In the final home match of the 2024 MLS season for FC Cincinnati, The Orange and Blue were not only looking to send their fans into the playoffs with a strong performance, but rebuild their form and confidence with a dominant performance.
In some ways, FC Cincinnati’s performance on the night was an improvement and showed signs of optimism when looking at the full picture. In other ways, the performance left the FCC confidence at perhaps its lowest of the year.
A point of emphasis from FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan going into the weekend tilt with Orlando City SC was a strong start and a simplified game. Noonan had highlighted how the team had overcomplicated things in the recent past and this was a chance to get back into the things FCC does best.
FC Cincinnati gave exactly that in the opening minutes, and more, but was not rewarded for their strong play and was instead punished in a bit of dramatic irony with a truly spectacular play from Orlando City in the 10th minute.
Cincinnati native Kyle Smith whipped in a cross from the right side that perfectly timed up with Ramerio Enrique whose touch redirected the pace of the cross into the net. Had the pass been even a fraction in the wrong direction, or the run mistimed by the blink of an eye, Miles Robinson was there to clean up the danger. But the inspired play gave Orlando the early lead.
The goal did not dampen the resolve of FC Cincinnati though. The Orange and Blue pushed play and dominated the chances for the remainder of the half. Meanwhile Orlando City SC looked to bunker in and defend their lead with conservative tactics, including earning a time wasting warning in the 31st minute of play.
After knocking on the door for most of the half, Luciano Acosta finally broke it down with a wonder goal of his own. In the 45th minute the 2023 MLS MVP picked up a pass to the goalkeeper's right and fired a shot to the near side, catching the keeper off guard and slipping the shot past him on a curling strike. Orlando City SC goalkeeper Pedro Gallese had taken a step to his left in anticipation of a pass with four FCC players in that direction, but Acosta capitalized in a split second for his 14th goal of the season in MLS play.
The goal made for his 33 goal contribution of the season, two more than his 2023 MVP campaign. Teenage Hadebe also earned his first assist for FC Cincinnati on the play, providing the set up pass to Acosta.
With the halftime whistle blown to end things for the first 45 minutes, the tensions needed some extra time to wear off before heading to the locker room. At the sound of the whistle, both coaching staffs met in the middle of the touch line and aired some grievances for what had transpired in the half. Noonan appeared to plead with Orlando Head Coach Oscar Pareja for some kind of compromise. As a result of the coming together that spilled into the Orlando City bench area, both goalkeeper coaches for their respective teams were issued yellow cards.
With the tenor of the game reset with the Acosta goal, Pat Noonan made quick changes in the second half to bring on attacking energy to the squad. Yuya Kubo was the first sub to be made, coming on at halftime for Kevin Kelsy and shortly thereafter Luca Orelllano and Ian Murphy came on. Kelsy had already received a yellow card in the first half and became a targeted player by Orlando defenders as they looked to incite a potential second booking.
Despite again putting on the pressure, Orlando City was next to score. But this time the finish came due to an unfortunate and uncharacteristic mishandle from Roman Celentano, who couldn’t collect a wobbling ball on the ground and the shot slipped right through him.
The struggles would unfortunately not end there. Six minutes later another moment of uncharacteristic play bit FC Cincinnati, Luca Orellano mis-hit a pass back to Roman Celentano in an attempt to relieve forward pressure. But the pass was underhit and left the Orlando attackers on a two man break toward Celentano with the keeper entirely out of his box, leading to an easy goal to make it 3-1.
FC Cincinnati ultimately outshot Orlando 17-6 and earned 54 percent possession. But they could not overcome the two second half goals. With the loss, FC Cincinnati finish their home regular season record 7-7-2.
The Orange and Blue must now wait two weeks before their next match as the FIFA International Window opens with MLS Decision Day to follow on Saturday October 19. FC Cincinnati will travel to Philadelphia Union for the final match of the regular season at Subaru Park before kicking off the MLS Cup Playoffs Round One Best of 3 series at TQL Stadium.
