MONTERREY -- The clock struck midnight on FC Cincinnati in a more literal way than one can imagine in a tournament like this. After 65 minutes of reletively successful play, taking a 1-0 lead to that point, FC Cincinnati had its carriage transformed back into a pumpkin as at 11:58 p.m. Cincinnati local time, Tigres UANL scored its first of three goals in eight minutes to seal up the second leg of the match and eliminate FC Cincinnati from the Concacaf Champions Cup.
A win outright would have seen The Orange and Blue through, but a draw with two or more goals would have as well. However, the onslaught of goals from the 64th minute to the 72nd minute was just too much for FC Cincinnati to overcome. They never gave up the fight, pushing right to the end for a second goal in hopes a third could come after that. Still, in the end, it wasn't enough, and for the second time in as many years, FCC left Monterrey, Mexico, out in the Round of 16.
FC Cincinnati played a frenetic and electric first hour, with Evander giving FC Cincinnati the lead in the 18th minute after a beautiful bit of dribbling and a perfectly weighted pass from Luca Orellano. The away goal leveled the tiebreaker in the series, but after that moment, the game turned on its head, and Tigres asserted itself on the momentum of the match. So, like a snowball rolling down a hill, it gathered speed and mass until FC Cincinnati could no longer contain the game.
"It was a tough night for us. You know, after [our] goal, they were in complete control. I think far superior with the ball. Their confidence was there. We lacked, I think, the confidence, and I think we ran out of steam," FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said in the post-match press conference. "(We) didn't have the legs to get better pressure to the ball, and I think we kind of shut off, as far as how we moved off the ball to be able to make them chase a little bit and be able to advance the ball. It just stopped after our goal. So credit to Tigres, they were the better team."
FC Cincinnati entered Tuesday's game on two days' rest after a victory over Toronto on Saturday night in league play and, in the larger scheme of things, in the final week of a grueling eight games in a 24-day stretch to open the 2025 competitive calendar. A schedule and workload that included two international travel trips and a league trip to the East Coast, all while playing essentially every third day. Noonan said he believes that he finally caught up to his squad, particularly in the second half; still, it was the combination of factors stemming from that fatigue that did them in.
He used phrases that described FC Cincinnati's lack of "courage on the ball," or the "confidence" Tigres had in moving the ball through the midfield. But the problems were more cascading in nature. The mentality was the byproduct of the physical challenges they couldn't overcome. Because FC Cincinnati didn't have the pace and stamina to control the game, the quality Tigres had slowly but surely suffocated FCC, and when FCC could no longer keep up, Tigres struck. And the blow was devastating.
"We just didn't have the necessary energy and movements to control larger portions of the game," Noonan continued in his differential diagnoses of the defeat. "You have to do it for 90 (minutes). (18) minutes… isn't enough to expect to get a result against a strong team. Both sides of the ball, we were in a pretty good way. But like I said, they just took over from that moment. I think we have to have a little bit more courage with the ball, and I think part of that was, like I said, the seventh game caught up with us a little bit."
The universal feeling on the night was that heading into halftime, even with the seeds of the domination Tigres had on the ball starting to show, FC Cincinnati felt good about their first half. That if they were able to repeat that a better outcome could be found. Tigres was controlling possession, sure, but they weren't creating an overwhelming amount of truly dangerous chances in the process.
This served as a sort of "Rope-A-Dope" for Tigres that eventually allowed them to punch through for three quick goals and earn a late-round knockout. The Rope-A-Dope, a boxing technique made famous by Muhammed Ali, has the boxer assume a defensive stance, allowing their opponent to tire themselves out before striking ferociously when the opponent is tired and at their weakest.
It's not a perfect comparison but with Tigres dominating possession and thus the tempo of the match forced FC Cincinnati to essentially defend for nearly all of the remaining time in the first half and all of the second half. Tiring FCC out and leaving themselves vulnerable late.
"After we scored our goal, we just stopped playing," FC Cincinnati's lone goal scorer Evander said after the match. " So then of course you're going to be tired when you just have to run after the ball. (Tigres) all so like to play with the ball, so that was comfortable for them and we have to run run run."
FC Cincinnati defended ferociously in the first hour or so of play. The efforts of players like Obinna Nwobodo, Luca Orellano, Miles Robinson and Gilberto Flores, among others, were obvious to see. On a different night, under difficult circumstances, this story would be about how the entire team's dedicated defensive effort earned the victory. But instead, that was not the case despite the efforts being true.
"I think that it was inattentions on our part," Luca Orellano said via a translator from the mixed zone as to why FC Cincinnati lost Tuesday. "I think we had the game under control because we had a good first half and, well, football is that way. In the second half the truth is that they were better than us and they finished the game."
"I think we ran out of gas. We didn't have the legs. I don't think we had the confidence to continue to play," Noonan explained from the dais. Noonan's words, while could be perceived as cutting, were spoken with a sense of understanding. Noonan is never one to speak of challenges facing them as excuses. He actively seeks to dispel those kinds of narratives when asked in the press about things like schedule congestion and short turnarounds for games. So when he acknowledges such challenges, it feels earned.
"Credit to (Tigres) pressure, it wasn't something that we dealt with very well," Noonan continued. "Then when we were chasing the game, you know, they had the confidence to move the ball and break us down. And I think that was the difference… I think part of that was the seventh game caught up with us a little bit against a team that was much better in how they moved the ball."
So where does that lead FC Cincinnati? Well, now, out of this cup competition, FCC has a slightly longer runway to the final game of the aforementioned eight games in a 24-day stretch. They have a 'glorious' one extra day to travel back from Mexico, get their bearings, turn around and head to Charlotte, North Carolina to take on Charlotte FC in the second road match of the 2025 MLS season.
With that, the focus returns exclusively to MLS play. The schedule opens up where, after a month of playing every three days, FCC won't have another double-match for two months.
That doesn't provide any satisfaction. FC Cincinnati would rather be preparing for the quarterfinals next month than be out of contention for a trophy. But that's the reality approach. The Orange and Blue are out of the Concacaf Champions Cup but performed well in this year's tournament. They went toe-to-toe with one of the best in the region, and if not for an eight-minute window, who knows what could have happened.
What really comes next is about getting the club back to this point next year. To earn another chance to prove themselves and learn from this experience.
