CINCINNATI – The first half of the 2025 MLS regular season did not end with a bang for FC Cincinnati, but with more of a muted sizzle. As did the match Saturday night at TQL Stadium where FC Cincinnati, fresh on the heels of a draw on Wednesday and a loss the previous Sunday, were defeated by D.C. United 2-1. Conceding goals in the 2nd and 19th minutes, FC Cincinnati could not overcome this early scoring and fell for the first time at home this season.
Sandwiched between those two goals by DC, both set piece-based crosses that the FC Cincinnati defense could not organize to defend, was a brilliantly pieced combination of passing. From Lukas Engel, to Evander, to Kévin Denkey, who slotted in a shot to equalize the game from there, the FC Cincinnati attack responded with one of their prettier team goals of the season. But minutes later the second D.C. United goal came, and from then until the final whistle The Orange and Blue sputtered in trying to find an equalizer, generating just three shots on target after that goal.
“A tough night. A tough stretch, tough week for us, results wise and just performance wise. So, maybe the break will come at a good time to reset and try to come out of it in a better way than we went into it,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said in his post match press conference. “We'll meet tomorrow and we'll talk about where we're at. The good (and) the things that can improve.”
FC Cincinnati entered the week knowing they had three matches in seven-days, but played twice at home. They also knew they had a “bye week” waiting for them on the other side of that week with the FIFA International window coming – meaning they’d have 14 days before their next match. Which presented an opportunity: get through the week in a good way and you have a real, honest-to-goodness break for the squad to prepare for their next stretch.
Instead, the loss capped off a one-point-week, with disappointing results and performances, and leaves Pat Noonan and his team needing to use this break to reset and look for answers.
“This week will have us go into (the break) with frustration, I'm sure, but hopefully it's a chance to reset and think about how we come back and add value to each individual to what they can do to help us come out of the break in a good way, and then just focus on progress,” Noonan explained. “That was a lot of the conversation this week – not worrying about what's a couple months down the road. We just try to get better now, and there are things that we know we can improve on and try to look at it in a way where we're honest and move forward where we know there's a lot to improve on.”
“It's a tough week for us, we already feel like we have to do something because we know we are not where we are supposed to be. We know what we want to do, but for some reason, it's not working out. But it's not because we are not trying, or we forgot what we want,” midfielder Obinna Nwobodo said after the match. Nwobodo came on in the second half of the match, playing 45 minutes after logging two 90-minute performances earlier in the week. “We are too good to be in this situation…we need to make it right.”
The problem facing the team right now is, in a word, nuanced. The lack of a “specific” problem makes correcting it not as simple as, well, addressing just one thing. Noonan, choosing not to elaborate on specifics, said that the things they need to work on are both broad and specific. Big and small. “That depends on which part of the game. I think there's a little bit of both,” Noonan explained.
One detailed problem that has really hurt the team this week is set piece defending. The defense has been, for almost the whole year, the calling card for the team. But this week, goals scored from crosses and/or dead ball actions were particularly punishing. Both against D.C. were conceded in such a manor.
“I think just how prepared we are for some of the plays,” Noonan explained. “There are so many things from experienced players that could be eliminated…we don't get out to the short end well enough and it's a good strike, but just the anticipation and recognition of those moments and then the second one, we don't get out quick enough.”
Another more ethereal problem Noonan addresses postgame is the passing, a place that Noonan has highlighted before when talking about the team's struggles. Mostly, when the team is succeeding, it is when they do the little things right in their passing, but when they struggle it’s because they get away from those fundamental principles.
“We're trying to figure that out,” Noonan said in his diagnoses. “We had too many guys that, in some moments, just lacked composure and played too fast and not recognizing the moments of when to just try to control the ball and control play, or when you need to get the ball off your feet because you're under pressure. I think we're struggling in those moments. Then just the simple, where there's no pressure and the decisions are poor. That we have to continue to look at and then figure out a solution.”
The Orange and Blue have two weeks to find a solution and reset their season. If they do that, this past week, albeit a bad one, could go down in history as just that. A bad week. FCC is still, after all of this, just four points back of the leader in the Supporters’ Shield and Eastern Conference. A margin you could overcome with…well..a good week. Part of the challenge in overcoming this is that FCC will not be returning to TQL Stadium in June, playing three games on the road (New England, Montréal and Orlando) before returning for July 6 against Chicago Fire FC.
But the urgency is there. Everyone, players and coaches, who spoke postgame agreed in one way or another that this break is an opportunity to learn, to reset, and to come back to the problem with a fresh mind and body. Not an excuse to fold up.
“We know we need to do more… we all know that this is not where we should be, and this is like a wake up call for us, for everyone,” Nwobodo insisted. “We know that we still have a long way to go if we want to achieve something this season. This is the good time for us to know that, to know we are not there yet. We need to push. I think, if we push and get it right from now we still have, like, a ton of games to make it right and forget this time.”
