Corey Baird assisted on Luciano Acosta’s milestone goal and recorded his own important second-half tally as FC Cincinnati cooled off the visiting Colorado Rapids with a 2-1 victory on Saturday night.
After playing give-and-go to set up Acosta’s franchise-record 44th goal over all competitions in the 42nd minute, Baird scored for the first time with the club in the 64th.
Cincinnati FC (5-2-3, 18 points) then held on after Moise Bombito’s score in the 72nd minute for Colorado (4-3-3, 15 points) made things interesting to win their second straight following an 0-2-1 rut.
Meanwhile, the Rapids’ 3-0-1 run came to an end. However, they stayed competitive despite a 12-2 shots-on-target disadvantage and conceding 25 overall shots to FC Cincinnati, who owned 58 percent of the possession.
Though Cincinnati was a consistent early presence in the attacking third, Colorado delivered the first real scoring chance. In the 16th minute, Cole Bassett tried to sneak a header inside the far post, but it fell short and FCC goalkeeper Alec Kann was able eventually push the ball out of danger.
Cincinnati continued to pepper Colorado keeper Zack Steffen (seven saves), even if the chances weren’t high quality, However, Baird’s open look from inside the box nicked woodwork above the net in the 36th minute.
Baird, though, came through six minutes later when in transition he tapped the ball back to Acosta for his fourth goal of the season.
Djordje Mihailovic applied some solid pressure early in the second half for Colorado, which came out of the break determined to equalize. However, it was FCC who struck again.
On the transition, Baird got behind the Rapids back-line, calmly pursued and successfully chipped the ball over a sliding Steffen and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Colorado broke through late. Moments after FCC had a goal overturned on video review for being offside, the Rapids cut the deficit in half when Bombito elevated above the pack to head home Mihailovic’s corner.
Veteran defender DeAndre Yedlin exited in the 17th minute for FCC Cincinnati due to an unspecified reason.
–Field Level Media
