FC Cincinnati make the trip south to Charlotte, North Carolina for their second road match of the MLS season and are looking to achieve a club first on the journey. After being eliminated in the Concacaf Champions Cup earlier in the week, The Orange and Blue are also looking to set the record straight and continue with league play success.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, and fans can watch the game on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and listen locally in English on ESPN 1530 and 97.7 FM La Mega in Spanish. Let's look at some important figures that may factor into the first road match of the MLS season, all presented by CTI.
0
Charlotte FC are the only Eastern Conference club which FC Cincinnati have never earned a road win against. The Orange and Blue are 0-1-2 in three prior meetings at Bank of America Stadium.
Six other Western Conference road venues have Cincinnati played in and not won (SEA, ATX, HOU, LAFC, STL, VAN) while four different clubs (SKC, LA, POR, SD) Cincy have never played against away. Two of those will change in 2025, with the first scheduled road trips at Portland Timbers and LA Galaxy later this season.
10/11
FC Cincinnati's Designated Players have been standing out early in the 2025 season, with Kévin Denkey and Evander having combined to score or assist on 10 of the 11 goals scored in all competitions this season for The Orange and Blue. Each have five goal contributions on the season.
Evander scored earlier this week in Concacaf Champions Cup play and Denkey is looking to add to his team high 4 goals scored early in the calendar.
50
On Tuesday, Pavel Bucha made his 50th appearance for FC Cincinnati, becoming the 23rd player since FCC made the jump to MLS in 2019 to make 50 or more appearances for the club. No one has been a more regular attendant in his time with the club, making his 50th appearance in just 52 total team games played as Bucha appeared in all but two matches for FC Cincinnati since the start of the 2024 season.
10
FC Cincinnati are unbeaten in their last 10 matches on artificial playing surfaces. Since April 2022, The Orange and Blue are 3-0-7 when playing turf, a stark difference to FCC's early fortunes on turf as prior to April 2022, FCC (since 2019) were 1-6-1 in road matches on turf.
The club's last MLS Regular Season loss on an artificial surface was the first-ever meeting between Charlotte and Cincy at Bank of America Stadium, which resulted in a 2-0 Charlotte win.
24.71
Miles Robinson leads FC Cincinnati in distance covered while the ball is in play, tracking 24.21 kilometers (15.35 miles) in the three MLS matches thus far this season. In total, in MLS play, Robinson has tracked 31.4 kilometers (19.51 miles) and has done so all with the captain's armband on for The Orange and Blue.
Pavel Bucha sits just behind him in the team totals, covering 24.07 and 29.9 respectively, but has done so while playing 59 fewer minutes.
35
FC Cincinnati dominated on the road in 2024 and are looking to take that winning formula into 2025. Setting a league record with 11 away wins in 2024 and earned 35 points. The total is equal to that of Inter Miami CF (also in 2024) and the 2022 CF Montreal record. In the MLS Shootout Era, where all matches with an even score went to a shootout after 90 minutes, DC United and LA Galaxy both earned 13 wins to set the official high-water mark.
To repeat FCC's 2024 success, they will have to start quick as FCC lost in their first road test of the season, falling to Philadelphia Union 4-1 at Subaru Park two weeks ago.
