Tag: FC Cincinnati

Matt Miazga says he and Gregg Berhalter ‘didn’t see eye to eye on a few things’

“I’d like to say few things but I’ll refrain from that. You guys will eventually find out”

Matt Miazga has said that some differences of opinion with U.S. national team head coach Gregg Berhalter may have prevented him from being considered for the World Cup squad.

Miazga moved to FC Cincinnati in August, ending a six-year spell at Chelsea that saw him make just two appearances for the Blues while taking in several loans at clubs across Europe.

The 27-year-old has slotted in seamlessly in Cincinnati, starting every game for the club after making his debut in mid-August and helping the team reach the Eastern Conference semifinal.

But Miazga’s strong form in MLS hasn’t seen him return to the USMNT picture.

Miazga has been capped 22 times by the USMNT, but his most recent appearance came in June 2021. Though the U.S. has a host of issues at center back, it doesn’t appear that Miazga is in contention for a World Cup roster spot. Any hope he may have had was likely ended when he wasn’t called in for the team’s pre-World Cup fitness camp.

Speaking to reporters this week, Miazga was asked about Berhalter name-checking him last month as a player who nearly made his roster for friendlies against Japan and Saudi Arabia.

In response, Miazga aired out his belief that some fundamental issues with Berhalter could be part of the reason he’s been out of the USMNT picture recently.

“We didn’t see eye to eye on a few things in the past and that has affected me from being called up. But it is what it is,” Miazga said.

“I’d like to say few things but I’ll refrain from that. You guys will eventually find out.

“I’m always ready to play for the national team. But I don’t make the decisions. There’s one guy that makes the decisions and that’s how it goes.”

Miazga was asked if he and Berhalter had patched things up, to which he responded: “Me and Gregg have been texting throughout the last four years. He’s been in touch with me recently and I’m sure he watches my games. Football works mysteriously, it moves quick. Me moving out of the national team moved quickly, me coming back in could move quickly as well.”

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FC Cincinnati coach Noonan says Vazquez is ‘going to be gone’ if he keeps scoring

The 24-year-old will likely have European suitors after a breakout 2022 campaign

FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan is realistic about the prospects of keeping Brandon Vazquez around.

Vazquez just completed a breakout 2022 campaign that saw him tally 18 goals and eight assists in 33 games. At 24, the forward looks to be the right age to make a big-money move to Europe.

Though Noonan would clearly like to keep Vazquez around for the long term, the coach knows there could be offers that are simply too good to turn down.

“I would say that if he continues on this path, he’s going to be gone,” Noonan told the media on Wednesday. “That’s my guess. Do we want to lose him? No. If he continues in the form that he is in, he can produce for us for a long time and that’s what we want.”

Though he excelled at a position that’s hardly an area of strength for the U.S. national team, Vazquez will not be a part of the team’s World Cup roster barring anything truly unforeseen.

That could potentially open the door for Mexico, a country Vazquez is also eligible to represent through his parents.

Vazquez could have a choice of clubs to make soon as well as national teams. Though it could be a blow to his team on the field, Noonan has said he’d be happy to see the striker move on if the right opportunity arises.

“For Brandon, the person [and] the player, if other opportunities come about and he’s able to go onto something bigger and better, I think that’s fantastic,” Noonan said. “I think it’s a sign of players being able to be a part of our staff and this club, being in position to develop to play at a higher level, wherever that is, whatever that means.

“So, again, we want Brandon here for a long time. But when you score goals, others are going to take notice of that and he is going to be sought after.”

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Philadelphia Union grind it out, besting FC Cincinnati 1-0 in MLS playoffs

The Union were just a little bit better in a bruising battle with Cincy

MLS playoff wins are often a long way from pretty, and if that’s how it has to be, the Philadelphia Union are ready.

Philadelphia and FC Cincinnati duked it out at Subaru Park Thursday night, and the Union did just enough in a physical battle to take a 1-0 decision. Leon Flach, who hadn’t scored a goal all season, picked up the game-winner in the second half of a hotly contested Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Union front three of Julián Carranza, Dániel Gazdag, and Mikael Uhre combined for 49 goals and 25 assists on the season. Cincinnati had pretty much the same situation with their attacking trio: Luciano Acosta, Brenner, and Brandon Vazquez totaled 49 goals and 25 assists in MLS this year.

