After a brief stop at home FC Cincinnati is back on the road, and take to Queens for a match with NYCFC at Citi Field this Sunday afternoon. With The Orange and Blue looking to extend their win streak to six, FCC will need to win their fourth straight road match to keep their run alive.
Kickoff is set for 3:00 p.m. ET, and fans can watch the game on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and listen locally in English on ESPN 1530 and 101.5 FM La Mega in Spanish. Let’s look at some important figures that may factor into the first road match of the MLS season, all presented by CTI.
66.5%
Roman Celentano tied an MLS record last Saturday, earning a victory that made him tied for the highest winning percentage among keepers in their first 100 MLS starts. With a 53-20-27 record in league matches he has started, Celentano has earned a clean sheet in 28% of his appearances.
Among the leaders to reach the 100 games played mark, Celentano’s 53 wins stand as the most of any player in their first 100 matches in league history outside of the shootout era of MLS. The other leaders – including Kevin Hartman (LA, 60, 1997-2001), Zach Thornton (NY/CHI, 60, 1996-2001), Scott Garlick (DC/TB, 58, 1997-2001) and Mark Dougherty (CLB, 56, 1996-2000) – all played in an era where there were no draws.
4
Kévin Denkey has already made a mark in MLS, scoring six goals in nine matches to start his career in the United States. Of those six goals, four of them have been match-winning goals. Should he score another game-winning goal this weekend, Denkey would become the first player in league history to record five game-winning goals in his first 10 MLS appearances.
Denkey is also the first debutant to reach the four game-winning goals in 10 matches mark since 2014 when Jermaine Defoe earned four in his debut with Toronto FC.
2.67
Since Nick Hagglund’s return to action, FC Cincinnati have seen great success as the veteran defender has helped FCC to a six game unbeaten streak. In his six games played, Hagglund owns a 2.67 points per game mark, the second most among qualified players in Major League Soccer this season.
Last week, Nick Hagglund also surpassed the 10,000 MLS minute mark, with FC Cincinnati becoming the second player for The Orange and Blue to match that mark.
110x70
Citi Field, the host venue for this weekend's match in Queens, New York, is the usual home ballpark for Major League Baseball's New York Mets, so fitting a soccer pitch into the diamond confines makes for some unusual views. Some of those irregularities include an atypically small field at 110 ft by 70 ft, the smallest allowed dimensions in Major League Soccer and world soccer as a whole.
By comparison, FC Cincinnati's TQL Stadium uses field dimensions of 110 ft by 75 ft. So, while there will be little adjustment for length, the width of the field is notably smaller. The largest field by dimensions in MLS remains to be Stade Saputo in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, at 120 ft by 77 ft.
200
FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan is one point shy of 200 points as head coach of the
Orange and Blue (57-27-28, 199 points). With a win or draw Sunday, he would reach 200 points
in just 113 games managed, only behind Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino (109 games with ATL, MIA) for the fewest games needed to reach the mark in MLS history.
Since Noonan arrived as Head Coach of FCC in 2022, only Wilfried Nancy has earned more points as a Head Coach – doing so with CF Montreal before joining Columbus Crew.
