The primary point of emphasis for a goalkeeper is to “keep the round thing out of the rectangle thing,” or so says Roman Celentano.
FC Cincinnati’s record setting keeper has espoused that particular piece of wisdom multiple times. He doesn’t take credit for it, always citing his source of Paul Rogers, FC Cincinnati Director of Goalkeeping, for the line, but he does try to remember it most when going through the rigors and challenges of a season.
He will also remind you that goalkeeping is far more nuanced than that, another thing he says that Rogers will hardly let them forget, but if you can’t get that simple directive right, the rest of it doesn’t really matter.
So with that in mind, Roman Celentano, the man between the metal for FC Cincinnati fresh off his 150th appearance for the club, is looking for 2026 to be another year of personal improvement and finding ways for his play to further help the team find success.
“I want to get better every year, and I think getting better entails learning how to play with certain guys and getting the squad together,” Celentano said prior to the start of the 2026 season in a sit down with FCCincinnati.com. “So I'm looking forward to the boys getting used to each other, competing and improving with the team.”
Celentano, 25, is now in his fifth season with The Orange and Blue and in addition to his record as the most commonly used keeper in club history (along with every other goalkeeping record in the book there is) he became the all-time leader in minutes played in 2025 (12,382+). Drafted with the second overall selection in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft out of Indiana, Celentano has become one of the most successful draft picks in league history.
As he began this new season, Celentano reflected on that in the league and pointed to a few places for his early career success. Most prominently, the Hoosier alum credited Paul Rogers for much of his development; highlighting his coaching as an irreplaceable wealth of knowledge for him to absorb from and work to replicate in his own game.
The second group he credits is his fellow goalkeepers.
“The goalkeeper union is everything, at least for me,” Celentano explained. “I think it's pretty rare at this level of soccer that you'll have a goalkeeper room kind of stay the same with the same goalkeeper coach year-after-year. I think the relationship we have with each other, off field and on field chemistry, makes us better, and I think we push each other to be the best every day.”
The goalkeeper position is a truly unique space in a locker room, so the trust and relationships built over the years is particularly beneficial to development. Every week there is only one keeper who plays, meaning there are two or three who don’t. The group has to work together, but every keeper will tell you (and every FCC keeper has said) that they all want to play, so it’s a competition between teammates for playing time.
But the group has forged a positive culture within their GK Union, and use that to uplift themselves and each other.
“Iron sharpens iron. We've helped each other to get better, but I feel like we've also helped each other with off the field things too,” Celentano said of his GK brethren. “There's a lot of respect for each other in our group.”
Until this season, Celentano has had the same group of goalkeepers to work with every day. Now, with Alec Kann retiring and Paul Walters on loan in Ireland, the group has been shaken up. Evan Louro remains a key piece of both the goalkeeper and team ecosystem, and newcomer Fabian Mrozek has joined the team on loan from Liverpool FC of the English Premier League.
Still, when speaking of his teammates, Celentano is quick to refer to them more like his family than competition or even teammates. He is quick to highlight how impressive it is that Evan Louro, a father of two, is able to be as energetic and social as he is while also being a great father. How he checks in with Paul Walters overseas to make sure he’s doing alright, and how Alec Kann, even in retirement, is present in his life as the group all welcomed Kann’s first child, a son, to the ‘extended GK Union’ recently.
“Those relationships we have are really special,” Celentano said. “I'm just excited to get to work every day with them.”
The next major goal for Celentano, aside from those he’s set for FC Cincinnati, is the 2026 FIFA World Cup later this summer. While far from a ‘lock’ to be on the roster, Celentano has done well to put himself into contention for a roster spot. His quality in MLS has shined through and he has been selected to USMNT rosters twice at the end of the 2025 season, while a third was likely if not for an injury during the first call-up.
“I think the opportunity to represent America in any capacity is a dream,” Celentano said at the prospect of potentially playing for the United States this summer. “My dream has always been to play for America, and maybe one day that will happen.”
“I got into soccer because of the 2010 World Cup. That's what really got me started watching soccer and interested in playing,” Celentano continued. “So I feel like the World Cup holds a special place in my heart. Playing for your national team, playing for your country, feeling like you're doing your part serving your country in that regard, giving everything for the crest, I think is as big as it gets.
“So I feel like it'd be an honor if I could one day do that, and I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself, but if it happens this summer it would absolutely be an honor.”