There are some nights where draws feel like losses or wins, some nights where losses feel like wins, and other nights where wins feel like losses. Then, every once in a while, a rare spectacular kind of night delivers the kind of victory that feels like a full three points and more.
Saturday night on the shores of Lake Michigan was that kind of night. Against all odds, Evander and his orchestra of FC Cincinnati players, went into historic Soldier Field, faced every kind of challenge and deficit you could think to throw at them, and earned their first road victory of the season in the final minutes.
On the back of an Evander hat trick and a career high eight saves from Roman Celentano, FC Cincinnati defeated Chicago Fire FC 3-2 and extended their five-match unbeaten streak. With both a penalty kick earned and a penalty kick saved in stoppage time, FCC earned, perhaps, their most unlikely of points this season. Which, considering some of the matches this team has seen in 2026, is truly saying something.
“Sometimes this stuff doesn't make sense. That's kind of how it felt in the second half and sitting here with that group somehow winning the game,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said to open his postgame press conference on Saturday night, with just a hint of a smile creeping across his face to indicate both his amazement and awe in the outcome of the game.
“Credit to the guys for the way they figure stuff out, again. I'm kind of tired of saying that, but it's for good reason. So, we'll take it and move on,” the coach continued. “The fact that we're nowhere near our best and we're in that position is a positive. But, yeah, while today felt different -- the chaos of how that game played out -- it felt like we stole some points. Some of the other results and endings to the games we're playing down a man felt a little different for me than tonight did. But, like I said, sometimes the game doesn't make sense, and right now we're on the good side of not being at our best.”
For the second time this season, FC Cincinnati came from behind to win the match after going down a man due to a red card – which also happens to be the second time in club history that has happened as well. For the third time this season FCC have come back to earn points from that same position, and for the fourth time in their last five matches, FCC came back to earn at least a point from losing position.
In the span of less than seven minutes, FC Cincinnati went from thinking they could earn a point from the match despite being down a man – and honestly being somewhat satisfied with that -- to fearing they would lose outright, back to thinking a point was theirs to, finally, a defending a lead and securing all three points.
It was, in as simple of a way as you can put it, one of the more unbelievable finales to an FCC match in recent memory.
After a back and forth first half where Evander and Chicago Fire Star Hugo Cuypers traded braces in quick succession, FC Cincinnati was put behind the eight ball early in the second half when defender Kyle Smith found himself in a ‘wrong place, wrong time’ situation and was sent off. Tracking back to clear a ball over his head, Smith missed the darting Chicago player behind him and, when he went to kick the ball out of the air, caught Chicago midfielder Robin Lod in the face with his boot. It was not a malicious play and was more bad luck than anything, but the ref still showed Smith a Red Card all the same and FCC went down a man in the 56 minute. The fifth time this season FCC had done so.
For the following 34 minutes FCC defended intensely but still took on heavy pressure. With the game up against the wall, Roman Celentano stepped up though and set a career high for himself by making eight saves to keep the match level. With each save more spectacular than the last.
“That's a night where I think Roman's [Celentano] skill set comes out. We're taking on pressure, we're taking on crosses, they're finding shots from close range, from distance, he's got a lot of action in front of him and bodies in front of him…it just brought out his skill set,” Noonan said of Celentano, who now ranks sixth in MLS in saves this season. “He came up big for us tonight.”
The piece-de-resistance of Celentano’s evening card of saves was in stoppage time, when the game flipped. With a penalty kick called to Chicago Fire and all seeming lost, Roman Celentano eyed down Chicago’s PK taker, Cuypers, and made the save on his attempt. The Naperville, Illinois native dove to his right to meet the PK and send it away. After some chaos in the box FCC was able to clear the area and Celentano was able to celebrate with his defenders in emphatic fashion.
“When a PK comes against us, we know Roman is always the man to save us,” Evander said of the goalkeeper. “He was there all night for us, and not just the PK, he also had some great saves during the game that helped us to take the win tonight…and when Roman saved us, it gave us a little bit more of the extra push that we needed to win the game.”
