RECAP | Shield-Winners FC Cincinnati fall to Red Bulls before celebratory sold-out TQL Stadium 

FC Cincinnati fell to visiting New York Red Bulls, 2-1, Wednesday night in front of a sellout crowd of 25,513 at TQL Stadium. Immediately following the game, the Orange and Blue lifted the club’s first trophy since joining Major League Soccer – the Supporters’ Shield for the best record in the league this season – in front of the FC Cincinnati fans. 

The result did not impact the Orange and Blue’s first-place standing in the league, which shifted to 19-5-8 for the season (65 points). Red Bulls improved to 9-13-10 (37 points) and finished the night in 12th place in the Eastern Conference.

New York jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute as former FCC midfielder Frankie Amaya curled one past Alec Kann from outside the box for his fifth goal of the season. Then, John Tolkin linked up with Elias Manoel in the 17th to quickly double the Red Bulls lead. Tolkin found Manoel with a late, bouncing cross from the left wing and the forward snapped a quick half volley into the top corner of the Cincinnati goal.

The Orange and Blue found a way back into the match in the 68th minute through a Luciano Acosta penalty. Acosta drew the spot kick with a hand ball in the box, although a VAR check was needed, after Acosta’s cross was stopped by defender Andres Reyes.

Acosta’s penalty put the 2023 Landon Donovan MLS MVP frontrunner on 16 goals for the season. With the goal, Acosta ends the night with the lead in the MLS Golden Boot Race, moving ahead of Atlanta United’s Giorgos Giakoumakis and Nashville SC’s Hany Mukhtar (both 15 goals). Acosta’s 29 goal contributions are also the most in the league.

FC Cincinnati travel to South Florida to take on Inter Miami CF on Saturday, October 7. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and the match will stream exclusively on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Fans can also listen to the match locally on Fox Sports 1360 and additionally on SiriusXM FC 157.

FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati vs New York Red Bulls
Date: October 4, 2023
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: TQL Stadium
Attendance: 25,513 (sellout)
Kickoff: 7:39 p.m. ET
Weather: 76 degrees, cloudy

SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT
CIN: 0-1-1
RBNY: 2-0-2

CIN – Luciano Acosta (PK) 68'

RBNY – Frankie Amaya (Luquinhas) 12’, Elias Manoel (Tolkin, Luquinhas) 17’

GAME NOTES
• Wednesday marked the 15th sellout of TQL Stadium this season … the 14th in 16 MLS matches this season, the 15th in 23 home matches across all competitions.

• Matt Miazga captained FC Cincinnati for the sixth time in 2023, the seventh in his career … He ranks fourth on FC Cincinnati’s all-time list of starting a match wearing the captain’s armband behind Luciano Acosta (92), Kendall Waston (42), Haris Medunjanin (10).

• Alec Kann made his first regular season appearance for FC Cincinnati since April 16, 2022 at Atlanta United FC.

• Luciano Acosta leads MLS in goals (16) and in goal contributions (29).

• Wednesday marked FC Cincinnati’s first midweek loss in a regular season game under Pat Noonan … the club is 6-1-5 in midweek games under Pat Noonan in MLS play, and 11-2-7 across all competitions.

LINEUPS
CIN: Alec Kann, Ray Gaddis (Álvaro Barreal 58’), Yerson Mosquera, Matt Miazga (C) (Ian Murphy 46’), Nick Hagglund (Brandon Vazquez 81’), Alvas Powell, Obinna Nwobodo (Malik Pinto 46’), Marco Angulo (Luciano Acosta 58’), Yuya Kubo, Aaron Boupendza, Dominique Badji

Substitutes not used: Roman Celentano, Santiago Arias, Sergio Santos, Junior Moreno

Head Coach: Pat Noonan

RBNY: Carlos Coronel, Andres Reyes, Kyle Duncan, Sean Nealis (C), John Tolkin (Dylan Nealis 69’), Cameron Harper (Peter Stroud 69’), Daniel Edelman, Elias Manoel (Omir Fernandez 69’, Cory Burke 76’), Tom Barlow, Luquinhas (Dru Yearwood 86’)

Substitutes not used: Ryan Meara, Jorge Cabezas, Wikelman Carmona, Julian Hall

Head Coach: Troy Lesesne

STATS SUMMARY: CIN/RBNY
Shots: 8 / 15
Shots on Goal: 2 / 5
Saves: 3 / 1
Corner Kicks: 0 / 5
Fouls: 15 / 18
Offside: 1 / 1
Possession: 67.9 / 32.1

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
CIN – Ray Gaddis (Yellow Card) 27’
CIN – Alvas Powell (Yellow Card) 49’
RBNY – Andres Reyes (Yellow Card) 53’
CIN – Nick Hagglund (Yellow Card) 73’
CIN – Malik Pinto (Yellow Card) 82’
CIN – Alvas Powell (Second Yellow, Red Card) 88’
CIN – Álvaro Barreal (Yellow Card) 90’+8
RBNY – Carlos Coronel (Yellow Card) 90’+9
CIN – Luciano Acosta (Yellow Card) 90’+10

OFFICIALS 
Referee: Chris Penso
Ast. Referees: Lyes Arfa, Walt Heatherly
Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Younes Marrakchi
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert