FC Cincinnati have been incredibly successful in their away fixtures against the Chicago Fire posting a record of 6-1-2 (W/L/D). Saturday was no different as the Orange and Blue dug deep to bring home all three points in a 3-2 victory.
Coming in
FCC fielded a rotated starting XI that has brought them success in their two previous matches against their Hudson River foes. Kenji Mboma Dem once again got the nod up top paired with Kévin Denkey. Pavel Bucha advocated his central midfielder spot for Dado Valenzuela and slotted out to right wingback. Samuel Gidi dropped from his defensive midfield role to join Andrei Chirila and Kyle Smith on the backline. Available on the bench were two much needed defensive pieces of Matt Miazga and Nick Hagglund.
First Half Chaos
Chicago struck first in the match with a 16th minute goal by Hugo Cuypers. Against the run of play, Philip Zinckernagel’s cross in the box took an unfortunate deflection off Brian Anunga before falling to the feet of Cuypers. Fortune continued as Cuypers’s shot deflected off Smith to sputter into the right lower ninety.
Evander brought the match level moments later in the 24th minute with a similarly fortuitous goal. Evander played a through ball to Denkey left of the goal. Denkey crossed the ball across the face of goal where Bucha raced to get onto it. Bucha played it again across the face of goal but Mbekezeli Mbokazi deflected the ball trying to clear the line. The deflection fell to the feet of Evander who smashed the ball into the net.
Cuypers would respond shortly in the 27th minute, picking up a brace. Again the chance was created by Zinckernagel who flashed a burst of speed to get around Anunga on the endline and delivered a back pass to Cuypers standing unmarked in front of goal. Much like Chicago’s first goal the shot took a deflection off a FCC defender which took Roman Celentano off his tracking of the ball.
The first half fireworks had not concluded yet as Evander picked up his brace in the 31st minute. FCC’s youngsters Valenzuela and Mboma Dem played a lovely first touch quick action on the right side of the attack before finding Evander open centrally just outside of the Chicago box. Evander took a touch before wiping a left-footed rocket to the lower ninety past a diving Chris Brady. The match was even 2-2 heading into the lockers for halftime.
Man Down
In the 56th minute Kyle Smith received an unfortunate red card. A quick resumption of play on a Chicago throw in sees the ball go over the head of Smith. Smith attempts to clear it over his shoulder but fails to identify Robin Lod running onto it. Smith’s boot strikes Lod under his left eye and Joe Dickerson immediately flashes a red card. FCC would need to go 34 minutes plus with only nine field players. A position they have found themselves in far too often in the 2026 campaign.
Roman Testudo
Being a man down, Celentano is no stranger to playing the hero role for FCC. The shots would come in flurries around 20 minutes remaining.
Maren Haile-Selassie, in the 70th minute, was able to collect the ball in the box and drive hard right before striking low between the legs of Chirila. Celentano read the ball well and dived to the deck to extinguish the threat. In the 77th minute, Zinkernagel delivered a curling cross into the box with Cuypers getting a head on it but again Celentano tracked it the whole way and made the save look routine.
As the minutes slipped away on Chicago’s man advantage, the pressure ratcheted up. In the 84th minute, an intervention by Miazga saw the ball fall to Zinkernagel inside the box. Zenkernagel’s shot parroted Haile-Selassie’s attempt from earlier but the angle required Celentano to fully extend to punch the ball clear of frame.
In the 87th minute, Haile-Selassie may have mis-timed his run but none the less Celentano was there to make sure the netting continued to collect dust. Haile-Selassie darted out left of frame to collect a lob pass. Haile-Selassie’s left footed shot rocketed skyward towards the near post but Celentano displayed his wingspan punching the ball above the crossbar.
Pat Noonan shared his thoughts on Celentano’s eight save performance post-match.
“..that’s a night where I think Roman’s skill set comes out.” Noonan went on to say, “We’re taking on pressure, we’re taking on crosses, they’re finding shots from close range, from distance, he’s got a lot of action in front of him and bodies in front of him. And the save he makes on Zinckernagel to tip it wide is an exceptional save. The penalty speaks for itself, that save, but a couple where he tips it over the bar, it just brought out his skill set. And he came up big for us tonight.”
Stoppage PK Shoot Out
Spoiler in that quote, but what capped off the night was truly remarkable. The match had gone to a stalemate with Chicago attempting shots on frame but not being able to best FCC.
The Fire came up with a golden opportunity to go ahead in the 90th minute with a penalty kick awarded from a challenge by Ayoub Lajhar stepping on the boot of Zinkernagel inside the box. Cuypers stepped to the spot where he hoped to pick up a hat trick and put the Fire in the lead. But Celentano guessed correctly and dove to his right to prevent Cuyper’s attempt finding the inside of the left post. Lajhar put the poor tackle that led to PK quickly behind him and made a crucial intervention to prevent the Fire from scoring on the rebounded save.
FCC would create an opportunity of their own in the 90+2 minute when Lajhar made a dangerous run up the left channel towards the endline. Lajhar sent in a cross that failed to connect with Valenzuela but the clear out by Chicago lacked in urgency. The ball sputtered in front of goal where Bucha and Dje D’Avilla raced to it. D’Avilla got to the ball first but his boot continued forward with studs landing into Bucha’s shin. Dickerson immediately awarded a penalty to the Orange and Blue. Evander stepped to the spot similarly to Cuypers, hoping for a completion of a hat-trick and to put his team ahead. Evander’s shot was pure and fooled Brady.
Evander picked up his first ever hat-trick and secured all three points for FC Cincinnati.
Major League Soccer, Match #11
FC Cincinnati at Chicago Fire FC
Soldier Field; Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 18,639
Result: FC Cincinnati 3, Chicago Fire FC 2.
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI (3-5-2):
Roman Celentano, Samuel Gidi, Andrei Chirila, Kyle Smith, Bryan Ramirez (Ayoub Lajhar 88’), Tah Brian Anunga (Nick Hagglund 46’), Gerardo Valenzuela (Matt Miazga 66’), Pavel Bucha, Evander (C), Kévin Denkey (Ayoub Jabbari 77’), Kenji Mboma Dem (Tom Barlow 77’)
Bench: Evan Louro, Gilberto Flores, Tom Barlow, Stiven Jimenez, Ender Echenique
Chicago Fire FC Starting XI (4-2-3-1):
Chris Brady, Andrew Gutman, Jack Elliot (C), Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Johnny Dean (Jason Shokalook 90’+7), Dje D’Avila, Anton Saletros, Robin Lod (Jonathan Bamba 59’), Maren Haile-Selassie, Hugo Cuypers, Philip Zinckernagel
Bench: Josh Cohen, Puso Dithejane, Viktor Radojevic, Joel Waterman, Mauricio Pineda, Dylan Borso, Sergio Oregel Jr.
Scoring Summary:
CHI – Hugo Cuypers 16’, Hugo Cuypers (Zinckernagel, Salétros) 28’
CIN – Evander 24’, Evander 31 (Kenji Mboma Dem, Gerardo Valenzuela), Evander (PK) 90’+7
Discipline:
CIN – Kyle Smith (Red Card) 56’
CIN – Kévin Denkey (Yellow Card) 68’
CIN – Ayoub Lajhar (Yellow Card) 90’
CHI – Dje D’Avilla (Yellow Card) 90’+3
CIN – Andrei Chirila (Yellow Card) 90’+12
NEXT MATCH:
MLS Regular Season: at Charlotte FC; 7:30pm Saturday May 9th: AppleTV+
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