CINCINNATI – FC Cincinnati and defending MLS Cup Champions New York City FC played to a wild 4-4 draw Wednesday night in front of 21,258 fans at TQL Stadium.
With the result, the Orange and Blue move to 7-7-3 (24 points) for the season. NYCFC sit at 28 points (8-4-4).
FC Cincinnati struck early and often, beginning in the 15th minute. Captain Luciano Acosta scored his sixth goal of the season when he received a through ball off a failed clearance from the NYC defense. He took a touch past the visiting goalkeeper Sean Johnson and slotted home the game’s opener.
Less than 10 minutes later in the 24th minute, Brazilian striker Brenner received a through ball from Acosta into the box, and took a first-time hit to double FCC’s lead.
Then, the forward showed his skill in the 30th minute after receiving a chested past from Brandon Vazquez and perfected a bicycle kick into the back of the net. The Orange and Blue scored three goals in 30 minutes, the quickest mark in club history.
After the Cityzens scored three times right before half, and went up 4-3, Brenner secured the first hat trick in club history by the 70th minute. Receiving the ball with time and space from Acosta in the top of the box, he fired a left-footed strike from outside the box to equalize for FC Cincinnati.
FC Cincinnati had a goal overturned after VAR deemed the Orange and Blue were offside in the 89th minute.
Roman Celentano recorded two saves in goal, including stopping the first penalty kick of his career.
The Orange and Blue hit the road for a matchup with the New England Revolution. Kickoff is set for Sunday, July 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET from Gillette Stadium and the game can be watched on Star64, streamed in-market at fccincinnati.com, out of market on ESPN+ and listened to on the radio on ESPN 1530.
FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati vs. New York City FC
Date: June 29, 2022
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: TQL Stadium
Attendance: 21,258
Kickoff: 7:38 p.m. ET
Weather: 86 degrees, clear
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-F
CIN: 3-1-4
NYC: 3-1-4
CIN - Luciano Acosta (unassisted) 15’, Brenner (Acosta, Medunjanin) 24’, Brenner (Vazquez) 30’, Brenner (Acosta) 70’
NYC - Talles Magno (unassisted), Héber (Moralez, Magno) 45+2’, Héber (Moralez) 45+7’, Gabriel Pereira (Moralez, Acevedo) 52’
GAME NOTES
• Brenner’s hat trick was the first 3 goal performance in a game in the club’s MLS history … he became the eighth player in MLS this season with 3+ goals in a game.
• FC Cincinnati scored three goals in the opening half for the second time in club history (10/26/21 vs NSH)
• The Orange and Blue have now scored 15 goals this season in the opening 45 minutes, tied with CF Montréal for the most in MLS this year.
• Roman Celentano made the fifth penalty kick save all-time in club history … it was the sixth all-time a PK had been conceded and not converted by an opponent (Nicolas Gaitan, CHI - 7/13/19) … opponents are 3-for-5 from the penalty spot this season against the Orange and Blue, who have conceded the most penalties in MLS this season.
