FC Cincinnati had the chance to put their stamp on MLS history over the weekend, as a win would have seen them become the first club to collect 10 points in their opening five matches in the league; the Miami Fusion, the Houston Dynamo, LAFC, and the Seattle Sounders all share the record with nine apiece.
Instead, those hopes were washed away with Saturday’s downpour in Ohio as the Philadelphia Union blanked the home side 2-0 thanks to goals from Marco Fabian and David Accam. With the result, Cincinnati dropped to 2-2-1 and will have to regroup quickly as they host the second leading scorers in the league in Sporting Kansas City.
FCC head coach Koch elected to return to the 4-2-2-2 and key pieces were absent once again as Fanendo Adi (ankle), Emmanuel Ledesma (hamstring), and Kendall Waston (calf) are all on the route to recovery from setbacks. The Union thoroughly dominated the affair as the home side struggled to gain a footing in midfield and were severely lacking in attack, managing a paltry two shots on target of five total attempts. Here are three takeaways from the 2-0 defeat.
1. Kenny Saief is the magic man and belongs in wide areas
Sure, this may not be the hottest of takes, but Kenny Saief’s impact cannot be overstated. Many expected him to slot in centrally in the No. 10 role, but his performances so far in 2019 demonstrate why Cincy should elect to field the 25-year-old on the wing.
Saief’s first start in MLS gave fans a glimpse of what he can bring to the table. His ability to carve open the defense with incisive through balls was on display with his assist against Atlanta after stepping onto the pitch just moments earlier. We saw his quality in picking out and executing the right ball from a wide area against New England in his first MLS start on Manneh’s goal, before putting the game on ice with a strike of his own in the 65th minute
Saturday’s starting XI caught many off guard with the absence of Saief. Koch assured he is taking it slowly with loanee.
“We have to manage workloads of our players, health, getting them up to speed, match fitness, all of those variables,” said Koch. “Kenny came from a place where he wasn’t playing week in and week out. We have to manage all of our players as we progress. ... We’re under no illusions of what Kenny can give us, of course. We’ve seen that already in a short amount of time.”
Koch brought Saief on for Kekuta Manneh in the 59th minute, and he immediately made his presence felt. For the last half hour, his side was able to piece together more coherent moves forward, but that leads me to my next point.
2. Ball retention can improve for a side content to play on the counter
Cincy were out-possessed by Atlanta, Portland, and New England, yet that simply did not matter as they were content to absorb pressure and effectively punch on the counter in those positive results.
We learned on Saturday that a consistent and organized press can cause this team problems. The Orange-and-Blue gave away the ball 26 times throughout the course of the match, with a large number of those occurring in wide areas. The bigger story was that 20 of those went down as turnovers rather than dispossessions. 
This is where Saief is so important to this side. He is a player who thrives with the ball at his feet and when collective forays forward allow him to create and utilize his vision. The tricky part for the new club will be striking the right balance between the quality counterattacking style of play they’ve exhibited and catering to the strengths of arguably their best player.
3. Cincinnati are finding their way in the air
From the very beginning Cincinnati made their philosophy for joining the league clear, namely to provide goalkeeper Spencer Richey with plenty of cover by building from back to front.
For the second consecutive match Cincinnati edged their opponents in aerial duels after losing out to Seattle, Atlanta, and Portland. A 28-22 advantage against New England was followed by a 22-9 line against the Union, the latest example of the back line’s growing ability to position themselves well and stifle any efforts to attack over the top.
Center back Forrest Lasso earned his side’s highest match rating and his partner Nick Hagglund wasn’t far behind. This was largely due to their aerial prowess as the two combined for nine duels won. Lasso stepped into the hole left by the injured Kendall Waston and once again didn’t miss a beat in his second MLS start.
Sunday’s match with Sporting KC offers a chance to tap into the same kind of short memory they showed after falling in the first game of the season and quickly rebounding. The annual “orange out” crowd would love nothing more than to see their side make a big statement by toppling one of the league’s best.