Speaker 1: There it is hey full time whistle, Hey win against
Speaker 1: their arrival. That's Cincinnati take a one game advantage here
Speaker 1: in the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.
Speaker 2: They are dancing in the bailey tonight here in the.
Speaker 3: Queen City, go baby sounds of victory before twenty three
Speaker 3: thousand and three seventy one. Last night, FC Cincinnati defeated
Speaker 3: the Columbus Crew one nill in the MLS Cup playoff,
Speaker 3: the opener of the series, best of three at TQL Stadium.
Speaker 3: The breakthrough goal in the seventy eighth minute from Kevin
Speaker 3: Denke sent the Orange and Blue ahead and on to victory.
Speaker 3: The Orange and Blue now head to Columbus on Sunday
Speaker 3: one went away from advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Speaker 3: For more on that, let's go straight to the source.
Speaker 3: You just heard his voice. Now let's hear more from
Speaker 3: the voice of FC Cincinnati. That would be the man
Speaker 3: they call Tommy g Temmy G Letter, Tommy, how are
Speaker 3: you Lance?
Speaker 2: I'm doing.
Speaker 4: I got some chicken on the grid tonight. Yes, Cincinnati
Speaker 4: won last night. I mean the weather's still.
Speaker 2: Holding out pretty nice.
Speaker 3: Life is good, my friend, no doubt, And it seems
Speaker 3: only fitting that a guy who delivered game winning goals
Speaker 3: throughout this season delivered a mighty big one last night.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean you could see kind of the hunger
Speaker 4: in the way that he was playing throughout the match.
Speaker 4: Kevin made it a comment I think it was late
Speaker 4: in the first half about how impressed he was the
Speaker 4: way that Kevin was holding up the ball in the attack,
Speaker 4: and you know, he was getting the ball with his
Speaker 4: back to the goal and doing a good job and
Speaker 4: letting the rest of the attack try to do their job.
Speaker 4: And you know they hadn't seen the result on it,
Speaker 4: but there were positives there. And it was look at
Speaker 4: the first playoff game for Kevin Denke in his MLS career,
Speaker 4: and you could tell that he wanted it. And man,
Speaker 4: he scored a bunch of game winning goals during the
Speaker 4: regular season, and he missed one if you remember early
Speaker 4: in the second half, or was that ball across that
Speaker 4: he's kind of just timed poorly and got too late
Speaker 4: actually and missed on it, and it should have been
Speaker 4: a tapping and and a lead earlier in the half,
Speaker 4: and instead he gets that one a bit later in
Speaker 4: the half, and uh, really set that place on fire.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 4: It was fun to watch, and uh yeah, a very
Speaker 4: worthy game winner for number nine.
Speaker 3: Over the years, the crew has had a pretty annoying
Speaker 3: habit of finding ways to get back in and make
Speaker 3: the comebacks. But the D, the Orange of Blue d
Speaker 3: locked them down last night.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think annoying thing is a is a really
Speaker 4: good way to put it, you know it. I often
Speaker 4: feel like, listen, if I'm calling the game, the people
Speaker 4: who are tuning in, they don't want.
Speaker 2: To hear about the history. But it's also my job
Speaker 2: to explain the history.
Speaker 4: Right the Eastern Conference final two nail lead evaporated. There
Speaker 4: was a lot of two nil leads, Yes, that had
Speaker 4: evaporated as recently as July, So listen there, that wasn't
Speaker 4: going to happen last night. And and but still in
Speaker 4: the back of everybody's heads, they're a little bit concerned
Speaker 4: about it, and rightfully so, because Columbus had had a
Speaker 4: pretty good record. It's six previous games in Tikios Stadium
Speaker 4: they only lost once, three draws and two wins. So
Speaker 4: you know, when you factor all that in, you're like,
Speaker 4: all right, the defense often sets the tone for this team,
Speaker 4: and I thought they did last night. The back line
Speaker 4: was very very good Romancell and Tino gets his fifth
Speaker 4: clean sheet in ten career playoff games.
Speaker 2: Think about that, every other.
Speaker 4: Game in his playoff career, and it's it's young, only
Speaker 4: four years in he's had ten games, but every other
Speaker 4: game he's had a clean sheet basically. So you know,
Speaker 4: if you're FC Cincinnati had to be really happy with
Speaker 4: what they did defensively, and I think it's important to
Speaker 4: remember that they did it no Matt Miosga, No Lucas Engel,
Speaker 4: who's been playing at left wing back and at left
Speaker 4: center back, so he's an important part of the defensive unit,
Speaker 4: and no Luca or Asano, who generally.
