FC Cincinnati defeated New York City FC, 3-1, Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. With the three points, first-place Cincinnati earned a fifth-straight win in MLS regular season play, tied for the longest winning streak this year in MLS.
Cincinnati (11-1-3, 36 points) bolstered their MLS-best record and Eastern Conference lead to eight points over second-place Nashville SC. The win marked FCC’s first-ever regular season win over NYCFC (4-7-4, 16 points).
FC Cincinnati have earned the most points (36) through the first 15 games of a season in MLS history, excluding the shootout era.
Luciano Acosta, playing on his 29th birthday, opened the scoring with his team-high sixth goal of the season to put the Orange and Blue up 1-0 in the 38th minute. Matt Miazga began the move, playing a ball out wide to Álvaro Barreal breaking into attack down the left flank.
Barreal quickly dashed into the NYC penalty area before playing a ball back across the box. Dominique Badji, the recipient of Barreal’s pass, controlled and left the ball for Acosta who curled in a beauty from just outside the 18-yard box.
Barreal then doubled the lead in the 58th minute, stunning NYCFC with a left-footed free kick goal.
Acosta and Barreal lined up over a dangerous free kick from roughly 22-yards out. Acosta would defer to Barreal as the wing back showcased his power and accuracy with a fantastic left-footed strike that cleared the New York wall and clipped the underside of the crossbar before hitting the back of the net.
New York cut the deficit moments later as Braian Cufré netted a glancing header in the 64th minute. But Cincinnati would restore a two-goal advantage just six minutes later.
Brandon Vazquez scored his fourth league goal from the penalty spot, his first PK goal with the club, in the 70th minute. Yerson Mosquera drew a penalty shout after beating Tony Alfaro to a loose ball in the box. No call was issued initially, but a brief VAR check awarded Cincinnati a kick from the spot and Vazquez confidently buried his attempt.
With the 3-1 win, the Orange and Blue finished the month of May 6-0-1 across all competitions. The lone draw in the seven-match month ended on a winning note after FCC defeated the New York Red Bulls in a penalty shootout following a 120-minute 1-1 stalemate in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16.
FC Cincinnati return home Saturday, June 3 to host Chicago Fire FC at 7:30 p.m. The club celebrates Pride, presented by Procter & Gamble. Tickets are available at FCCincinnati.com/Tickets or by calling (513) 977-5425 (KICK). The match will stream, for free, exclusively on Apple TV. Fans can also listen to the match locally on ESPN 1530 and on SiriusXM FC 157.
FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati at New York City FC
Date: May 31, 2023
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: Yankee Stadium
Attendance: 14,806
Kickoff: 7:39 p.m. ET
Weather: 69 degrees, clear
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-F
NYC: 0-1-1
CIN: 1-2-3
NYC – Braian Cufré (Alfredo Morales) 64’
CIN – Luciano Acosta (Dominique Badji, Álvaro Barreal) 38’, Álvaro Barreal 59’, Brandon Vazquez (PK) 70’
GAME NOTES
• FC Cincinnati have earned the most points (36) through the first 15 games of a season in MLS history, excluding the shootout era.
• FCC’s five-game winning streak is the longest active streak in MLS, and has matched St. Louis CITY’s five-game streak to begin this year as the longest in MLS this season.
• FC Cincinnati’s seven games in May matched October 2020 and October 2021 for the most in a single month in club history … Under Pat Noonan the club is 8-2-0 in the month of May (regular season).
• Luciano Acosta extended his team-lead in goals to six this season … he has scored five goals in his past five league games for the Orange and Blue.
• Per Elias Sports, Acosta became the fourth player in MLS this season to score on his birthday (Offor, MTL – 5/27; Segal, NYC – 5/17; Hollingshead, LAFC – 4/16).
• Dominique Badji has contributed to a goal or assist in three straight games, tied for the longest streak for FCC this season (Acosta: May 6 - 20; Barreal: April 22 - May 6).
• Álvaro Barreal provided the sixth multi-goal contribution game for FCC this season, his first.
• Brandon Vazquez scored his first penalty kick with FC Cincinnati, becoming the sixth player in club history (regular season) to convert a penalty (Acosta, Ledesma, Brenner, Mattocks, Kubo).
• FC Cincinnati have been scored on first just once this season (April 15 at St. Louis), the fewest in MLS this year … only twice have FCC not scored first this season, at St. Louis and in the scoreless draw at Orlando City SC.
• After starting 0-6-0 against New York City FC, FC Cincinnati are now 2-0-2 against the 2021 MLS Cup Champions since Pat Noonan’s arrival (across all competitions).
LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, Álvaro Barreal (Ray Gaddis 87’), Ian Murphy, Matt Miazga, Yerson Mosquera (Alvas Powell 72’), Santiago Arias, Junior Moreno, Yuya Kubo (Marco Angulo 72’), Luciano Acosta (C) (Malik Pinto 78’), Dominique Badji (Arquimides Ordoñez 87’), Brandon Vazquez
Substitutes not used: Alec Kann, Joey Akpunonu, Gerardo Valenzuela, Isaiah Foster
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
NYC: Matt Freese, Braian Cufré, Maxime Chanot, Tayvon Gray (Alfredo Morales 60’), Tony Alfaro (Kevin O’Toole 85’), James Sands (C), Santiago Rodriguez, Gabriel Pereira, Stephen Turnbull, Keaton Parks, Gabe Segal (Richard Ledezma 74’)
Substitutes not used: Luis Barraza, Matias Pellegrini, Andres Jasson, Nicholas Benalcazar, Justin Haak
Head Coach: Nick Cushing
STATS SUMMARY: NYC/CIN
Shots: 12 / 11
Shots on Goal: 6 / 5
Saves: 2 / 5
Corner Kicks: 5 / 0
Fouls: 12 / 17
Offside: 2 / 2
Possession: 60.3 / 39.7
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
NYC – Braian Cufré (Yellow Card) 41’
CIN – Yerson Mosquera (Yellow Card) 43’
CIN – Brandon Vazquez (Yellow Card) 45+5’
CIN – Luciano Acosta (Yellow Card) 50’
NYC – Maxime Chanot (Yellow Card) 53’
NYC – James Sands (Yellow Card) 56’
NYC – Tayvon Gray (Yellow Card) 58’
NYC – Gabriel Pereira (Yellow Card) 66’
NYC – Tony Alfaro (Yellow Card) 82’
NYC – Alfredo Morales (Yellow Card) 88’
CIN – Ray Gaddis (Yellow Card) 90+1’
OFFICIALS
Referee: Armando Villarreal
Ast. Referees: Corey Parker, Diego Blas
Fourth Official: Thomas Snyder
VAR: Victor Rivas
AVAR: Jeff Muschik
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan
On the result
“Really pleased. Really, really pleased with this win. [It's a] very tough place to play. Historically haven't done so well in this building, but I was and am very happy with how the guys played tonight. And like I said, in a place that's tough to get a result against a good team. So, we keep moving but the guys are in a good way right now. I'm really happy for them.”
On the team earning 36 points through 15 games
“Credit to the players and just kind of honestly, just focusing on whatever's in front of them. That's kind of been the approach and this is obviously a very busy stretch where it could go in a lot of different ways because of fatigue and travel and your opponent, and they just keep putting their head down and going about it in a really good way and just are doing things really well to allow us to I guess achieve that stat. I'm very pleased for not just the players, you know, there's a lot of that backroom staff and the coaches that are working really, really hard right now and doing things to keep things on track in a way where we're not getting ahead of ourselves. And I think that's important for where we're at and what we're trying to accomplish.”
