FC Cincinnati head to Miami, Florida, for a Wednesday night showdown with Inter Miami CF at their new home, Nu Stadium, in the final road game of The Orange and Blue's regular season. With wins in their last two matches, FC Cincinnati are building momentum and confidence down the stretch, but now face a gauntlet of three final matches this season, starting with an Inter Miami side that is still an MLS Cup favorite and loaded with star power.
Entering this match, FC Cincinnati sit on 42 points, are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, and are four points clear of the playoff line. With three games left in the regular season, FC Cincinnati now have a playoff spot-clinching scenario this week for the first time all season.
The Orange and Blue could clinch their fifth straight appearance in the MLS Cup Playoffs if this series of results comes to fruition, and they'd be one of only four teams in Major League Soccer to do so in that stretch. But a very strong Inter Miami side stands in their way as they still look to secure their seed in the Eastern Conference. So taking the positive steps they’ve made over the last week and continuing that upward trajectory will be key.
“Players are going to have to be ready because we're going to need the fresh legs,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said Tuesday ahead of the team's departure for South Florida on Tuesday morning. “We know the challenges that we're going to face with Miami and how strong a group they have…so, now, how do you take momentum but be able to shift your focus to what is in front of you and not what you've just accomplished? So, that'll be our challenge and I think guys are in a good place and the biggest hurdle is just physically going every two, three days and making sure guys are in a good place to turn it around.”
The task now is to go down to Miami and earn a result against a team with plenty of talent and firepower, who can punish even the slightest mistake. That being said, they are hardly unbeatable. At home this season, since opening their new venue in April, Inter Miami CF is 6-2-6, which can be read as them only losing twice at home, or can be seen as opposing teams coming to Miami and taking points more often than they don’t.
So the focus this weekend is putting forward a full-team performance and continuing to build on the positive steps they’ve taken lately. Part of that means maintaining a tough mindset and finding ways to win no matter what it takes.
“What we'll try to do is have a good overall team performance,” Noonan continued. “From a mentality perspective for players it's, how can you respect your opponent but not be overwhelmed by it? I don't want to oversimplify it, but if you're overwhelmed by it, you don't stand a chance. And I think that's certainly a part of it.”
FC Cincinnati return to TQL Stadium for the final two regular-season games after this match, first hosting Philadelphia Union on Halloween, then Nashville SC on Decision Day.
FC Cincinnati at Inter Miami CF – Wednesday, October 28, 2026 – 7:30 p.m. ET – NU Stadium
Watch/Stream (English/Spanish): Apple TV
English Local Radio: Fox Sports 1360
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History vs Inter Miami CF
FC Cincinnati travel to face Inter Miami CF for FCC’s first match at the brand-new Nu Stadium in Miami. It marks the second time this season for FC Cincinnati to play a Major League Soccer match in a venue for the first time (May 16 at San Diego FC).
All-time away to Inter Miami, FC Cincinnati are 1-3-2 with the lone road win coming in October 2023, a 1-0 Orange and Blue win, in the before-last game of the regular season.
FC CINCINNATI MATCH NOTES
(Courtesy of FC Cincinnati Communications)
Goal Records – With three MLS Regular Season matches to go, FC Cincinnati have already set an all-time record for goals scored in all competitions in a single season (87). With 64 of those scored in MLS play, FCC need one goal over their final three matches to set a record for goals scored in an MLS season, with the previous record coming in 2022 (64).
Down to the Wire – FC Cincinnati have just three matches remaining in the 2026 MLS Regular Season as the Orange and Blue seek a berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. Only four clubs from MLS qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs each of the past four seasons (FC Cincinnati, LAFC, Orlando City SC, Real Salt Lake), with FCC and LAFC the only two to have finished top-seven each season and avoid a Wild Card spot at any point among that group.
A win Wednesday would go a long way towards securing postseason soccer for Cincinnati. The Orange and Blue seek a first three-match win streak in MLS play since June 14-28, 2025 (at NE, at MTL, at ORL). Twice this season already FCC have won three-in-a-row which spanned other competitions.
