1: It is the hope that kills you. The first half, in particular the first 25 minutes was hands down the best attacking soccer we’ve seen all season. You gotta make hay while the sun is shinning and we just didn’t make quite enough in that time. It’s great that we came from behind yet again to dig out a result and that’s something we probably don’t do a few weeks ago. But if we just didn’t always have a damn mountain to climb. A result on the road against a dangerous attacking team is something any team will happily take, but the win was there and at this point we really need a road win. 

2: It was a combination of individual mistakes (been the case all season) and Cincy’s ability to transition into attack so quickly that lead to their goals. This is a completely different Cincinatti team and most of that is due to Brand Vazquez and Lucho Acosta. Acosta is sitting on 6 goals and 9 assists and Vazquez has 15 goals and 4 assists. Those are wildly good stats. It would be a mistake for Greggggggg not give Brandon a call for September. He’s goal dangerous and we need that in Qatar. 

3: Despite being scored on twice in the first half, I thought this was a good game for Rocco. He had 3 massive saves and his distribution was more than on point, it was dangerous. With only ten games left, I think he’s locked down the spot for the remainder of the season. 

4: Purata is great. The messy 2nd goal is whatever. He times his tackles so extremely well. For a defender, he doesn’t get whistled for fouls all that often because he’s winning his challenges so often. He’s been an outstanding addition.

5: We are a totally different team with Gutman in the XI. On top of his clutch goals, and all of his individual contributions, we just play with more urgency and intensity when he’s out there laying his body on the line.