While the spotlight has not completely disappeared for FC Cincinnati, the latest loss at home doesn’t make the path to stardom any easier.
FC Cincinnati fell to LAFC 2-1, in a pre-playoff marquis matchup before a soaked TQL Stadium crowd. While Cincinnati were able to ride another Luca Orellano banger of a goal to knot the score, a second-half Denis Bouanga finish was the difference maker. Cincinnati ends their slate of Western Conference matchups with five wins and one loss.
The Orange & Blue (17-5-9, 56 pts.) returned to TQL Stadium after a productive road trip, winning 2-1 in Minnesota and drawing 2-2 in Nashville. Meanwhile, LAFC (15-7-8, 52 pts.) were mired in a five-match regular-season winless streak, despite a 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup final.
FC Cincinnati approached this interconference matchup with much of its current roster available. Pavel Bucha returned to the starting lineup after celebrating the birth of his first child over the past weekend. DeAndre Yedlin also started at right back in place of Yamil Asad. Once again, the 3-4-1-2 lineup was unique to this season, but fortified with a healthy squad.
LAFC finished their final match of the season across the Mississippi with several of their starters seated. The Black & Gold had to play 120 minutes to put away SKC in the USOC final. Forward Denis Bouanga, striker Olivier Giroud, and midfielder Timothy Tillman started on the bench, while midfielder Eduard Atuesta and defender Aaron Long sat out.
Newly-returned former MVP Carlos Vela has yet to appear for the team, despite the announcement of his resigning.
From the opening whistle, LAFC played like the team with fresher legs. The Black & Gold had eight attempts in the Cincinnati defending end before Cincinnati’s first shot in the 29th minute. However, goalkeeper Roman Celentano made three saves in the first 20 minutes to keep the score knotted.
The breakthrough came off a rough injury to Chidozie Awaziem. The Nigerian defender stretched to break up a play, only to injure his leg in the process. Awaziem managed to limp off for a substitution, only for LAFC to take advantage of the adjustment. David Martinez evaded the left edge of the back line to fire a shot past Celentano in the 34th minute. The Venezuelan’s fourth goal of the season made it 1-0.
The Orange & Blue did put some pressure on LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the final ten minutes of the first half, but produced no shots on net. The closest opportunity came in the 40th minute, but Nicholas Gioacchini was unable to keep his header on frame from a corner kick set-piece.
The second half opened with Cincinnati playing with more urgency and heat on their passes. Alvas Powell, Awaziem’s substitute in the first half, provided an unexpected spark with two immediate attempts on goal to start the second half. Gioacchini was swapped for Sergio Santos at the break who also injected his pace and line penetrating ability into the attack.
Orellano’s equalizing goal in the 61st minute was again a bright highlight in the Argentinian’s playbook. After receiving a short pass off a corner kick, Orellano powered a shot on frame that grazed Kei Kamara’s head along the way. Luca’s tenth goal in MLS play and his fifth in five matches leveled the score.
While LAFC did lose grip on possession in the second half, it still had its all-stars coming off the bench. In the 73rd minute, Denis Bouanga challenged Ian Murphy one-on-one in the box and fired a shot past Celentano’s left. Bouanga’s 18th of the season made it 2-1.
While FC Cincinnati dominated control in the second half and had some dangerous set-piece challenges to search for an equalizer, the final whistle doomed the Orange & Blue to their sixth home defeat of the season. Cincinnati is now in third place, a point behind Columbus in the standings with three matches left to play in the regular season.
Head coach Pat Noonan was not satisfied with how the match started, but saw a path to success later on in the match. “Disappointing result that I think stemmed from a poor start in the game. Having said that, there was enough out there for us to find another goal. I think we let up a pretty soft second goal, from the beginning of the play and how they’re able to get down the flank. A couple naive plays that lead to that second goal, and that’s disappointing. But we’ll move on.”
“We came into this game knowing (LAFC) were a great team,” Orellano commented through his interpreter. “But we know we’re a great team as well, and you know, today the result wasn’t in our favor.”
While there was no update following the match, adding to FCC’s injury theme for 2024, Sergio Santos went down in extra time. Santos collided heads with Illie Sanchez and appeared to have momentarily lost consciousness. Should Santos and Awaziem’s injuries prove more serious, FCC will have to play a congested week with less depth than hoped.
The final stretch in October forces FC Cincinnati to seek points against three teams fighting for playoff position. The Orange & Blue travel to the Garden State to play NYCFC Wednesday night on the Red Bulls’ home soil. LAFC returns home to face St. Louis City SC at home on Wednesday. Cincinnati will then wrap up their 2024 regular season home slate on Saturday night vs. Orlando City and Cincinnati’s own Kyle Smith.
Match #31 – FC Cincinnati vs. Los Angeles FC
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
Attendance: 24,728
Result: FC Cincinnati 1, Los Angeles FC 2
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI (3-4-1-2):
Roman Celentano (GK); Miles Robinson, Chidozie Awaziem (Alvas Powell 34′), Ian Murphy; DeAndre Yedlin (Yamil Asad 74′), Obinna Nwobodo (Gerardo Valenzuela 83′), Pavel Bucha, Luca Orellano; Luciano Acosta (c); Nicholas Gioacchini (Sergio Santos 46′, Corey Baird 90+6′), Yuya Kubo (Kevin Kelsy 74′).
Bench: Evan Louro, Teenage Hadebe, Malik Pinto.
LAFC Starting XI (3-4-3):
Hugo Lloris (GK); Sergi Palencia, Maxime Chanot (Marlon Santos 72′), Eddie Segura; Cristian Olivera (Ryan Hollingshead 65′), Ilie Sanchez (c), Lewis O’Brien, Omar Campos; David Martinez (Denis Bouanga 46′), Kei Kamara (Olivier Giroud 65′), Mateusz Bogusz (Timothy Tillman 65′).
Bench: Thomas Hasal, Erik Duenas, Nathan Ordaz, Diego Rosales.
Scoring Summary:
LAFC – David Martinez 34′ (O’Brien)
CIN – Luca Orellano 61′ (Acosta)
LAFC – Denis Bouanga 73′ (Giroud)
Discipline:
YC – Maxime Chanot 5’ (LAFC, foul)
YC – Sergi Palencia 29′ (LAFC, foul)
YC – Marlon Santos 82′ (LAFC, foul)
YC – Hugo Lloris 90+9′ (LAFC, time wasting)
Next up:
at New York City FC, 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 2nd, Red Bull Arena (Harrison, NJ)
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