications
The first concern that came to mind when MLS NEXT Pro integrated this rule ahead of the 2023 was how effective the rule would be. It consistently worked. Players don’t, or rather can’t, afford to be the reason their team plays a man down for a minute, so, as MLS stated, a significant majority of the substitutions ended within that 10 second window, and consequently, reduced the amount of stoppage time in matches. A good initiative, especially with the trend of stoppage time increasing to absurd numbers in the recent years across the world.
In-Stadium VAR Announcements
“VAR decisions will be explained and announced by the referee to fans in stadium and broadcast viewers at home.
The new sporting initiatives were previously announced during the 2024 MLS preseason, but were postponed due to labor negotiations between the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) and the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PRSA).”
MLS Communications
For soccer fans that watched the 2023 Women’s World Cup, this was an exciting new addition to the broadcast. Having VAR decisions announced by the referee making the decision eliminates the uncertainty of the thought process behind the decision making process. A great step forward to making the refereeing process more transparent for fans.
Also worth noting that on top of these three new rules being implemented in MW 10, MLS has already added two other rules at the start of the season – the running clock in stadium during stoppage time, and the “Return to Play Equity” protocol, the latter rule stating that if opposing players come off the field simultaneously with head injuries, they are both to return to the pitch at the same time, assuming the players are both medically cleared to play.