FC Cincinnati earned a 2-1 Decision Day win over Philadelphia Union Saturday night at Subaru Park. The Orange and Blue (18-11-5, 59 points) finish the regular season with 11 road wins, tied for MLS post-shootout record, while clinching a spot in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup. Philadelphia Union (9-15-10, 37 points) end their season at home with a loss.
The Orange and Blue enter the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 New York City FC. The full Round One schedule will be announced Sunday.
Quinn Sullivan continued his late season offensive surge to give Philadelphia Union an early lead in the 2nd minute.
DeAndre Yedlin and Luca Orellano forced saves from goalkeeper Andre Blake in the first half as the Orange and Blue looked for an equalizer, but it was Yamil Asad who, in the final seconds of the first half, scored to send the sides into the break level at 1-1. Asad’s late first half strike at 45'+4 marked his third of the year.
A Philadelphia Union own goal to start the second half gave FC Cincinnati a 2-1 advantage in the 46th minute that would prove the match deciding goal. Jakob Glesnes had the own goal after the Union thwarted an early Cincinnati attack.
AS IT HAPPENED
PHI: Quinn Sullivan, GOAL – 2’ (1-0) – Quick, short passes opened up space down the right wing for Philadelphia and Quinn Sullivan, who lost his mark inside the Cincinnati box. After receiving the final pass from Jack McGlynn, Sullivan snapped a low driven shot past Roman Celentano at the far post.
CIN: Yamil Asad, GOAL – 45’+4 (1-1) – A final attacking move from the Orange and Blue to close the half ended with Yamil Asad converting on a curled effort. Yuya Kubo created chaos in the Union box after having his own attempt on goal blocked. Kubo stayed with the play and was first to a failed clearance, picking out Asad who struck first time to score.
CIN: Jakob Glesnes, OWN GOAL – 46’ (1-2) – An error from Union defender Jakob Glesnes gifted the Orange and Blue a lead in the opening minute of the second half. Glesnes passed back into his own net after defending a Cincinnati attack.
No. 3 FC Cincinnati will host NYCFC in the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs Round One Best-of-3 Series. The full Round One schedule will be announced Sunday. Tickets are available now at FCCincinnati.com/Tickets or by calling (513) 977-5425 (KICK).
GAME NOTES
- FC Cincinnati matched the MLS post-shootout record of 11 road wins in a single season (2022 MTL; 2024 MIA).
- FC Cincinnati won for the first time at Philadelphia Union. FCC are 5-2-2 against Philadelphia under Head Coach Pat Noonan.
- FC Cincinnati matched last season’s total of 14 one-goal wins, which is the third-most in MLS history.
- Pavel Bucha became the third player in club history to start in a club-record 33 out of 34 MLS Regular Season matches in a season (Mathieu Deplagne, 2019; Brenner, 2021).
- Yamil Asad netted his first goal since August 5 vs New York City FC in the Leagues Cup Group Stage. His last MLS game prior to Saturday came on July 6 against Inter Miami, scored at 45’+4 like tonight’s goal.
- This season, FCC have scored 5 times in first half stoppage time. Entering this year, the club had scored six times since 2019 (across all comps) in first half stoppage.
- The Jakob Glesnes own goal was FC Cincinnati’s third goal all time tallied in the 46th minute.
- The own goal was the first own goal scored for FC Cincinnati this season, the 11th since 2019 for FCC. The last came on July 23, 2023 vs Sporting Kansas City in Leagues Cup (John Pulskamp).
FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati at Philadelphia Union
Date: October 19, 2024
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: Subaru Park
Kickoff: 6:10 p.m. ET
Weather: 66 degrees, clear
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT
PHI: 1-0-1
CIN: 1-1-2
PHI – Quinn Sullivan (McGlynn) 2’
CIN – Yamil Asad (Kubo) 45’+4, Own Goal – Jakob Glesnes 46’
LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, Yamil Asad (Corey Baird 82’), Teenage Hadebe (Ian Murphy 82’), Miles Robinson, Chidozie Awaziem (Alvas Powell 59’), DeAndre Yedlin, Obinna Nwobodo, Pavel Bucha, Luciano Acosta (C), Luca Orellano (Niko Gioacchini 69’), Yuya Kubo (Sergio Santos 60’)
Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Kevin Kelsy, Gerardo Valenzuela, Malik Pinto
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
PHI: Andre Blake (C), Nathan Harriel, Jack Elliot, Jakob Glesnes (Alejandro Bedoya 65’), Kai Wagner, Dániel Gazdag (Danley Jean Jacques 15’), Jack McGlynn, Leon Flach (Jeremy Rafanello 88’), Quinn Sullivan, Mikael Uhre, Tai Baribo
Substitutes not used: Andrew Rick, Cavan Sullivan, Sam Adeniran, Olivier Mbaizo, Jesús Bueno, Chris Donovan
Head Coach: Jim Curtin
STATS SUMMARY: PHI/CIN
Shots: 15 / 12
Shots on Goal: 4 / 5
Saves: 4 / 3
Corner Kicks: 3 / 1
Fouls: 16 / 17
Offside: 0 / 4
Possession: 46.2 / 53.8
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
PHI – Tai Baribo (Yellow Card) 38’
CIN – Obinna Nwobodo (Yellow Card) 58’
PHI – Jack Elliot (Yellow Card) 64’
CIN – Yamil Asad (Yellow Card) 66’
CIN – Luca Orellano (Yellow Card) 68’
PHI – Kai Wagner (Yellow Card) 80’
OFFICIALS 
Referee: Joe Dickerson
Ast. Referees: Corey Parker, Chris Elliot
Fourth Official: Sergii Boiko
VAR: Daniel Radford
AVAR: Fabio Tovar
