Ender Echenique turned six San Jose defenders inside out on Sunday as FC Cincinnati ran out 4-2 winners, though the midfielder's contribution belonged more to the workmanlike than the spectacular.
The numbers tell part of the story: six successful dribbles from ten attempts, a tidy return in a game Cincinnati controlled from the opening whistle. Yet Echenique wasn't fouled once, suggesting the Earthquakes either kept their distance or he picked his moments carefully, threading through traffic rather than inviting the hack.
Solid rather than stellar
His match rating of 6.9 reflects a performance that did its job without setting the pitch alight. In a four-goal win you might expect the chief ball-carrier to register higher, but the data doesn't lie: Echenique was productive in possession, less so in the final third or defensively. No fouls drawn often means no dangerous positions reached, or at least none that worried San Jose enough to bring him down.
Still, six completed dribbles is six moments where Cincinnati advanced the ball on his terms, and in a game that finished with a two-goal margin, those moments add up. The Earthquakes couldn't live with Cincinnati's movement, and Echenique's ability to carry through the lines gave his teammates the platform they needed.
Not every standout performance needs to break the rating scale. Sometimes the ball just needs to keep moving forward.