Game 2 of the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs was, in short, one to forget for FC Cincinnati. Fortunately for them, the format of the MLS Cup Playoffs allows them to do just that.
The Round One, Best-of-3 series to open the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs silos each match into their own vacuum of outcomes that does not intersect with the others. A trait that is similar to most American playoff series but somewhat unique to soccer as the more traditional groupings of Cup competitions, or aggregate scoring of knockout stages, means a loss by multiple goals bleeds into the next match.
But not here. Game 3 occurs all the same, no matter the scoreline. So while it is disappointing that FC Cincinnati could not get the job done in two games to advance, Game 3 kicks off with a nil-nil scoreline and a game to win.
That said, there are lessons to learn. So FC Cincinnati is looking to find the right balance to strike. Turn the page on the emotional side of the game, but find the places to technically analyze the game and make sure you’re prepared for what is to come next.
“We'll be moving on. Of course, there's always lessons. But we won't analyze much of the game where we're down for 60 plus minutes,” FC CIncinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said Sunday postgame “But the first 30 minutes, there was some good stuff to at least talk about.”
Part of what makes it so easy to move on from Sunday’s loss, but equally complicated in analyzing the match is exactly the element Noonan speaks to in his postgame conversation with the press. For the vast majority of the match FC Cincinnati played a man down after Yuya Kubo’s Red Card gave Columbus the man advantage. Game 3 on Saturday will be played with 11 men on either side to start, so there isn’t much to review from that period. Throw in that FCC had to make adjustments to secure available personnel for Game 3 during the game that, perhaps, further left them exposed to a negative outcome, and it becomes harder to find take-aways from that period and easier to put in the past and move on.
“We utilized those last 30 minutes to get some guys going, to manage guys on cards,” Noonan added to the context of his substitutions. Players like Miles Robinson and Evander were on a yellow card, and one more would have suspended them for Game 3. Putting them further behind the eight ball in a tangible way. ““So it was getting Luca (Orellano) going, getting Lukas (Engel) going, getting Obi (Nwobodo) going. That was part of the reasons for the changes.”
“It's tough to assess guys when you're down a man for that long,” Noonan continued in the immediate aftermath of the game. “When you're down a man against a team that's strong and certainly good with the ball you're gonna find it hard to look at guys and say they could have done a lot more.”
Miles Robinsons, whose yellow card was given in the 30 minute, perhaps said it in the most concise way by telling the media postgame that they can’t just forget they lost 4-nil, but that they need to move on and not get bogged down in feeling sorry for themselves.
“It's humble pie, but we're willing to eat it,” Robinson said. “I think everyone knows there's still everything to play for, so we're not that down to be fair. But I think we can't just pretend like we didn't just lose 4-nil. And we got to kind of recognize that and understand what we can, you know, kind of grow from that and what we can learn from and just kind of keep moving forward.”
So what can there be learned? Where are the places that Pat Noonan is looking for his team to internalize rather than flush?
Noonan was strategically coy in his answers so as to (assumingly) not telegraph any of his insights to his opposing coaching staff.
“There are some things we saw differently that we'll talk about,” Noonan said in one answer. “We'll talk about those things. I'm not going to divulge too much, but there are a couple things that you expect and you prepare for and make sure that the roles are clear, and so when you're not seeing it, it's important that we're communicating to guys on the field,” he answered another.
But there were some places Noonan was willing to dive into, particularly into the opening phases of the game when things were played at 11v11.
The first 30 minutes of the game were, at worst, tilting towards Columbus but was not going one way or the other by any means. For the entire period up until the Red Card the host side had only generated 0.78 expected goals. In fairness, they had scored the opener by then, but down a goal in a playoff game FC Cincinnati was very much still in the game and more than capable of going back.
Noonan did though have some notes on how they can learn from that period.
“If you're just looking at blocks (of time) in the first half, the first 15 minutes we just didn't get into a rhythm early on with some of our moments where you need some composure to change the rhythm and the tempo, and really, the field position,” Noonan explained. “So it took about 15 minutes. It didn't feel like we were constantly taking on wave after wave of chances, but we were defending deeper than we needed to on a couple occasions. Then I thought we got into the game and moved the ball in a better way. It wasn't really about chance creation. It was just about finding a better rhythm with the ball.
“Then, I think, the pressing on the right side we, for whatever reason, didn't get those moments right and they were able to find the space behind Evander and Pavel (Bucha) and that causes more problems than I think it should have. But I think that was a big part of where and why we had to defend deeper. Then obviously the goal is preventable, the first goal, and we lose some momentum there, and then the red card.”
From there Noonan says the team made changes and adjustments to try and get to halftime and reset the half with some structure so as to position themself best to make a run at the game. But that never came to fruition, down a man and now two goals with Columbus scoring off the ensuing free kick, The Orange and Blue never was able to put themselves in a position to chase the game and eventually the changes needed to be made to ensure Game 3 and that was the ball game.
So what can be done differently? Getting off to a stronger start is a place Noonan highlighted further, and better identifying/executing the pressure they need to apply to defend in a cohesive way and build on offense that way was another. The Head Coach also somewhat joked that “playing with 11 men” will be important.
But a key point in the address Noonan and his players made to the media was finding the right mindset to attack the third game of the series.
Losing a game like this, against this opponent, has the capacity to leave a psychic toll. Not only the scoreline, but the slow burn of being in the game and feeling it slip away can cut at confidence and leave doubt. Not everyone responds to this kind of thing the same, but the possibility is there. In the moment the mitigating circumstances don’t pop out and provide solace so it takes some degree of distance and resetting to recognize the moment.
It is here where Noonan expressed a focus would be, and one that could be of the most importance this weekend.
“Of course, you don't want to see a performance and a result like this,” Noonan explained. “But we're all big boys. We're professionals. Guys can and have rebounded from similar disappointment over the course of a season. So try to use those to learn and to understand how to come back. And for the most part, all year, I think whenever we've talked about the disappointment of a game like or performance like tonight, the group has been ready to step up.
“So it's my job to help prepare them the right way and for them to have the right belief and confidence despite a setback.”
That confidence building and preparation starts this week in training. While Yuya Kubo will be unavailable for the match on a Red Card suspension, the rest of the team was outside and active training Wednesday. Everyone, even those with lingering injuries, were participants in training for the first time in a long time, meaning, FC Cincinnati is getting healthy at the right time.
This isn’t the first time this team has faced adversity. This isn’t even the first time this team has faced a playoff elimination like this one in the past year. But this team will look to learn from last year's team, and Pat Noonan will be looking to not only support his side in that way, but has implored his players to do the same.
“A lot of guys that were on the field (Sunday) weren't a part of it last year. So for guys that were a part of it, understand the importance of how you rebound from a tough night, help to educate some of our newer faces as to what some of the people that were part of the team last year went through,” Noonan said of what he’s asked from his veteran players. “But it's a new year, so like I said, we should have every reason to be confident, to go in front of our home fans and go perform again.”