Star Studded – FC Cincinnati’s Evander contributed to both goals in Saturday’s 2-0 win at D.C. United. He ranks second in MLS in goal contributions, only behind Miami’s Lionel Messi. The dueling number 10’s have each scored 22 goals from outside the penalty area since the start of the 2024 MLS season, co-leading the category entering Matchday 33.
Tom’s Career Year – 31-year-old FC Cincinnati forward Tom Barlow has had a career-year in his first season in Cincy. His 10 goals and five assists in league play are significant career-highs – entering this season his single-season career-high in goals was four (Red Bulls, 2022) and he had only provided two assists in his entire MLS career.
Scouting Inter Miami CF (15-6-10, 55 Points, 3rd in the Eastern Conference, L-W-W-W-L)
Inter Miami CF is in the midst of another top season in Major League Soccer, and with their spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs confirmed, all that is left is to secure their playoff seed with three regular-season games to go. On points, they are tied for second in the Eastern Conference, but in the tiebreaker, they would be the three seed if the playoffs started today, as New England would win the first tiebreaker.
The Herons are coming off a midweek loss to Red Bull New York, falling 2-0 on the road to the Red Bull side, who are currently battling FCC for playoff position, but before that loss, Inter Miami had won three in a row. September was a challenging month for the team, not winning any of their five league matches (four draws and one loss), but October has seen them turn things more their way, going 3-0-1 and outscoring opponents nine goals to three.
For the fifth time in four years, FC Cincinnati will face an Inter Miami team with a new Head Coach. Cristian ‘Kily’ González was appointed manager of the club at the end of August, replacing interim Head Coach Guillermo Hoyos, who was replacing the last full-time manager of the team, Javier Mascherano, who resigned in April.
‘Kily,’ as he’s most commonly referred to, is from Argentina and had a highly successful playing career before coaching. He made over 400 professional appearances across Europe and South America and was capped 56 times by the Argentine national team. He earned his first head coaching role in 2020 with Rosario Central in the Argentine Primera División. He led three different teams in that league from 2020 to 2025 before joining Inter Miami CF earlier this year.
Under González, Inter Miami has most often played in a 4-3-3 formation. Between that and a 4-4-2, it has been Miami’s formation of choice (for the most part) regardless of availability or manager over the last four seasons. This season, Miami ranks first in the Eastern Conference in goals for with 73, while ranking eighth in goals against with 53.
The engine of Inter Miami's offense is, of course, Lionel Messi, who leads the league in goals with 25 and is tied for the league lead in assists with FC Cincinnati’s Evander at 15. He also leads Major League Soccer in shots on target with 73, 24 more than the next-highest player. Messi typically lines up on the right side of that 4-3-3 formation, but he's inclined to float all over the field as he looks for opportunities to strike.
Miami’s success, though, comes from their ability to play around their central figure, with a cast of stars to amplify his impact. Midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, now in his second season with the club, has 14 assists, and Luis Suárez, in his third year with the team, has 15 goals and 12 assists.
The new additions to the side this year have also made an impact. Germán Berterame, a striker, has added nine goals this season, and on the defensive side of the ball, the newest addition, Casemiro, has also made an impact.
Casemiro, a Brazilian defensive midfielder best known for his time at Real Madrid and Manchester United, has been playing center back for this Miami squad. After arriving during the summer window earlier this season, the 34-year-old has started 15 games and played nearly every minute. Also in that defensive line is Micael, another Brazilian defender who played in MLS before joining Miami from the Houston Dynamo, along with fullbacks Sergio Reguilon and Gonzalo Luján.
Inter Miami loves to play with the ball, as they've only failed to earn more than 50 percent possession three times this season. That said, they tend to struggle when they have too much possession; in their four highest-possession games of the season, where they reached over 66 percent, they are winless, with two losses and two draws.
Miami's man in net this year has been a somewhat rotating assignment. Canadian international Dayne St. Claire is most often between the pipes, but it hasn’t always been that way this year. Young keeper Rocco Ríos Novo took the starting job for a time, but St. Claire has since returned after a stretch. The Canadian has started 25 games this year and earned four clean sheets.
This will be FC Cincinnati's first trip to play Inter Miami CF at their new home, Nu Stadium. Since opening the venue in April, The Herons are 6-2-6 at home and have been undefeated there since August 22.
