Doc: After FC Cincinnati-Chicago Fire, have we found a team with good karma?

Paul Daugherty | Cincinnati Enquirer

Show Caption Hide Caption See the unbelievable end to the FC Cincinnati, Chicago Fire match Pat Brennan and Charlie Hatch review the FC Cincinnati vs. Chicago Fire FC game.

The orange and blue war smoke drifted from The Bailey like a sacrament, over the quaint old (American) football stadium that the bloke on ESPN had pronounced “Nip-It’’. Bedlam reigned.

Goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt had just deflected a third penalty kick and FC Cincinnati had beaten the Chicago Fire. It was an improbable win, except by the standards of the local futbol club, whose ability to create the improbable seems endless. “Bottom of the 9th, hit a World Series home run’’ was Hildebrandt’s explanation of the evening.

The nuts-and-bolts rundown went like this:

The Fire, a very good MLS team and an overwhelming favorite Thursday, outplayed FCC in the first half, possessing the ball 78 percent of the time. FCC rallied after that, trading blows and nearly winning in extra time, when what would have been the go-ahead goal was waved off by a dubious offside call.

Finally, after 120 minutes, midfielder Jimmy McLaughlin sliced the game-clinching penalty kick past Chicago keeper Matt Lampson, whose record in goal this year had been 7-0-2. “If I hit it well enough, the goalie’s not going to save it,’’ McLaughlin said blithely after the game.

Cincinnati will play at Miami FC next, in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in two weeks.

That’s the wrapup. Those are the facts.

Here is the hope, the goal and the pleasant suspicion behind this question: Is it possible, dare we say it, could it be, that. . . we have found a Cincinnati professional sports team capable of producing good karma?

We’ve had lots of the bad. The litany of heartbreaks, setbacks and futility owned by the Reds and Bengals could fill a Greek tragedy. The movie’s always the same: The good guys die in the end.

Bengals 50 - The Curse of Bo Jackson Bo Jackson injured his hip against the Cincinnati Bengals and never played football again. For the Bengals, a decade of bad luck ensued, and Cincinnati is yet to win another playoff game. Which brings us to ask: Do you know The Curse of Bo?

But these FCC lads. . .

We’re still waiting for their first false step. The big loss, the fatal injury, the dumb penalty. The marketing misstep, the PR gaffe. Hell, even the weather loves FC Cincinnati. The last two Cup games (at home, naturally) were played in perfect conditions.

Hype is real: Social media reaction to FC Cincinnati's stunning win

Thursday’s match was supposed to air on ESPN2, the Worldwide Leader’s little brother. Naturally, the University of Florida picked this year to win its first College World Series. The Gators' two-game sweep of LSU left ESPN with an open block of time Thursday night. FCC was happy to fill it.

The game drew 32,287, the second-best crown in Open Cup history. The game was a blast, start to finish, as compelling as a nil-nil affair can be. The home team concocted an upset. Nip-It Stadium at night is as telegenic as it gets. The home crowd was typically and defiantly rowdy, for two and a half hours.

Your move, MLS.

After the win, FC Cincinnati coach Alan Koch was quick to praise the class of ownership and the energy of the fans, shrewdly saying, “That passion, you don’t get that many places. The energy was absolutely fantastic. That was pretty unique tonight.’’

Ironically, as nice as the win was, the home side had won the perception war long before McLaughlin’s game-winning shot. The huge crowd, the captivating competition, the winsome and high-wired Major League atmosphere, well. . .

Cincinnati passed the audition. It’s time for its close-up.

Several minutes after the game ended and no one had left the stadium. Mitch Hildebrandt, who was as spectacular in goal as spectacular gets, addressed the flock in The Bailey by waving his arms in an exaggerated clap. The flock responded in kind. Three sections of fans, waving their arms in unison, drenched in the sacramental smoke. Good games are inevitably good theatre as well.

“You kind of dream of that moment,’’ Hildebrandt said.

Hildebrandt acknowledged he’d never stopped three penalty kicks before. Stopping those attempts is part study, part serendipity. You commit to lunging one direction. You hope that’s the way the ball is headed. A little good luck is involved.

When it came down to that, to good luck, Chicago had no chance.

No team around here has done good karma the way FC Cincinnati has. Maybe not ever.