FC Cincinnati players were clear after last Sunday's match: that win was important.
Given where the club was at that week, where they felt they had failed, and the obstacles they had to overcome to get back to that winning feeling, earning a victory no matter the methodology or the details was important.
Head Coach Pat Noonan said the eventual pathway to victory “wasn’t how they’d draw it up,” but the result was welcome all the same. Going down three times on the scoreboard, and then down a man on the field with a red card, the ‘odds’ were against them. But they found the victory all the same.
The sense given off in the aftermath of the win, though, while emotional and perhaps cathartic, was one of expected success and not of overwhelming joy. Yes, there was pride, but also, this is a group that expects to win – particularly at home – and doing so met the level, regardless of circumstances.
That being said, just because they have that high expectation, doesn’t mean that the resilience they showed in overcoming the obstacles on route to it can’t be built upon. That element – the confidence, belief and overall good feeling of winning – is something the team is looking to move forward with as training continues after the first weekend break of the 2026 season.
“The moment that we've been living, it's not great. Of course we wanted to have a better start of the season. So now we're trying to get ourselves back to our level, which is back to the top of the table. That's where FC Cincinnati needs to be, and to do that, that was a game we needed,” FC Cincinnati midfield star Evander said after training during the international window.
“We needed to win…we needed to get back the momentum, and we knew a game at home would help us get back to winning ways.”
The fight to earn that win was apparent, particularly late in the match as The Orange and Blue continued to play on the front foot despite being down a man. That energy, Evander says, has carried over to the training sessions, even with nine players out on international duty.
A somewhat related common talking point amongst FC Cincinnati players early in this season is creating, or rather embracing, an identity that they can hold on to. That having a belief in an identity can help reinforce the positives from that. For example, Roman Celentano has described gritty, hard-working play as “infectious.” Noonan described the belief in being a tough team to beat as “contagious.” The more you believe in it, the truer it becomes and the more it takes root in your actions.
This type of “never say die,” “fight to the end” victory that FCC put in can help shape an identity that now has a little time to sink in, with an International Window between matches.
“Obviously we've had a tough couple weeks, but that's the type of result that can turn stuff around,” goalkeeper Evan Louro said after the victory last Sunday. “You really saw the grit and just the determination (of the team).”
“At the end of the day, mistakes are gonna happen. Stuff's not gonna go our way. But who (cares)? You need to (get) up and figure it out. So, it was a credit to the guys. It was hot. We've been traveling so much and to just grind that out, it was great.”
Two key moments in the match stood out in terms of the team shaping an identity, or, at the very least, putting their desire on the front of their shirt.
The first is how the team came out of the hydration break stoppage in the second half and instantly showed the intensity they needed to win the match. Evan Louro says that moment was inspired by the team talk that Pat Noonan gave during that break.
“He's like, ‘listen guys, this is the time this is where you need to show who we are,’” Louro said of Noonan’s message to the team. “I think guys looked around and were like, ‘all right, we have no choice. We have to do this.”
“You see the results. There was no quit. Stuff wasn't happening our way and it didn’t matter. We'll figure it out.”
The second was deep into stoppage time, where, with the lead, FC Cincinnati was now defending to earn a victory and not just escape with a respectable draw. After a particularly key defensive clearance from Evander, the typically less demonstratively emotive Brazilian midfielder turned to the sold out TQL Stadium crowd and asked for more energy. A request that was happily fulfilled.
“I was kind of asking for the help from the fans, because I know how important they are for those kinds of games, especially after we went one man down,” Evander explained after a training session this week. “We needed them, we needed their energy to get the result.
“And with the help of the fans, there was more than enough necessary to get ourselves back and get the result from the game.”
Those kinds of moments never make it to a score sheet or box score, but they are key in building the intangibles. Like confidence, belief and positive energy.
In his postgame address to the media, Noonan highlighted some similar beliefs in the outcome of the game.“You go into the international break with some positive feelings, some momentum. That's kind of all we really needed,” he explained.
Even still, though, Noonan placed importance in how the win would carry over into training and into further weeks and not just the three points they had earned. Because while the international break does allow for further work, and going into that with a win changes the whole vibe of the club compared to two weeks feeling a loss, with nine players away (including key starters like Miles Robinson, Kévin Denkey and Pavel Bucha), it’s hard to train the way you would with the whole squad in place.
“It depends on how we come out of the break,” Noonan said simply as to if the win can be a turning point. “There's a couple key pieces we might be down. All of a sudden, you become pretty thin and a lot of guys coming out of the international break or coming back from the international break that won't get a lot of time together, so it'll be a challenge.”
“But what I've asked these guys not to do is make excuses.”
What comes next is most important, as a pair of road tests is next on the docket for FC Cincinnati, starting with New York Red Bulls on April 4 and then Toronto FC on April 11. That “not pretty” win over CF Montréal and the two weeks of improved vibes don’t carry as much weight if they can’t carry over that success.