Here is an instant French lesson for everyone. “J’hallucine!” is the French equivalent of “I’m hallucinating!” or “I can’t believe this!”
Both FC Cincinnati and CF Montreal fans may be using the same expression after 90 minutes of incredulity.
After going down three times and losing a man due to a red card, FC Cincinnati (2-0-3, 6 pts.) turned a deficit into an improbable 4-3 victory over CF Montreal (1-0-4, 3 pts.) Prince Owusu’s brace gave the visitors a lead, but late goals by Tom Barlow and Kevin Denkey sent the TQL Stadium public home in disbelieving joy.
“You go into the international break with some positive feelings, some momentum,” head coach Pat Noonan addressed after the match. “That’s kind of all we really needed. How it played out…sure, you’d like it to look different, but they fought, and that’s all you can ask for. So, resilience, whatever word you want to use to describe the feeling, how we come out of it…they showed good character.”
Both teams were in similar table positions going into the match. Cincinnati had suffered three straight losses in MLS play for the first time under Noonan. The 6-1 loss to New England the weekend before was brutal, only to be compounded with a 5-1 loss at Tigres that eliminated the Orange & Blue from CONCACAF Champions Cup play.
Montreal had managed an impressive 3-0 victory at Red Bull New York, as well as a close 2-1 loss at Orlando. However, CFM were coming to the end of their five-match away trip with only three points in four matches.
The Cincinnati lineup was adjusted from the two varied listings over the two previous losses. Matt Miazga made his first start for the season, while Alvas Powell started at center back in his 150th appearance for the team.
Cincinnati also had a few midweek injury bugs to handle. Roman Celentano picked up a knock on Friday, replaced in the lineup by Evan Louro. Brian Anunga (leg) was also declared out after the Tigres match. With Dado Valenzuela out due to his red card, Obi Nwobodo occupied the midfield with Pavel Bucha.
Stefan Chrilia (leg) and Kristian Fletcher (knee) remained out from last week.
Montreal made a few adjustments over the past week. Defender Tomas Aviles and winger Dagur Dan Thorhallsson began on the bench, replaced by Bode Hidalgo and Ivan Jaime. Fabian Herbers and Josh-Duc Nteziryayo (lower body) were both declared out for Montreal.
First half
The rocky defense unfortunately continued over the first 45 minutes, as Montreal started with much of the early possession.
The plentiful sunshine didn’t help efforts. In the 6th minute, Wikelman Carmona uncorked a shot atop the box. Louro reacted late to the effort, perhaps a result of the sun-to-shade transition. Carmona’s third goal of the season gave Montreal the early lead.
It took some time for the offense to shake off the cobwebs, but much of the link-up play looked absent. Denkey was surprisingly held in check by Efrain Morales on the end line. Meanwhile, Montreal poked away many of the opportunities in the first half, winning 23 of 37 ground duels and extinguishing plays in the box.
A small ray of sunlight poked through in the 40th minute. Receiving a starting pass from Powell, Ender Echenique ran much of the pitch to the edge of the opponent’s box. The Venezuelan’s shot spritzed by Thomas Gillier to make it 1-1, his first goal of the season and his first at home.
Much like the match against New England, however, the defense lapsed right before halftime. Prince Owusu stayed onside long enough to get a tapped pass from Ivan Jaime in the 45th minute. Owusu’s shot and his third goal of the season evaded Louro to make it 2-1 before the whistle.
Second half
The second half began with better synchronicity between the attacking players. Minutes after missing a golden opportunity, Ayoub Jabbari opened his MLS account. The Moroccan striker received a pass from Echenique in the middle in the 52nd minute and buried his shot to tied the game at 2-2.
“Always, I never focus on individual stats,” Ender addressed after the match. “Yes, obviously I love scoring goals and helping the team in that way, but I also contributed with an assist. Honestly, the most important thing is to keep picking up points—helping the team, whether through goals or assists—and making a direct impact on the match. That is what gives me the greatest peace of mind.”
Jabbari was happy to turn the scoreline around. “Especially when we lost two games with big scores, we needed it this week.”
The floor appeared to have caved in the 60th minute. After Louro saved a shot from Brayan Vera, Owusu and Robinson clattered in the box. The referee judged that Robinson had dragged Owusu down during the attempt as a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. FC Cincinnati was reduced to ten men, and Owusu buried the resulting penalty kick, putting Montreal ahead with 30 minutes to go.
While the team was on the back foot, Cincinnati still had opportunities presented to them. Montreal subbed off their two goal scorers to play a conservative defensive game, and it burned them twice.
In the 80th minute, Samuel Piette was unable to collar a deflection from Denkey. Barlow, on as a substitute minutes beforehand, occupied the space in front of Gallier and beat the keeper to knot the match at 3-3.
The cards and penalty kick factored into an extra 12 minutes to the end of the match. Considering Cincinnati lost to Tigres in a similar situation days before, the defense was locked into another long bout to rescue points, but the offense had a different mindset.
In the fourth minute of extra time, Nick Hagglund tossed a long throw-in into the Montreal box. The ball deflected backward off a Montreal defender’s head, and an unmarked Denkey swept the free ball into the net. Denkey’s second goal of the MLS season gave the Orange & Blue all three points in the end.
“Really pleased for Kevin,” Noonan commented. “It’s two (goal) moments. Outside of that, I thought we defended pretty well to see out the game. You look at being down a man, how do you manage the emotions after scoring some goals and seeing the game out. I thought the guys did it in a good way.”
“I think (Denkey and Jabbari) have put in a ton of work,” Barlow added after the game. “We’ve been working a lot in training, trying to find the back of the net and trying new ideas and stuff. I think today it showed.”
The win was the first time that Cincinnati had won a match while being behind and down a man. In the other three times they won while down a man, Cincinnati was already ahead at the time.
Today’s 4-3 win for FC Cincinnati over CF Montréal marked FC Cincinnati’s first come-from-behind win when playing down a man.
In FCC’s three prior MLS wins when finishing the match with 10 men, the Orange and Blue were leading at the time of the red card (9/14/19 at MTL; 3/11/23… pic.twitter.com/s23FsYjtVB
— FC Cincinnati Communications (@FCCincinnatiPR) March 22, 2026
Noonan noted that there is still a lot of defensive work to focus on over the break. “There’s a lot to correct. It’s not good enough, and I don’t want to bring too much negativity to the three goals we conceded, but I like the four goals that we scored. Defensively, we’re not very strong right now, and that’s clear.”
The Orange & Blue go into the international break in ninth place, but have some time to recover before the next match at Red Bull New York. Montreal find themselves in 12th, but have one more away match in two weeks at New England.
Major League Soccer, Match #5
FC Cincinnati vs. CF Montreal
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
Attendance: 25,513
Result: FC Cincinnati 4, CF Montreal 3.
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI (3-5-2):
Evan Louro (GK); Alvas Powell (Samuel Gidi 77′), Matt Miazga (Nick Hagglund 65′), Miles Robinson (c); Ender Echenique, Obinna Nwobodo (Stiven Jimenez 88′), Evander, Pavel Bucha (Tom Barlow 77′); Ayoub Jabbari (Teenage Hadebe 65′), Kevin Denkey.
Bench: Fabian Mrozek, Gilberto Flores, Kyle Smith.
CF Montreal Starting XI (4-3-3):
Thomas Gillier (GK); Bode Hidalgo, Efrain Morales, Brayan Vera, Luca Petrasso; Victor Loturi, Wikelman Carmona (Samuel Piette 74′), Matty Longstaff (Olger Escobar 84′); Ivan Jaime (Dagur Dan Thorhallsson 58′), Prince Owusu (c) (Daniel Rios 74′), Hennadii Synchuk (Kwadwo Opoku 57′).
Bench: Sebastian Breza, Tomas Aviles, Brandan Craig, Aleksandr Gubolgo.
Scoring summary:
CFM – Wikelman Carmona 6′ (Owusu)
CIN – Ender Echenique 40′ (Powell)
CFM – Prince Owusu 45′ (Jaime)
CIN – Ayoub Jabbari 52′ (Echenique)
CFM – Prince Owusu 64′ (PK)
CIN – Tom Barlow 80′ (unassisted)
CIN – Kevin Denkey 90+4′ (unassisted)
Discipline:
YC – Hennadiy Synchuk 26′ (CFM, foul)
RC – Miles Robinson 60′ (CIN, foul, DOGSO)
YC – Matt Miazga 62′ (CIN, poor sportsmanship)
YC – Obinna Nwobodo 66′ (CIN, foul)
YC – Teenage Hadebe 83′ (CIN, poor sportsmanship)
YC – Kevin Denkey 90+5′ (CIN, poor sportsmanship)
Next Match:
MLS Regular Season: at Red Bull New York, 7:30 pm, Saturday, April 4th; Apple+.
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