With the festive air around the city in honor of “513 Day”, the hope was that FC Cincinnati would be able to exorcise their postseason demons from last season. However, as would be expected with Inter Miami’s star-studded roster, this feat is easier said than done.
There was a slight bit of rotation in the starting XI, with Andrei Chirila starting on the bench following his recent string of full 90 minute appearances. In his place was Kyle Smith, who made his sixth start of the season after serving a red-card suspension against Charlotte.
FIRST HALF:
The good vibes created by the pregame festivities were almost immediately terminated after it appeared Lionel Messi scored the opener in the 5th minute, however the play-in from Berterame was just a tad late and the flag came up. This nervy start would fade as FCC worked their way into the match, controlling the lionshare of the posession up to the 20th minute. However, in the 24th minute, Miami would strike first. The sequence for the opener began with a nifty service from Rodrigo De Paul, which appeared as if it would be cleared by Matt Miazga. When asked after the match about this sequence, Miazga cited a combination of bad luck and a mistake, “Yeah it was a bit unlucky, out of all the places… he guessed the clearance and it luckily hit off into the goal. It’s a mistake, but ya know that’s the game of soccer.”
Despite the deficit, The Orange and Blue remained tenacious in their efforts to level the score. Over the following quarter hour, both Evander and Pavel Bucha would work chances that were close enough to make the Miami defense nervous. Their resolve would finally be rewarded in the 39th minute, when Bucha played in to Kevin Denkey, who was summarily fouled by Gonzalo Lujan. Referee Alexis Da Silva had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and booked Lujan for the foul. Despite Dayne St. Clair guessing the correct side on Denkey’s effort, the shot had too much moxie for the Canadian to keep out.
Despite a slight four minutes of added time, Miami would manage to threaten again before half. A cross from Sergio Reguilon dropped tantalizingly in front of Messi in the 45th minute, alas the little magicians first-time effort went wide of goal.
SECOND HALF:
Neither side made any changes to begin the second half of play, the restart delayed by Miami’s unpunctual return to the pitch.
With the strong end to the first half fresh in mind, The Orange and Blue didn’t waste much time in reclaiming that headway that had begun with Denkey’s penalty. Finding himself all alone in the middle of the park, Denkey slid it out wide to Bryan Ramirez, who’s lanced cross met a streaking Bucha perfectly. 2-1 Cincinnati. A very welcome, complete team goal.
Unfortunately this lead would persist for only six minutes, as in the 55th minute Miami answered back. Like their first score, their second began with Rodrigo De Paul and ended with Messi. This time it was a sizzled cross from De Paul that ran through the box, where the Argentine met it and tucked it away in the bottom left corner. 2-2.
The gripping pace to the second half would not relent, as just nine minutes later FCC would retake the lead. A beautiful bit of combination play between Denkey and Evander allowed the Brazilian to cut back centrally from the left wing, a patented move of his. Now finding himself with ample space, he stowed a firecracker in the top-left corner. 3-2 Cincinnati.
The following quarter hour was quieter by comparison, yet it went without saying that the action was far from over. The fragile peace was shattered in the 79th minute, when Mateo Silvetti ended up on the end of a Messi service, picking out the bottom right corner. The young Argentine had just come on two minutes prior for Luis Suarez, and immediately made a game-changing impact. 3-3.
This is when the train began to come off the tracks so to speak. Just five minutes later a sequence that began with a Messi service would end in disaster. While the initial service appeared benign, an unfortunate bit of miscommunication between Roman Celentano and Andrei Chirila resulted in a nasty collision. This blunder left the ball untended, and German Berterame wasted no time in thumping it home. 4-3 Miami.
Following the collision Chirila remained down for a number of minutes, eventually managing to make his way off the pitch under his own power. The only available update at the time of writing is that he remains in concussion protocol.
With the lead now lost, things only got worse. In the 89th minute Miami would put the nails in the coffin, and who else but Messi? After his equalizer, Silvetti found himself involved again, providing a service to Messi. His initial effort went off the right post, but unfortunately bounced off Roman and in for a decisive fifth goal. 5-3 Miami.
POSTGAME:
With the dissapointing result, Manager Pat Noonan placed the focal point of the blame on the team’s inability to get out of their own way, “Struggled to get out of our own way with some of our play, and they pretty much punished us for all of it, so disappointing in how we let that second half play out.”
The Orange and Blue now have a quick turnaround for a Saturday evening clash with San Diego. A side which throttled Austin 5-0 on Wednesday and currently sit 10th in the Western Conference.
FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati vs Inter Miami CF
Date: May 13, 2026
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: TQL Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio
Attendance: 25,513 (sellout)
Kickoff: 7:40 p.m. ET
Weather: 59 degrees, clear
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT
CIN: 1-2-3
MIA: 1-4-5
CIN – Kévin Denkey – PK 41’, Pavel Bucha (Ramirez, Denkey) 49’, Evander (Denkey, Echenique) 64’
MIA – Lionel Messi 24’, Lionel Messi (De Paul, Suárez) 55’, Mateo Silvetti (Messi, De Paul) 79’, Germán Berterame 84’, Own Goal – Celentano 89’
LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, Bryan Ramirez, Miles Robinson (Nick Hagglund 73’), Matt Miazga (Andrei Chirila 73’, Ayoub Lajhar 87’), Kyle Smith, Pavel Bucha (Tom Barlow 87’), Samuel Gidi (Ender Echenique 60’), Gerardo Valenzuela, Evander (C), Kenji Mboma Dem (Obinna Nwobodo 72’), Kévin Denkey
Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Tah Brian Anunga, Ayoub Jabbari
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
MIA: Dayne St. Clair, Sergio Reguilón (David Ruiz 65’), Gonzalo Luján, Micael, Ian Fray, Rodrigo De Paul, Telasco Segovia, Yannick Bright, Lionel Messi (C), Luis Suárez (Mateo Silvetti 76’), Germán Berterame
Substitutes not used: Rocco Rios-Novo, Facundo Mura, David Ayala, Maximiliano Falcon, Daniel Pinter, Preston Plambeck, Cesar Ezequiel Abadia-Reda
Head Coach: Guillermo Hoyos
STATS SUMMARY: CIN/MIA
Shots: 10 / 17
Shots on Goal: 3 / 6
Saves: 1 / 0
Corner Kicks: 1 / 8
Fouls: 18 / 11
Offside: 1 / 1
Possession: 50.6 / 49.4
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
MIA – Ian Fray (Yellow Card) 38’
MIA – Gonzalo Luján (Yellow Card) 40’
CIN – Obinna Nwobodo (Yellow Card) 76’
MIA – Yannick Bright (Yellow Card) 77’
CIN – Evander (Yellow Card) 90’+4
NEXT MATCH:
MLS Regular Season: @ San Diego, 9:30 PM Saturday May 16th, AppleTV+
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