FC Cincinnati vs Orlando City SC
Kyra Campbell
FC Cincinnati (17-4-6) suffered just its first home loss of the season on Saturday after its 1-0 defeat to Orlando City (13-6-8).
Thanks to some favorable results around the league, the Orange and Blue didn’t lose any ground in the Supporters’ Shield standings, still sitting 10 points above second place St. Louis (15-10-2). FCC is now just 10 points ahead of the New England Revolution (13-5-8), who are second place in the East.
FCC’s lineup featured Roman Celentano in goal, as usual. Ian Murphy, Matt Miazga, and Nick Hagglund made up the defense, while the midfield consisted of Luciano Acosta, Junior Moreno, and Obinna Nwobodo. Alvaro Barreal and Santiago Arias started at wingback. Sergio Santos and Brandon Vazquez featured at striker.
Orlando settled into the game quickly and looked dangerous for much of the first half.
Lucho was given a questionable yellowcard in the 44th minute, making him unavailable for FCC’s next game.
A minute after the yellow card, Facundo Torres scored for Orlando, putting the visitors up 1-0.
Murphy was subbed out at halftime for Yerson Mosquera, who got his first minutes since the Leagues Cup after dealing with an injury.
Similarly, in the 57th minute, Santos was taken off for Aaron Boupendza, who is also coming back from an injury.
In the 70th minute, still chasing an equalizer, FCC made two offensive substitutions in Yuya Kubo for Vazquez and Bret Halsey for Hagglund. In the 83rd minute Marco Angulo subbed on for Moreno.
Despite these substitutions and plenty of chances, FCC was still unable to get level.
Boupendza received a yellow card of his own in stoppage time after a VAR review for violent conduct.
About a minute later, Orlando’s Wilder Cartagena was sent off for headbutting Arias, however, it was too late for FCC to capitalize on the man advantage and the match would end 1-0.
FC Cincinnati is back in action on September 16 when they travel to Subaru Park for their second meeting with the Philadelphia Union (13-8-4). The previous game resulted in a 1-0 win for FCC back in April.
The match is at 7:30 and, as always, fans can catch the game on the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.