And yet, the stars of this battle ended up being eaten up for long spells by the unsung players in the respective engine rooms. Philadelphia’s ferocious pressing and defensive organization meant the visitors never had time to think. Going the other way, Obinna Nwobodo was seemingly everywhere for Cincy, preventing the Union from assembling any passing fluency.

It was fitting that when the Union broke the deadlock in the 59th minute, it wasn’t an attack-first Designated Player. It wasn’t even a star fullback like Kai Wagner, or a set piece. It was Flach, the midfield shuttler  — that’s Leon “zero goals in 2022” Flach — sweeping the ball past Roman Celentano after a scramble inside the Cincinnati box.

They say goals change games, and while Cincinnati did go for a classic center back out/striker in substitution, with Ian Murphy coming off for Sergio Santos, the game largely remained a hectic scrap. Referee Tim Ford somehow only gave out five yellow cards as the tackles continued to fly in, and if any big-name player stood out, it was Union goalkeeper Andre Blake.

Ultimately, while both of these teams are capable of some lovely soccer, the fact is that they’re two of the rough-and-tumble East’s roughest, tumblingest teams. This was never likely to become a game about technical proficiency. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, Philly is just a little bit more comfortable with the sort of battle this game turned into, and that’s why the Union are off to the conference final.

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The MLS playoffs begin with three days of potential upsets and chaos

Thoughts and predictions from every opening-round playoff match

After the obligatory long, strange trip, the MLS playoffs are here.

The first round will feature six one-off games, with the higher seeds all hosting. While LAFC and the Philadelphia Union kick their feet up and watch, the remaining playoff sides will try to navigate a first round that is typically volatile. If your playoff predictions are looking pretty chalky, you’re probably off base.

Pro Soccer Wire is ready for the kind of drama MLS virtually always manages to conjure up at this time of the year, and we’re diving into each and every first round match-up with analysis, broadcast information, and predictions.

Vazquez: Berhalter told me it’s too late to integrate me before World Cup

The ship has sailed for Vazquez’s hopes of making the USMNT World Cup squad

Brandon Vazquez said Gregg Berhalter has informed him that his 2022 World Cup roster hopes are over.

Vazquez has put himself on the U.S. national team radar with a stellar 2022 season with FC Cincinnati, scoring 18 goals and adding eight assists to lead his side to the playoffs.

The 23-year-old, who is also eligible to play for Mexico, is still awaiting his first senior team call-up for either country.

It’s that lack of experience with the USMNT that has proven costly in Berhalter’s eyes, which Vazquez said the U.S. coach relayed to him last month.

“I talked to Gregg right before that [September] camp,” Vazquez told MLS Today, “and he was basically saying that it was a little too late to integrate me and that he feels I made it really hard for him and that I just need to keep proving myself and that I’ll [have] that opportunity in the next cycle. Pretty much was that.”

The ship appeared to have sailed for Vazquez when Berhalter omitted him from that September roster. The USMNT boss said at the time that Ricardo Pepi, Josh Sargent and Jesús Ferreira were preferred in part because they all had USMNT experience.

“For us, it’s comparing him to what we have, comparing him to other guys and then the body of work both with his club and with us,” Berhalter said last month. “And with us, it’s very difficult for him: He doesn’t have a body of work.”

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MLS playoff brackets are set after Decision Day drama

Thoughts on every playoff pairing after Decision Day’s drama

It’s officially playoff time in MLS.

Sunday afternoon saw some high tension in the Eastern Conference that ended with Orlando City coming back to secure the final playoff spot over the Columbus Crew. For the Crew, a season of lost leads ended with Facundo Torres netting an 84th minute penalty kick, giving the 2022 US Open Cup champions a win they had to have to get into the playoff spot.

Fans then watched Minnesota United and Real Salt Lake win the race for the last two spots in the West, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers in what turned out to be effectively an appetizer for the actual postseason. Minnesota largely held Vancouver to little en route to a 2-0 win in St. Paul, while the Timbers controversially dropped midfielder Eryk Williamson and were run over by RSL, falling behind by three goals before a very late goal gave them a more respectable-sounding 3-1 loss.