Speaker 2: Plays at left wing back. So you know, three.
Speaker 4: Guys who really could have been starters in this match
Speaker 4: were not available for pat noon. And I know Luca
Speaker 4: was on the bench, but he did not feature. So
Speaker 4: I think I think, all things considered, it was the
Speaker 4: effort that everybody, as they watched the film today should
Speaker 4: feel pretty good about Alvis Pwell, big sub in the
Speaker 4: seventieth minute, and you just referenced the moving parts and injuries.
Speaker 3: And I talked with Chris Albright on the show last
Speaker 3: week about how the depth assembled has certainly continued to
Speaker 3: pay off for this club.
Speaker 4: Yeah it has. And that's his job, right and that's
Speaker 4: what he's been working so hard on is figuring out
Speaker 4: all of the right pieces for this f C Cincinnati team.
Speaker 4: And I think he knew, you know, going into the
Speaker 4: summer window that there were some holes and some places
Speaker 4: where seasons had needed some more depth. Now, Alvis wasn't
Speaker 4: one of the guys who came on, but Alvis is
Speaker 4: the guy that he brought back in twenty twenty two
Speaker 4: after I was left in twenty nineteen, you know, not
Speaker 4: on good terms obviously with a different you know, different
Speaker 4: group running the club at the moment. But when Alvis
Speaker 4: left and then when I was you know, tipped off
Speaker 4: that he was coming back, I remember my reaction, I.
Speaker 2: Went, what why? Like the way he left? How what?
Speaker 2: What are these new guys doing? Well?
Speaker 4: Man shows why they're in their seats and I'm in
Speaker 4: mind up in the booth lance. But you know, the
Speaker 4: depth has been great, and listen, I give all the credit.
Speaker 4: I think I put it out on my social media today,
Speaker 4: like the Alvis pile to be able to come in
Speaker 4: and I had talked to Omar Cummings earlier in the
Speaker 4: day also from Jamaica with what's going on there today
Speaker 4: with the hurricane, and to have the focus and I
Speaker 4: think Caleb no from Chanda nine did a good job
Speaker 4: of telling a story last night. But listen, like to
Speaker 4: come in and know that your family is all back
Speaker 4: in Jamaica and facing one of the most catastrophic storms
Speaker 4: that country has ever seen, if not the most catastrophic storm,
Speaker 4: you know they've ever seen, and to come in and
Speaker 4: have your focus on the match for fifteen to twenty
Speaker 4: minutes and help your team win. Man, big, big love
Speaker 4: for Jamaica and Alvis Pole at this moment.
Speaker 3: You mentioned Roman cellentitle. That was his second match back
Speaker 3: from that quad injury he suffered in US national camp.
Speaker 3: No ill effects continue to show up, and he was
Speaker 3: certainly on it last night.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he looked great, didn't he.
Speaker 4: You know, he's been he just continues to be great
Speaker 4: in his fourth year. You know, we talked about it
Speaker 4: during the pregame show last night because they honored Alec
Speaker 4: Cann before the match, and Alex was brought in to
Speaker 4: be the starter for FC Cincinnati. This was his big
Speaker 4: opportunity coming to Cincinnati. You know, they had had some
Speaker 4: goalkeeping issues. Alex was going to stabilize all that, and
Speaker 4: to be fair, he did through seven matches and then
Speaker 4: he was warming up to be the backup for a
Speaker 4: US Open Cup game back in what it was that
Speaker 4: April of twenty twenty two. He had just had a
Speaker 4: clean sheet against Atlanta and he got hurt warming up, and.
Speaker 2: So Pat had a decision to make for the next game.
Speaker 4: Are you going to go with you know, Kenneth Romire,
Speaker 4: who was in the mix of the second stringer, You
Speaker 4: can go to your third string guy, Roman selling Ton
Speaker 4: will give him a chance against LAFC. And he went
Speaker 4: with Roman, and Roman was so good and Alec had
Speaker 4: a little bit of a setback.
Speaker 2: Was unlucky that by the time that Roman came back,
Speaker 2: or I mean by the time.
Speaker 4: Alec was healthy, there's no way you could say Roman
Speaker 4: and that's nothing you know to say about ale it
Speaker 4: can but Roman was that good and he never looked
Speaker 4: back at four years later, He's a guy who has
Speaker 4: five playoff shutouts and you know, ten starts. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I think Roman, you know, just just keeps getting better
Speaker 4: and better and you kind of forget he's still young,
Speaker 4: you know, as far as goalkeepers are considered in this league,
Speaker 4: but yet I'd still refer to him as a veteran goalkeeper.
