In Saturday Night’s come from behind victory over archrivals the Columbus Crew, the Bailey and the rest of the sold out crowd at TQL Stadium played a critical role in lifting their beloved Orange and Blue to their third Eastern Conference Semifinals appearance in the last four years.
First Half
With their season on the line, Pat Noonan rolled out the strongest available lineup for FC Cincinnati. Playing out of a 3-5-2, with Evander and Brenner atop the formation.
Following a stellar pyro and light show, the first half began with the Crew attacking towards the Bailey. Fearlessly, the visitors from up I-71 grabbed control early on. Through the opening 10 minutes of action, the visitors held a commanding 81-19 margin of posession. Yet despite this disparity, the FCC defense did well to clear any forays forward by the Crew attack.
It wasn’t until the 20th minute when a run forward from Ender Echenique resulted in a corner that FCC had their first dangerous look of the match. Following the corner from Evander, Nick Hagglund did everything he could to get the ball on frame, yet it went just high. A few moments later, back-to-back attempts by Evander and Samuel Gidi just barely missed.
Through the opening half-hour the score line remained blank, with both sides fighting to build a substantial attack. The Crew would find their best chances of the first half immediately after subbing on Jacen Russel-Rowe in the 39th minute. In a five minute window that saw four separate corners for the visitors, the Crew failed to find anything particularly dangerous as the first half expired with only one additional minute being added by fourth official Allen Chapman.
Second Half
With no changes being made to begin the second half, the opening five minutes consisted of a flurry of warning shots from both sides. The impact of the sold out crowd became more evident. The energy was palpable and the intensity was translating to pitch level.
In the 57th minute, a whipped in cross nearly spelt disaster for FCC, yet thanks to the heroics of Roman Celentano the match remained scoreless. Unfortunately, the visitors couldn’t be held off for long. Following the subbing of Luca Orellano for Lukas Engel in the 61st minute, the Crew immediately attacked down the right side. A long ball over the top from Patrick Schulte found Andres Herrera who dribbled into the box and lanced a cross that Jacen Russel-Rowe hammered home past Celentano. It appeared that Andres Herrera was offsides, but after a short check the goal was allowed to stand.
Luckily for FCC, playing in one goal games is their forte. Less than four minutes later, a run forward by Kévin Denkey resulted in a corner. Evander whipped it in and, following a deflection off a leaping Teenage Hadebe, Brenner was there to slide it past Schulte. Despite his historic achievements with the club, it was Brenner’s first score versus the Crew and his first playoff goal.
As the match hurtled towards the end of 90, the reality of penalties became more and more pressing. However, the Orange and Blue had one more trick up their sleeve. A ball forward was killed in the box and who else but Brenner Da Silva stepped forward and slotted a shot into the bottom left corner, giving FCC the lead. This would mark the second ever brace from a FC Cincinnati player in the MLS Cup Playoffs, the other being Alvaro Barreal in Round 1 – Game 1 versus NY Red Bulls.
With only four minutes plus a nine minutes of stoppage time added, all 25,513 members of the sold-out crowd were on the edge of their seats for the run-down of this one. Despite a onslaught of chances for the Crew, the FCC defense answered the call, seeing this one out to victory.
Post Game
After a crushing elimination at the hands of the Crew in 2023, and a first-round exit at the hands of NYCFC last year, there was a definite cathartic nature to Saturday’s result. Following the match Pat Noonan praised the teams resiliency, “…we put our heads down, played, and got the momentum back quickly, which is important. I think that was a key moment. They’ve done it all year.”
Undoubtedly the MVP of the night was Brenner, who after scoring the leveler was about to be subbed off before convincing the coaching staff to keep him on. “He said, ‘I’m going to score another goal.’ He held up his end of the bargain on that one,” Noonan said post match.
Despite the obvious feeling of bliss following the result, Noonan placed a heavy emphasis on not getting too caught up in this moment. “While this is a really special moment…I don’t want anyone to get comfortable, or settle.”
Next Match
MLS Semifinals: vs. Inter Miami, Friday, November 21, TQL Stadium; Apple TV+
Quick Recap
FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati vs Columbus Crew
Date: November 8, 2025
Competition: Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs – Round One, Game 3
Venue: TQL Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio
Attendance: 25,513 (sellout)
Kickoff: 6:12 p.m. ET
Weather: 53 degrees, cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT
CIN: 0-2-2
CLB: 0-1-1
CIN – Brenner (Hadebe, Evander) 67’, Brenner (Gidi) 86’
CLB – Jacen Russell-Rowe (Herrera, Schulte) 63’
LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, Lukas Engel (Luca Orellano 63’), Teenage Hadebe, Miles Robinson (C), Nick Hagglund, Ender Echenique (Alvas Powell 88’), Samuel Gidi, Pavel Bucha, Evander, Brenner (Obinna Nwobodo 88’), Kévin Denkey (Ayoub Jabbari 76’)
Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Gilberto Flores, Gerardo Valenzuela, Tah Brian Anunga, Kei Kamara
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
CLB: Patrick Schulte, Max Arfsten (Abrahim Aliyu 90’), Malte Amundsen (Yevhen Cheberko 90’), Steven Moreira, Andrés Herrera (Lassi Lappalainen 84’), Taha Habroune (Jacen Russell-Rowe 39’), Darlington Nagbe (C), Dylan Chambost (Dániel Gazdag 90’), Sean Zawadzki, Hugo Picard, Diego Rossi
Substitutes not used: Evan Bush, Rudy Camacho, Amar Sejdić, Cesar Ruvalcaba
Head Coach: Wilfried Nancy
STATS SUMMARY: CIN/CLB
Shots: 16 / 14
Shots on Goal: 4 / 5
Saves: 4 / 2
Corner Kicks: 7 / 6
Fouls: 6 / 11
Offside: 0 / 2
Possession: 39.3 / 60.7
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
CLB – Malte Amundsen (Yellow Card) 4’
CIN – Nick Hagglund (Yellow Card) 10’
CLB – Taha Habroune (Yellow Card) 35’
CIN – Brenner (Yellow Card) 87’
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