While the playoff dates and times are yet to be announced, we now know all 14 playoff teams, and what the first round looks like.

FC Cincinnati keeps up with new MLS trend, demolishes San Jose Earthquakes 6-0

6-0 is so hot right now

If you want to be a Cool Team in MLS, you better win a game 6-0.

FC Cincinnati became the latest team to post the league’s most fashionable margin of victory, thrashing the San Jose Earthquakes by that increasingly common scoreline Saturday night. Brenner had a hat trick, while Luciano Acosta continued his MVP candidacy with one goal and two assists.

It’s the fifth time this season MLS has seen a 6-0 final score, with the Philadelphia Union involved three (wins over D.C. United, the Colorado Rapids, and Houston Dynamo). NYCFC also beat Real Salt Lake by that scoreline back in April.

For much of the first half, it didn’t look like Cincinnati was going to get in on the hot new trend. After 44 minutes, San Jose had kept it scoreless at TQL Stadium, and usually if you want to win a soccer game 6-0, you really have to start scoring early, to make your opponent start to take risks and give you openings.

Instead, Cincy only got started just before halftime, with Álvaro Barreal finishing with power after some snappy one-touch passing between Brandon Vázquez and Luciano Acosta.

They were in a hurry to pad that lead, as Vázquez nodded Acosta’s free kick down for Brenner to smash home just 74 seconds into the second half. However, things slowed down again, and Cincy only got their third on an Acosta penalty kick in the 71st minute.

That’s right about where the wheels fell off for the Quakes. San Jose made a triple sub, while the hosts brought in two players of their own. Everyone was more or less agreeing the game was over…except no one told Cincy’s attackers. Four minutes later, Yuya Kubo’s run from deep was rewarded by a well-weighted Brenner through ball that the Japanese midfielder tucked away expertly.

4-0 is a great night at the office, but everyone wins 4-0 once in a while. In MLS in 2022, 6-0 is the requirement to be cool, and Cincinnati clearly wanted to fit in. That was Brenner’s cue, and the Brazilian capitalized on an unfortunate series of events for the Earthquakes. First, U.S. under-20 Niko Tsakiris did enough to prevent Acosta from touching the ball around him, but his attempt to poke the ball away skipped back towards center back Nathan, who effectively just trapped the ball as a favor to Brenner, who ran past him to score.

Nathan wasn’t done helping out his fellow Brazilian, though, committing a stoppage-time foul on Sergio Santos to give Cincy a penalty. Brenner accepted the gift with gratitude, firing home from the spot to give himself a second hat trick of 2022.

Cincinnati didn’t have time to push into the avant garde territory of 7-0, which the Union have also managed to do, but give them a few weeks getting used to being a Cool Team before they start to get into some boundary-pushing territory.

Watch FC Cincinnati clobber San Jose 6-0

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‘It’s an embarrassment’ – Pat Noonan went scorched earth on refs after ‘Hell is Real’ draw

The FC Cincinnati coach was not about to let a possible offside call go unaddressed

Pat Noonan did not hold back in his post-game press conference after his FC Cincinnati side drew the Columbus Crew 2-2 in the “Hell is Real” derby on Saturday, calling the officiating an “embarrassment in our league.”

Steven Moreira equalized for Columbus deep into second-half stoppage time to earn a valuable away draw, but it was the Crew’s first goal that Noonan was very eager to address after the game.

Derrick Etienne appeared to be offside on his 74th-minute header, which was not reviewed by the video assistant referee.

When it was posited to Noonan that observers were interested in the Crew’s first goal, the FC Cincy coach was ready with a response.

“They’re interested because it’s f—–g clear,” Noonan shot back.

“That’s why they’re interested, because this has happened to a point now where it’s an embarrassment in our league. It’s not just us, I will continue to say that, but it is a huge problem that guys that put in that much continue to get punished by just really really poor officiating across the board.

“And the reasons you get for the offside goal, the checkpoint’s different than what they see in Atlanta [at the Video Review Center]. How can the checkpoint be different? How do you not have that view? How can you not just look at that and say, ‘I should check this. This is something that doesn’t look right.’