Speaker 3: We heard the roar of the crowd on that highlight.
Speaker 3: I bumped in with, how about the energy of twenty
Speaker 3: three thousand plus last night?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty fun. Lance. You know, it's just listen.
Speaker 4: All the games of Tiko Stadium are fun because our
Speaker 4: fans here in the city are unbelievable. But that playoff
Speaker 4: energy and then you bring in Columbus on top of it.
Speaker 2: You didn't crank it up one notch. It was like
Speaker 2: six or seven notches.
Speaker 4: I would say as far as the energy was turned
Speaker 4: up last night, But no, I think listen, these fans
Speaker 4: are so so important to the players. They feel that
Speaker 4: energy that place erupted when when the goal was scored,
Speaker 4: And listen, we're going to continue to need it right
Speaker 4: whether you know there's a game three or the next
Speaker 4: game is not for a couple of weeks at home.
Speaker 2: I know a lot of.
Speaker 4: People, my families making them drive up north one hundred miles,
Speaker 4: will be there on Sunday at six thirty for Game two.
Speaker 4: And the players appreciate, the coaches appreciate that everybody evoll does.
Speaker 2: And man, it sure makes those highlights sound sweet, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: It absolutely does.
Speaker 3: Look ahead, give me a thought on Sunday, a chance
Speaker 3: to close it out in their house would be sweet
Speaker 3: and beneficual.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, no doubt. I think you know you don't
Speaker 4: want to come home now. You got to find a
Speaker 4: way to replicate the game plan, as Pat Newton said,
Speaker 4: and get back to Cincinnati and then you get some rest.
Speaker 4: You still, you know, Mami Asa it sounds like he's
Speaker 4: going to be out for a bit, but then you
Speaker 4: can start to get some guys healthy, right and ready
Speaker 4: for what would you know, potentially it's not guaranteed that
Speaker 4: it's Miami, but we know that that's what's kind of
Speaker 4: lurking there, right and we could see Miami in that
Speaker 4: conference semi final. But the good news is it will be here.
Speaker 4: Right then we'll see what happens if they win that
Speaker 4: one and how it plays out. But I would say
Speaker 4: for this Sunday, like now, Columbus is feeling the pressure
Speaker 4: and they didn't score in the game, so they're gonna
Speaker 4: have to try to find a way, you know, to
Speaker 4: get better opportunities in front of the goal and Listen,
Speaker 4: they're one of the best coach teams.
Speaker 2: In the league.
Speaker 4: Will for Nancy does a fantastic job. They'll tweak a
Speaker 4: few things. They're not going to stray from the game plan.
Speaker 4: I don't think they're gonna make any wholesale changes, But
Speaker 4: I do think the pressure is on the crew on
Speaker 4: Sunday night, and if Sea think they can go in
Speaker 4: with that same mentality and follow the game plan like
Speaker 4: they did last night, then they should be able to
Speaker 4: go get the win. They're the better team and you know,
Speaker 4: come back, celebrate and enjoy a little bit of time
Speaker 4: off before they continue that stretch of the playoffs that
Speaker 4: hopefully goes all the way to the first week of December.
Speaker 3: Final thought, Did I detect? Did I spy a double
Speaker 3: high five between you and Kevin and the booth last night?
Speaker 2: Yeah? You just called that right as you came on
Speaker 2: the air.
Speaker 4: Huh, Yes, he double I mean, listen, come on, Kevin
Speaker 4: Deankaks scores that late in the match to win, you know,
Speaker 4: potentially a score game win against your arrival.
Speaker 2: I mean, I just spelled like sometimes you gotta you
Speaker 2: gotta go first. Listen.
Speaker 4: Kevin was happy that I didn't try to body check
Speaker 4: him out of the boot like a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 2: So he was.
Speaker 4: He was very happy that that there was no charges
Speaker 4: of assault.
Speaker 2: Or anything along those lines.
Speaker 4: For now, the Double High five, we'll see, we'll see
Speaker 4: where things land going forward. Especially uh, if the Ones
Speaker 4: of Blue can get this win on Sunday, well we'll
Speaker 4: take the booths cam North for sure.
Speaker 2: I like that. I like that very much.
Speaker 3: Hey, I appreciate you making time as always, always enjoyed
Speaker 3: the conversation.
Speaker 2: Thank you anytime. Lance, appreciate you all right, take care