After a much-needed two-week break, FC Cincinnati was back in action as they traveled to Foxborough to battle the New England Revolution.
New England came into this match as one of the hottest teams in MLS, having salvaged what looked like another lost season. The Revs started their 2025 MLS season with just four points in their first six matches, with the last being a 1-0 defeat at the hands of FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium. Since then, they’ve rattled off a nine-match unbeaten streak, winning five in the process.
Cincinnati, however, suffered the opposite in their results. FCC started their three-match road trip on Saturday with an opportunity to get back on track after a rough patch. The club had gone 0-2-2 in their last four matches, conceding ten goals while scoring only four in return. This past week off was a chance to reset and refocus, and that’s exactly what FC Cincinnati did.
“We prioritized our intensity,” FC Cincinnati’s Pat Noonan said at Thursday’s pre-match press conference. “I think in certain moments, we’ve gotten away from some of the areas that have made us strong in the past, like making the intensity and the defensive side of the ball more consistent.”
First Half
And they came out strong. Cincinnati constantly fed the left side of the pitch, allowing Luca Orellano to take space and apply early pressure. A few crosses nearly resulted in an opener, and a left-footed shot from Orellano beat Revs goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic but found the far post instead of the back of the net, keeping the match scoreless.
However, New England also focused their attack on Orellano, exploiting his positioning and defensive lapses. They constantly worked the ball to Ilay Feingold, finding several crosses and opportunities of their own.
The match’s lone goal came in the 26th minute. Kévin Denkey took on New England’s defense and looked for a streaking Evander running into the box. Evander’s run suddenly stopped, allowing the ball to leak to the other side of the pitch to the trailing Orellano. Orellano paused for a moment, broke towards goal, and crossed it in. During that time, Denkey snuck in onto goal and was able to beat New England’s Brayan Ceballos to the ball, poking it in and finding FC Cincinnati’s opener.
Second Half
New England kept attacking, looking for any opening in Cincinnati’s defense, and challenged Roman Celentano with some longer shots as the match progressed. But what set this match apart from Cincinnati’s recent results was their defense against set pieces.
Noonan stressed that set pieces were a struggle for this team, stating that they “let them down defensively” and that they’ve “conceded too many goals there” during his Thursday press conference. New England finished with eight corner kicks in the match, along with a couple of free kicks in dangerous areas. While a few balls didn’t receive the cleanest clearances, Cincinnati found a way to keep New England from taking advantage.
“We defended in a really good way against a strong team and one of the best attacking players in our league with Gil,” Noonan said post-match. “We had to defend a lot of crosses, and I thought we did that in an excellent way.”
New England made a few late subs to try and change the match result, including bringing in forward Maximiliano Urruti for Ceballos, a defender, with 30 minutes left to play. This overload of attacking options allowed New England to control possession for over 60% of the match, and nearly 75%in the second half.
There were certainly some last chances for the Revs, including a run by Peyton Miller that could have resulted in the equalizer had one of his teammates trailed with him. The final chance came at the hands of a Corey Baird foul inside New England’s attacking third. Carles Gil stood over the ball as stoppage time ticked away, and went for goal on his own, but sailed his shot over the outstretched arms of Celentano, and Cincinnati held on for the shutout.
This was an impressive clean sheet, considering the back line didn’t look like it normally would. Nick Hagglund is still recovering from the injury he sustained in Atlanta, and Miles Robinson is away on international duty with the United States National Team. That opened the door for Lukas Engel to make just his fourth career start at center back. New England’s Luis Diaz had one of the best chances to level the match in the 52nd minute after he found himself all alone on goal, but Engel tracked him down and dispossessed him, which proved to be a pivotal play in the result.
For Cincinnati, this marks their 10th win of the season and their fifth on the road, only trailing Chicago in road wins this season. They look to continue their away success as the road trip carries on.
MATCH REPORT
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT
CIN: 1-0-1
NE: 0-0-0
CIN – Kevin Denkey (Orellano) 26’
STARTING LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, DeAndre Yedlin, Matt Miazga (C), Gilberto Flores, Lukas Engel (Brad Smith 84’), Luca Orellano (Alvas Powell 75’), Pavel Bucha, Obinna Nwobodo, Evander, Kai Kamara (Corey Baird 64’), Kevin Denkey (Brian Anunga 84’)
Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Teenage Hadebe, Gerardo Valenzuela, Paul Walters
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
NE: Aljaz Ivacic, Ilay Feingold, Mamadou Fofana, Tanner Beason, Brayan Ceballos (Maximiliano Urruti 64’), Alhassan Yusuf, Matt Polster, Peyton Miller, Carles Gil (C), Luis Díaz (Will Sands 86’), Tomás Chancalay (Jackson Yueill 80’)
Substitutes not used: Allan Oyirwoth, Brandon Bye, Donovan Parisian, Wyatt Omsberg, Keegan Hughes, Eric Klein
Head Coach: Caleb Porter
STATS SUMMARY: CIN/NE
Possession (%): 38.4 / 61.6
Shots: 9 / 10
Shots on Goal: 3 / 2
Saves: 2 / 2
Corner Kicks: 3 / 8
Fouls: 13 / 11
Offside: 0 / 1
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
NE – Brayan Ceballos (Yellow Card) 16’
CIN – Kai Kamara (Yellow Card) 40’
CIN – Luca Orellano (Yellow Card) 52’
CIN – DeAndre Yedlin (Yellow Card) 59’
NE – Mamadou Fofana (Yellow Card) 90+3’
OFFICIALS
Referee: Filip Dujic
Ast. Referees: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho, Meghan Mullen
Fourth Official: Calin Radosav
VAR: Younes Marrakchi
AVAR: Robert Schaap
NEXT UP
MLS Regular Season: @ CF Montreal, 7:30 pm, Wednesday June 25th; Apple TV+
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