FC Cincinnati defeated St. Louis CITY SC Saturday night, 3-1, at TQL Stadium, winning their sixth match in a row and tying a club record for consecutive MLS wins. The Orange and Blue improve to 9-2-3 (30 points) as St. Louis drop to 3-3-7 (16 points).
Luciano ‘Lucho’ Acosta scored his seventh goal of the season from the penalty spot to give the Orange and Blue a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute. With the converted penalty, Acosta has now scored in five of his last six MLS regular season appearances. He also extended his goal contribution streak to eight games, setting a new club record.
Yuya Kubo doubled the Orange and Blue’s lead in the 49th minute with his fourth goal of the season, his first since scoring against CF Montréal on April 13. Acosta picked up an assist on the Kubo goal, his seventh of the year.
St. Louis were given a lifeline in the second half as FC Cincinnati put one in the back of their own net in the 54th minute. It was the first own goal conceded by the Orange and Blue in 2024.
But Cincinnati put the nail in the coffin in the 80th minute, as Sergio Santos buried his first goal of the 2024 campaign on a cross from Acosta that was set up by Luca Orellano.
AS IT HAPPENED
CIN: Luciano Acosta, GOAL (Penalty) – 26’ (1-0) – FC Cincinnati applied pressure to the St. Louis backline through forward Gerardo ‘Dado’ Valenzuela who attracted the attention of three CITY defenders. Valenzuela slipped a ball past three collapsing defenders, picking out Acosta who found space inside the box and turned past Celio Pompeu, who brought Acosta down from behind. Acosta stepped to the spot and made no mistake with his attempt.
CIN: Yuya Kubo, GOAL – 49’ (2-0) – Luca Orellano fired in a cross from the left wing, looking for an option at the top of the St. Louis penalty area. Acosta collected Orellano’s pass but was met with a line of CITY defenders. Just as St. Louis looked to have control of the situation, Acosta slipped a pass to Kubo who had plenty of space from close range to collect and fire past Roman Bürki.
STL: OWN GOAL – 54’ (2-1) – A moment of miscommunication between Matt Miazga and Roman Celentano allowed St. Louis back into the match as a pass from Miazga played back towards Celentano made its way into the back of the net.
CIN: Sergio Santos, GOAL 80’ (3-1) – FCC padded their lead late in the second half. Another pass from Orellano from the left wing led Acosta into the left side of the 18-yard box. Acosta dribbled toward the goal line before threading a cross past a diving CITY defender to Sergio Santos who was left wide open on the back post.
FC Cincinnati are on the road for their next MLS Regular Season match as they face Toronto FC on May 25 at BMO Field. The match will air on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
FC Cincinnati’s next home match at TQL Stadium will be against Nashville SC on Wednesday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Tickets can be purchased at FCCincinnati.com/Tickets or by calling (513) 977-5425 (KICK).
GAME NOTES
- FC Cincinnati earned a sixth straight win, which matches the longest MLS Regular Season win streak in club history (May 6 – June 3, 2023).
- FC Cincinnati are 15-2-5 under Head Coach Pat Noonan when playing a game on two-days rest.
- FC Cincinnati are 9-3-4 against the Western Conference under Head Coach Pat Noonan, including 2-0-0 this season.
- Luciano Acosta extended his goal contribution streak to eight-consecutive games, setting a new club record.
- Acosta netted his 150th career MLS Regular Season goal contribution, becoming the second active player (Kei Kamara) and the 15th player all-time to accomplish the feat.
- Acosta’s penalty was the first penalty awarded to Cincinnati in regular season play this season.
- With three goal contributions tonight (1 G, 2 A), Acosta recorded the first 3+ goal contribution game
for an FC Cincinnati player in MLS play since Sept. 10, 2022 vs San Jose (Brenner – 3 G, Acosta – 1G, 2A), the 11th in club history.
- Acosta leads MLS since the start of 2023 with 14 games of 2+ Goals or Assists and 11 games of at least 1 Goal and 1 Assist.
- Yuya Kubo’s fourth goal of the season set a career-high.
- Sergio Santos has now scored in both of FC Cincinnati’s matches against St. Louis CITY SC.
FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati vs St. Louis CITY SC
Date: May 18, 2024
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: TQL Stadium
Attendance: 25,513
Kickoff: 7:40 p.m. ET
Weather: 77 degrees, clear
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-F
CIN: 1-2-3
STL: 0-1-1
CIN – Luciano Acosta (penalty) 26’, Yuya Kubo (Acosta) 49’, Sergio Santos (Acosta, Orellano) 80’
STL – Own Goal – Matt Miazga 54’
LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, Luca Orellano, Ian Murphy (Kipp Keller 86’), Matt Miazga, Nick Hagglund, Bret Halsey (Yamil Asad 67’), Pavel Bucha, Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta (C) (Malik Pinto 86’), Gerardo Valenzuela (Kevin Kelsy 59’), Yuya Kubo (Sergio Santos 67’)
Substitutes not used: Alec Kann, Miles Robinson, Isaiah Foster, Stiven Jimenez
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
STL: Roman Bürki, Nikolas Dyhr (Tim Parker 46’), Joakim Nilsson, Kyle Hiebert, Akil Watts, Célio Pompeu (Indiana Vassilev 60’), Hosei Kijima (Tomas Ostrak 46’), Njabulo Blom (Chris Durkin 60’), Aziel Jackson, Joao Klauss, Sam Adeniran (Eduard Löwen 75’)
Substitutes not used: Ben Lundt, Jack Nerwinski, Rasmus Alm, Nokkvi Thorisson
Head Coach: Bradley Carnell
STATS SUMMARY: CIN/STL
Shots: 15 / 11
Shots on Goal: 8 / 3
Saves: 3 / 5
Corner Kicks: 5 / 4
Fouls: 12 / 17
Offside: 3 / 1
Possession: 53 / 47
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
STL – Hosei Kijima (Yellow Card) 35’
CIN – Ian Murphy (Yellow Card) 36’
STL – Sam Adeniran (Yellow Card) 44’
STL – Tomas Ostrak (Yellow Card) 52’
OFFICIALS
Referee: Tim Ford
Ast. Referees: Eric Weisbrod, Chantal Boudreau
Fourth Official: Ismir Pekmic
VAR: Fotis Bazakos
AVAR: Jozef Batko