• Luciano Acosta became the fourth player, and Brenner the fifth, with 3 goals + assists in a game (Brenner – 7/17/21 at MTL; Ronald Matarrita – 3/19/22 vs MIA; Brandon Vazquez – 3/19/22 vs MIA)
LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, Álvaro Barreal (John Nelson 88’), Tyler Blackett, Geoff Cameron (Ian Murphy 87’), Nick Hagglund, Ray Gaddis (Alvas Powell 54’), Haris Medunjanin (Allan Cruz 53’), Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta (C), Brenner, Brandon Vazquez
Substitutes not used: Alec Kann, Zico Bailey, Yuya Kubo, Nick Markanich, Harrison Robledo
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
NYC: Sean Johnson (C), Maxime Chanot (Justin Haak 24’), Alexander Callens, Alfredo Morales, Malte Amundsen, Tayvon Gray, Nicolas Acevedo, Maxi Moralez, Gabriel Pereira (Andrew Jasson 84’), Héber, Talles Magno (Thiago 71’)
Substitutes not used: Luis Barraza, Chris Gloster, Kevin O’Toole, Gedion Zelalem, Cody Mizell, Vuk Latinovich
Interim Head Coach: Nick Cushing
STATS SUMMARY: CIN/NYC
Shots: 15 / 13
Shots on Goal: 9 / 7
Saves: 2 / 5
Corner Kicks: 7 / 3
Fouls: 14 / 9
Offside: 1 / 1
Possession: 45 / 55
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
NYC – Justin Haak (Yellow Card) 31’
NYC – Alexander Callens (Yellow Card) 31’
CIN – Obinna Nwobodo (Yellow Card) 57’
CIN – Allan Cruz (Yellow Card) 62’
CIN – Brenner (Yellow Card) 90’
OFFICIALS
Referee: Ismir Pekmic
Ast. Referees: Andrew Bigelow, CJ Morgante
Fourth Official: Allen Chapman
VAR: Kevin Stott
AVAR: Chantal Boudreau
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan
On the draw
“It was entertaining. It was as good of 40 minutes as you can ask for against a really good team, and as bad of 10 minutes with that stoppage time as you could have. Not walking off the field with three points at that stage of the game is certainly disappointing. We came out slow in the second half and conceded early. Certainly, we need to do a better job of getting pressure to the ball. But I was really pleased despite the really poor 10 minutes and the slow start to the second half with the character of the group to continue to push and find the fourth goal and really push for three points. That meant something to the group to try to win this game despite losing the lead, and credit to (New York City FC goalkeeper) Sean Johnson at the end. He made some good saves. Nick (Hagglund) got a great header off the set piece, and John (Nelson) had a good night. I thought we were really aggressive in looking to try to win this game, so I was pleased with the response from the group to tie the game.”
On the outlook of the draw
“Two points dropped. There's no question, if you’re up 3-0 at any point, it’s two points dropped. There's disappointment, but I think the energy in that locker room, despite not getting the three points, is a group that's hungry and expects more, even against a good opponent.”
On Brenner
“He was outstanding tonight. I thought he was finding himself in good spots closer to goal. He was aggressive looking to get behind the timing of his runs to get to goal. Certainly, the goal that he gets played in, his timing was very good. And that's what we're looking for. It's just for him in those moments where we can face goal to be thinking about how people get in behind. That was certainly well taken with our third goal. The second was just his quality. Not a lot of players could do that. And then even with his third, given to his left, for him to be able to hit with that kind of accuracy and power. You just saw all of his qualities come out tonight.”
On the draw
“No matter who you're playing, where you're playing, if you're winning by three goals, you should get a result, you should get three points. That part was disappointing to let them back into the game late in the first half. I was very pleased with the response from the group because again, we went down and against a good team, worked our way back into the game to get level, but then we could be talking about three points if we had a little bit more of that quality in that last 10 minutes because we created some really good chances. Guys were pushing. I think they could feel the energy of the crowd was fantastic. You could see that we felt there was another goal there for us to get three points. Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way.”
FC Cincinnati Striker Brenner (Translated from Portuguese)
On the draw
“The team had the best 30 minutes of the season yet the 10 worst minutes of the season. I’m very happy that I scored three goals, but I would change those three goals for a victory for the team. Now it's time to go back to training and work hard so that we can keep winning.”
On the point
“We will take one point. New York is a very quality team. They work hard, you have to understand that there's a quality team on the other side, and we have to just to keep working hard to earn the win.”
FC Cincinnati's 2022 schedule can be viewed, HERE. Fans can build their custom Pick 3 package today. They can pick three games that best fit their schedule, while saving on the price of a single game ticket. Fans can pick the same seats for three games or select different options around TQL Stadium.
Single match tickets to any of FC Cincinnati’s remaining home games are also available now, head to fccincinnati.com/tickets or call 513-977-KICK, that’s 513-977-5425, to learn more.
FC Cincinnati are playing their fourth season of MLS competition in 2022, and their second playing at TQL Stadium. For up-to-the-minute information about FC Cincinnati, visit the team’s official website at fccincinnati.com, or follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FCCincinnati. Additionally, fans are encouraged to download the team’s official mobile app on the Apple App Store or Google Play for instant access to mobile tickets, team content and match notifications.
