On a balmy Saturday night in Chester, FC Cincinnati was able to close out the regular season with a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union.
The match was a positive way to end the regular season. They finished it in third place in the Eastern Conference, and will now look towards the playoffs.
FIRST HALF
The Union had everything to lose in this match. It was Decision Day, and for the first time in years, the threat of missing the playoffs loomed over their heads. They needed a victory and a loss by either DC or Montreal.
The match began quickly. The Union kicked off and immediately started asking questions of the backline. Jack McGlynn found space at the top of the box and played the ball in for Quinn Sullivan, who slotted it right in the far post.
Mere minutes later, the Orange and Blue found themselves playing one-touch passes. DeAndre Yedlin’s shot off the back of a Pavel Bucha through-pass rattled the side netting.
They would continue to look for the equalizer throughout that first half. Yedlin again found a chance, as his header from Lucho Acosta’s cross was denied by a point-blank Andre Blake save.
For the rest of that half, it was more back-and-forth as the Union looked to double the lead. Meanwhile, DC was tied and Montreal was winning. Results weren’t going their way.
In the last minutes of the first half, Blake recorded another save—this time it was Luca Orellano who was denied with his near-post shot.
Three minutes were added to the first half. Kubo’s shot was deflected away, and it came to Yamil Asad on the edge of the box. His shot was slotted perfectly in the far-right post, with nothing Blake could do about it. The match was equalized.
Going into the locker room, the Union was confronted with results not going their way. They needed to capitalize on these last 45 minutes.
SECOND HALF
Orellano tried to play a looping ball towards Lucho, but it was deflected by McGlynn. The ball fell to Jakob Glesnes, who never looked up and passed towards Blake. He wasn’t near the pass and couldn’t stop the ball from rolling into the net. It was an own goal not even one minute into the first half, the worst start imaginable for the Union. The Orange and Blue took the lead.
The match would become very feisty, as both sides were committing fouls often. There were 22 fouls in that second half alone.
For the most part, the real opportunities for both sides only came off of free-kicks from these fouls. In the 85th minute, however, Roman Celentano was forced to make a save off of Alejandro Bedoya’s long-shot.
In the final minutes of the game, the Union corner was parried away by Celentano. The ball was played in towards the box but cleared far out by Lucho. Niko Gioacchini was running with the ball towards the goal, challenged by multiple Union defenders. He was taken down but Sergio Santos would shoot and miss wide of the goal. It was a missed opportunity for the lead to be extended.
With just three minutes to go in the six minutes of added time, Jack Elliot’s shot was heroically blocked by Alvas Powell.
Time would run out as the Union tried to chase down the ball near the corner flag. The Orange and Blue caused their season to come to a crashing end, in the most bizarre of ways.
That match would mark the first time that the club has won away to the Union. With it, they would reach their 11th away win of the season—tying Montreal and Miami with the most of all time in MLS.
Lineups:
CIN: Roman Celentano, Teenage Hadebe (Ian Murphy 82’), Miles Robinson, Chidozie Awaziem (Alvas Powell 59’), Yamil Asad (Corey Baird 82’), Obinna Nwobodo, Pavel Bucha, DeAndre Yedlin, Lucho Acosta, Yuya Kubo (Sergio Santos 60’), Luca Orellano (Niko Gioacchini 69’)
Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Dado Valenzuela, Malik Pinto, Kevin Kelsy
PHI: Andre Blake, Kai Wagner, Jack Elliot, Jakob Glesnes (Ale Bedoya 65’), Nathan Harriel, Leon Flach (Jeremy Rafanello 88’), Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan, Daniel Gazdag (Danley Jean-Jacques 15’), Mikael Uhre, Tai Baribo
Substitutes not used: Andrew Rick, Olivier Mbaizo, Cavan Sullivan, Jesus Bueno, Christ Donovan, Samuel Adeniran
Scoring Summary:
Philadelphia: Sullivan 2’
FC Cincinnati: Asad 45+4’, Glesnes 46’ (OG)
Discipline:
Tai Baribo – (Yellow Card, 38’)
Obinna Nwobodo – (Yellow Card, 59’)
Jack Elliot – (Yellow Card, 64’)
Yamil Asad – (Yellow Card, 66’)
Luca Orellano – (Yellow Card, 68’)
Kai Wagner (Yellow Card, 80’)
Next Match:
NYCFC (MLS Playoffs Round One Best-Of-Three) – Monday, October 28th – 6:45 p.m. EST – MLS Season Pass on AppleTV+
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