“But again, that’s the norm. So right now I’m the excuse guy and that stinks, but I want to protect our players because they put too much into it to be robbed like that.”

The draw saw Columbus stay in the seventh and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference, one point above Cincinnati in eighth place.

Watch Noonan’s post-game rant

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Brandon Vazquez: The USMNT is talking to me, Mexico is not

It appears to be advantage USMNT, at least for now

In-form FC Cincinnati striker Brandon Vazquez has said he’s been in touch with U.S. Soccer about a possible national team call-up, but he has not heard anything from the Mexican federation.

Vazquez is perhaps the most in-form striker in MLS at present, having scored 14 goals this season including six in his last six matches.

That production has led to calls for the 23-year-old to be given a chance with either the USMNT or Mexico, both of which have major question marks at the striker position heading toward the World Cup.

But in an appearance on ESPN’s Futbol Americas from the MLS All-Star Game in Minnesota, Vazquez said only one of the two countries he is eligible to represent has been in touch.

“U.S. is talking to me, Mexico has not talked to me,” Vazquez said before adding that one of USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter’s assistant coaches was at his most recent match over the weekend.

“I was talking to Anthony Hudson, one of Gregg’s assistants a couple nights ago in Cincinnati,” Vazquez said. “He came out to the game to watch. He was basically just telling me what the U.S. national team looks for in a number nine, what I do good, what they think I can improve on a little bit. But they’re happy and impressed with my performances recently, and [they said] to keep going and keep scoring and there will be a chance to be with them.”

Asked what he can offer the USMNT, Vazquez said: “Goals, hold-up play and creativity up front.”

Vazquez was born in California but has dual citizenship and has indicated he is open to playing for either the USMNT or Mexico.

“Yes, I’m open to the two national teams,” Vazquez told Fox Sports Radio in Mexico last month. “The two doors are open, I’m ready for anything, for whatever comes and I am prepared for any of the two.”

Watch Vazquez’s full interview

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Matt Miazga has no regrets about joining Chelsea’s loan army

“Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, you go on loan, it’s not the right development path.’ But realistically, it is”

Matt Miazga knows what people say about his move to Chelsea.

Though the appeal of joining a Premier League power was undeniable, the perception is that the defender bit off more than he could chew when joining the Blues from the New York Red Bulls at age 20.

In six years, Miazga made a grand total of two appearances for Chelsea. Disappointing? Sure. Surprising? Not at a club notorious for signing players and sending them on a never-ending series of loans until they are either sold or their contracts run out.

Miazga, who signed with FC Cincinnati last week, has heard all of it. And he wants to say that even now, after six years at Chelsea and five loan clubs, he isn’t feeling any regret.

“There was a lot of interest for me, and when Chelsea comes calling, when [Jose] Mourinho calls you and you’re able to meet with him in London, you’re not going to say no, really. It’s a dream and it was a proud moment to be wanted by a massive club like that,” Miazga told reporters on Tuesday.

Matt Miazga of Chelsea tussles for the ball with Jefferson Montero of Swansea during the Barclays Premier League match between Swansea City and Chelsea at the Liberty Stadium on April 9, 2016 in Swansea, Wales (Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images)

After two appearances in his first half season at Stamford Bridge, Miazga’s journey took him to Vitesse, Nantes, Reading, Anderlecht and finally Alavés.

“Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, you go on loan, it’s not the right development path.’ But realistically, it is,” said Miazga. “I’m taking steps to climb back up the ladder. And that was the development process in all this.”

In Miazga’s telling, whatever he missed in terms of a stable club environment was made up for by experiencing different clubs, cultures, countries, playing styles and teammates all across Europe.

It’s experience that he hopes serves him well as he begins his second stint in MLS, chasing a league title as well as a return to the U.S. national team.

“I’ve been able to live in so many different countries – play football, my passion, in so many different countries,” the defender said. “And meet so many new people, so many lifelong friends that I’ll always have, teammates and people within the clubs that I played at, as well as immersing myself in new cultures, new places to live, and learning.

“When I look back, I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

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