Louisville City FC fell 2-1 in the 4th Round of the U.S. Open Cup Wednesday night at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. It took extra time for FC Cincinnati of the MLS to sneak past the feisty LouCity squad.
After the match, coach John Hackworth and his team weren’t pleased with just playing well vs. their old USL rival. When asked whether his team proved something by taking an MLS team to extra time, Hackworth replied quickly.
“I mean honestly, no. I have said it all along, we are as good as anyone in this country, but you don’t prove that when you lose,” Hackworth said. “We play good soccer every time that we play and so anybody who watches us knows what we are. But we needed to win today to prove that.”’
It was a hard-fought contest with both sides getting the better of the run of play for stretches of the game. Louisville City did not seem out-classed by its first division foe.
“It was a good match from both teams, high intensity,” Louisville City forward Luke Spencer said. “There was a lot on the line but we expected that from a rivalry standpoint. But at the end of the day, all that matters is the result so credit to FC Cincinnati.”
FC Cincinnati got on the board first when Fenando Adi scored a goal after a LouCity player slipped in the 23′. Louisville City answered quickly, cranking up the pressure and scoring a goal on a beautiful cross by Magnus Rasmussen to Lucky Mkosana for the finish in the 30′.
“I thought for good stretches we played some really good soccer,” Hackworth said. “I thought we showed our quality. I thought we created some good moments for ourselves. Clearly, they were putting everything into that game so credit to Cincinnati. I thought it was going to be a battle the whole time. I didn’t think that we would lose this game on the plays that we lost it on.”
LouCity and FCC remained tied 1-1 through the end of the first half and throughout the second half, forcing two 15-minute overtime periods per U.S. Soccer rules. FC Cincinnati’s Kekuta Manneh scored the game-winner in the 103′.
“It’s a tough way to lose, an Open Cup game like that, especially against Cincinnati,” Hackworth said. “We have to come back and use all of our frustration right now and the pain that we feel from a hard fought battle, and use that towards making sure that we improve and come back on Sunday in a league match and take care of business there.”
Louisville City travels to New Jersey Friday to take on the New York Red Bulls II on Sunday. The Red Bulls and LouCity are both battling for playoff spots, near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
