Charlie Hatch

chatch@enquirer.com

During the offseason, Futbol Club Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding proclaimed he wanted his club to score 62 goals in 2017 — one goal more than New York Red Bulls II, the 2016 United Soccer League champions.

Last season, FC Cincinnati scored 41. Through 30 games this season, it’s scored 43.

That’s not exactly the increase Berding was hoping for, but it shouldn’t be seen as a disappointment, either. The reality is that the 2017 team’s initial coach was fired the day before preseason started. Current head coach Alan Koch said trying to balance the preseason was a “whirlwind.”

Additionally, the club was looking for more than 20 more goals to come with a roster that lost the 2016 USL Most Valuable Player: Sean Okoli, who scored 16 goals.

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Of FC Cincinnati’s three current forwards, two weren’t on the roster when the season began. Two of them have also produced a much better output than last year’s numbers would’ve suggested.

That could offer an explanation to Cincinnati’s goal drought amongst its forwards. While the team is currently on a six-match unbeaten streak, the last time a striker scored from open play (meaning, not a penalty) was Danni Konig on Aug. 23. against the Ottawa Fury.

“To be honest, I don’t really care who scores as long as someone scores and as long as we go out and win the game,” Koch said Tuesday afternoon after training. “Having said that, every forward wants to score goals. They know that’s part of their job.”

With two regular-season games remaining, Cincinnati is midway through a four-game road finale. Given the club’s sixth-place Eastern Conference standing, it will likely play its USL Playoff matches on the road.

So many crucial road matches should be a concern for a club that hasn’t seen a forward score on the road since July 15, when Konig and Djiby Fall scored in 3-2 win over Louisville City.

A cooling period

The striker goal drought is apparent because of the scoring spells earlier this season.

Djiby, a 32-year-old who was playing in the Kazakhstan Premier League in 2016, hadn’t scored 10 goals in a season since 2010 when he was playing in Norway.

Up until the win at Louisville, he had 10 goals in 13 appearances and scored in every 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match he played in. To that point, his goal-to-match ratio – 13 goals in 16 appearances – resembled that of a world-class goal scorer.

His stats since have plummeted as he's sitting on 11 goals in 22 league appearances. From a preseason perspective, that’s a strong output.

Konig, 30, didn’t join Cincinnati until mid-May when he was notoriously so excited, he wouldn’t stop on his 13-hour road trip from Oklahoma City and showed up to training tired.

But Konig quickly had three goals in as many matches – a rapid start for a forward who only scored five goals the year before. To this point, his 11 goals in 25 matches is only a slightly worse ratio than Djiby. (His most recent goal came Sept. 23 from a 95th-minute penalty against Saint Louis FC.)

Kyle Greig, who joined FC Cincinnati on loan from the Vancouver Whitecaps, has one goal in 15 appearances. He joined the team in July.

Other than these three forwards, two other strikers have left FC Cincinnati since the season started. Andy Craven was part of a trade for Konig, while Victor Mansaray returned to the Seattle Sounders, with his loan canceled. Neither player scored for Cincinnati.

Experimentation and adaptation

Throughout the season, Koch has said he’ll play the forwards who will help the team the most.

Whereas Okoli was deployed in 2016 simply to outsprint opposing backlines — or score penalties — the current set of forwards have received expanded roles from Koch, which has, in turn, lowered their individual scoring stats.

“We do ask our forwards to do a lot of work, not just going and scoring,” Koch said. “There’s a lot of work they have to do in possession, in terms of holding the play up and then connecting with the other players.

“We ask them to do a lot out of possession, too. You do compromise by asking them to do other jobs. When they do that, it creates space and opportunities for other players. We’re focusing more as a team.”

Of the 12 goals scored during this six-game unbeaten run, 11 have been scored by defenders, midfielders or wingers.

"All forwards go through lulls in scoring,” Greig said. “And when the rest of the team can pick up the slack, that’s a huge thing. Obviously, you want a bunch of people on the field who can score goals and that’s what’s been happening for us.”

Of course, changing tactics can alter stats, too. Whereas earlier in the season when Koch might use two forwards, recently lineups have included a lone forward with two wingers and three center backs.

“Whatever system we play, we’re still going to create chances,” Koch said. “Whether we play one or two, it just changes the way we play. …I just think there are certain spells in the season where you’re going to have some people scoring. There will be spells when other people aren’t scoring.”

In the short term, a lack of forwards scoring hasn’t appeared an issue. As Koch mentioned, they’re still creating chances. Djiby assisted midfielder Kevin Schindler this past Friday night in FC Cincinnati’s 1-0 win at the Charlotte Independence.

The remaining regular season games pair Cincinnati with two of the three bottom clubs in the Eastern Conference, an ideal situation for strikers to end a goal drought.

As for which players will be deployed, that will depend. The three forwards have each appeared in the club’s last four matches.

Koch said he’s more focused on analyzing the team’s play than any specific individuals. Of course, once the season ends, that sentiment will be different.

In the short term, recent success should be seen as a positive for the club. But once the campaign ends, Greig’s loan will expire — and could renew, but might come as unexpected given his scoring productivity.

Berding opting for 61 goals next season or whatever the amount the eventual champion this year will score should seem high once again — unless Cincinnati wins the league.

If Greig leaves, FC Cincinnati’s average age for its forwards won’t be any younger. Konig turns 31 in December and Djiby turns 33 in April.