After the save though, play went the other way. FC Cincinnati went on the attack and late sub Ayoub Lajhar (who was also the culprit for the penalty called on FCC just moments earlier) served a cross into the box. Pavel Bucha was on the end of it and while the initial attempt was unsuccessful, Bucha was taken down in the box and earned a penalty of FCC’s own late in stoppage time. Flipping a game already on its head to some other, unknown, degree of insanity that scholars have not yet adequately created a cliché for.
“WOOOWWWAHHHHHH!” Apple TV color commentator and MLS legend Dax McCarty screamed on the broadcast in disbelief, adding a near unintelligible combination of sounds and vowels that can only be recreated when truly in disbelief, but universally understood when heard.
“IT’S A PENALTY FOR CINCINNATI, MY GOODNESS!” play by play man Evan Weston screamed over McCarty to add to the moment.
But unlike those two broadcasters and maybe everyone in the world watching the match and reacting to the M. Night-esq twist in the game, a calm, cool, collected and confident Evander stepped to the spot and made no doubt about his attempt. Burying the shot to his right and giving FC Cincinnati a 3-2 lead late.
A lead they would not give up.
“He stepped up in a big way tonight and even the penalty, there's pressure in that moment and he was able to convert and step up for his team again,” Noonan said of Evander.
“He's been excellent in this recent stretch,” Noonan added later of the star midfielder, who is now up to five goals on the season. “His engagement, his understanding of his importance to the team, the role in different moments has improved, and like I keep saying, it's our job to continue to understand how to help him be impactful for our team, because he's a game change.”
After a challenging start to the season, earning a win like this for FC Cincinnati can be emotionally cathartic. So often it has felt like every mistake, every misstep has been punished to a severe degree. Part of that was true again Saturday night, like how both of Chicago’s goals rattled off multiple defenders before going in. But that pain has helped give FCC a thick skin, an emotional callus.
When unlucky, or unfortunate or even warranted but generally bad things happen, FCC has belief in themselves to keep pushing and come back to find a result. They have done it constantly this season.
What’s so special about tonight though is all those things happened yet again, and they still earned three points out of it.
“It was just kind of just a crazy game all around that didn't feel real at some points,” goalkeeper Roman Celentano said after the match. “Everyone was working their ass off defensively and finding ways to not let them score…(everyone) was working for us and gave us a chance to win it in the end. Then Evander does what he does, and he buries it.
“So it's a nice feeling walking away with three points; especially against these guys, where we feel like we could have got some more against them at home a couple weeks ago.”
Part of a come from behind win though means there was some place to improve, and that’s still apparent for FC Cincinnati. Pat Noonan was hesitant to overly emphasize the places he felt deficiencies are present from the match because he didn’t want to be overly harsh to the achievement his team underwent on the field. But it was clear he wasn’t the only one who was unsatisfied.
“It was just our second win in a row, but we've been unbeaten for five games. So, I think the momentum has started to turn in our way, but I think we need to keep being humble and keep working, because it's not enough,” Evander said after the victory.
“What he (Evander) said before the game when he spoke to the group was, ‘we know we're still not good enough. It's still not good enough and we need to continue to be stronger,’” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said of Evander’s prematch talk to the team, giving a rare peek behind the curtain to the locker room talks pregame. “It was a good message. We didn't listen very well, but he stepped up in a big way tonight (with that).”
FC Cincinnati have now banked three points on the road for the first time in the 2026 season. They’ll have their next opportunity to do so a week from now when they play their next match, visiting Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium. But with some momentum in the sails and confidence brewing, there is a positive vibe that is starting to grow.
“We need to give an extra push now to get those points that we lost in the beginning of the season…what I can say is that I think right now, things are turning our way,” Evander said. “I think this team now is ready for these types of moments. Even though we've been struggling in the beginning of the season, the mentality of not giving up was always there. I think tonight we showed one more time how strong we are as a group.”
