A hurricane warning had been in the news for weeks. Unfortunately for the Orange & Blue, there was no answer when the legend decided to appear.
Lionel Messi scored the first goal and assisted on three more, paving the way for an impressive 4-0 win in front of a shell-shocked sold-out TQL Stadium crowd. Mateo Silvetti’s early second-half goal and Tadeo Allende’s brace put the nail in the coffin.
FC Cincinnati see their 2025 season come to a grinding halt, despite the massive moves made to the roster and the potential of winning this season.
“We’re playing to win trophies, so similar to what I just said—for me, there’ll always be disappointment when that’s not the case,” Pat Noonan addressed after the match. “And those are the expectations that you want to have, and that you should have if you’re going to be anything as a club. We’ll continue to push to make that a reality.”
Both squads went through similar paths to get to this stage of the MLS Cup Playoffs. FC Cincinnati rode late goals to close out a three-match series win over in-state rivals Columbus Crew. While the Crew took a brief lead in the second half of Match #3, Brenner’s brace propelled the Orange & Blue to the next stage.
Inter Miami also required three matches to defeat Nashville SC, even though the rubber match was a decisive 4-0 win over Nashville. Lionel Messi led the team in scoring with five goals and an assist over the three games, while midfielder Tadeo Allende scored the other three goals in the series for Miami.
The Starting XI for the Orange & Blue was unchanged from the 2-1 victory over Columbus. Cincinnati suffered a small injury scare over the international break, as winger Ender Echenique exited the match against Canada on Tuesday in the 30th minute with a knee concern. However, the Venezuelan appeared to be okay upon returning and started the match.
Matt Miazga remained out after a small concern this week with a possible setback, while Kei Kamara was a healthy scratch from the bench.
Inter Miami also kept their Starting XI intact from the Nashville win. Luis Suarez was suspended only one match, but manager Javier Mascherano opted to have Suarez on the bench. Midfielder David Ruiz (hamstring) and defender Ryan Sailor (knee) remained out.
First half
The first 15 minutes of the match was full of promise that FC Cincinnati could not carry later into the match. The earliest opportunity, in the sixth minute, involved Lukas Engel and Ender popping their cross back to the top of the box, but Evander was unable to square his shot against goal. The early possession favored Cincinnati (55/45), but many more big chances fell Miami’s way.
The first damage to the dam occurred early enough to alter the match. Silvetti fed a cross back to Messi in the 19th minute, who pounced a header past Roman Celentano. His first goal against FC Cincinnati in all competitions gave Miami the early 1-0 lead that lasted the rest of the first half.
Echenique appeared to have very little rust from his injury scare this past week. His own give-and-go to Denkey in the 22nd minute squirted just wide of goal. The Venezuelan had another opportunity in the 34th minute, only for his cross to Denkey to miss wide in the box.
While Miami had control of the score at halftime, Cincinnati still had evidence they could overcome the deficit. The possession and shots were pretty much split down the middle, but Miami was the only team with a breakthrough.
Second half
Once the curtain was torn in the second half, there was no way for Cincinnati to patch things up on the fly.
After an FC Cincinnati substitution, Miami quickly went for the jugular. Lionel Messi turned a quick advance in the 57th minute to catch the back line sleeping, feeding a pass to Silvetti on his left. The Argentinian youngster hit a right-footed one-timer past Celentano to quickly make it 2-0.
The final two goals for Allende were almost carbon copies of one another.
A turnover in the defensive end in the 62nd minute quickly turned on a dime. Messi dished an assist past Teenage Hadebe and Samuel Gidi, and Allende fired his close-up shot past Celentano’s right.
Messi caught the defense floating high again in the 74th minute, and Allende’s march past Hadebe produced an effort through Celentano’s legs.
The four-goal deficit remained until the final whistle of the FC Cincinnati season. The Orange & Blue retreat from the MLS Cup with two sore 4-0 losses in the postseason and only three goals over a four-match span.
“Obviously, we gave too much time to (Lionel) Messi in some areas where the way he’s advancing with the ball and the way they move off of the ball,” Noonan observed. “It’s tough to deal with. I don’t think we protected the space behind well enough or recognized some of those runs to drop our line. And, you know like I said we had some chances to maybe get the momentum back in our favor.
“Regular season is regular season, but those results are in the past. We didn’t look at those as an advantage for us because we know they have great players. We have strong players that we know can match up with them. But tonight…they made more and more plays.”
“You want to win a trophy, you want to put something to say that this is what this group did in 2025,” Nick Hagglund noted after the game. “It’s unfortunate that it didn’t happen this way. You’re onto the next year, and that’s kind of the mentality.
“Ultimately, your goal is to win the MLS Cup, and going out in any direction—1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0—it feels like the same for me.”
“We needed to approach it differently,” Kevin Denkey provided afterwards. “Honestly, how we played today was not the energy. The energy was really low. We didn’t show that we are hungry. It’s good that we have talent. They also have talent, but we needed to put more defending together, attacking together. It’s a long way to go, and we had to do it every game.”
The end of the FC Cincinnati’s season produces a surprise conference final matchup. Miami’s win, coupled with Philadelphia’s shocking 1-0 loss to NYCFC, means that the Herons will host New York in Miami next week. The winner will face either Vancouver, Minnesota, or San Diego in the cup final.
Major League Soccer, MLS Cup Playoffs, Eastern Conference Semifinals
FC Cincinnati vs. Inter Miami CF
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
Attendance: 25,513
Result: FC Cincinnati 0, Inter Miami CF 4.
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI (5-2-1-2):
Roman Celentano (GK); Ender Echenique (Yuya Kubo 66′), Nick Hagglund (Ayoub Jabbari 66′), Miles Robinson (c), Teenage Hadebe (Alvas Powell 78′), Lukas Engel (Luca Orellano 57′); Pavel Bucha (Obinna Nwobodo 78′), Samuel Gidi; Evander; Brenner, Kevin Denkey.
Bench: Evan Louro, Gilberto Flores, Gerardo Valenzuela, Brian Anunga.
Inter Miami CF Starting XI (4-4-2):
Rocco Rios Novo (GK); Ian Fray, Maximiliano Falcon, Noah Allen (Tomas Aviles 71′), Jordi Alba (Gonzalo Lujan 82′); Tadeo Allende (Luis Suarez 76′), Rodrigo De Paul, Sergio Busquets, Baltasar Rodriguez (Telasco Segovia 76′); Lionel Messi (c), Marco Silvetti (Yannick Bright 82′).
Bench: Oscar Ustari, Santiago Morales, Fafa Picault, Allen Obando.
Scoring summary:
MIA – Lionel Messi 19′ (Silvetti)
MIA – Mateo Silvetti 57′ (Messi)
MIA – Tadeo Allende 62′ (Messi)
MIA – Tadeo Allende 74′ (Messi)
Discipline:
None
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