CINCINNATI – Alan Koch keeps a little notebook with him on the sidelines at FC Cincinnati matches.



Its pages are filled with nuggets of information the club’s second-year coach might find useful throughout the course of a game. He’s constantly scribbling new notes with things to remember to tell his players.



For single-elimination Cup games – those that cannot end in draws and might go to a shootout – Koch writes out every player in the available 18 with a ranking of how well each individual has done taking penalty kicks in training. He determines from that list who goes to the penalty spot in those tense situations that determine a winner when even extra time cannot.



Koch found himself needing that part of his notebook in the United Soccer League Eastern Conference quarterfinals this past Saturday. Names were scratched off to reflect substitutions and who was left on the field, and he had a pretty good idea who his first five...