Despite their previous successes, the Orange & Blue still needed good fortune to advance. Instead, Lady Luck made it simple and blew the house of cards over.
FC Cincinnati (2-0-1, 6 pts.) were minutes away from advancing in the Leagues Cup, but two late goals on two similar plays imploded the lead. Atlas FC (1-0-2, 3 pts.) escape from TQL Stadium with a brutal 2-1 win, likely ending Cincinnati’s chances at making the knockout round.
“We win and lose together, and we have a chance to go and always analyze and see where we could have done things better,” Pat Noonan addressed after the loss. “I think it was clear with that first 75 (minutes) with a lot of controllable moments. The way we turn the ball over in the first goal becomes a moment where it’s very difficult to defend space and transition, and so that moment obviously was clear as far as how we conceded. I don’t think it was a tactical situation or a situation where our press was wrong and they broke us down.
It was just a couple individual mistakes, and that’s part of the game. So you try to pick guys up and make sure they’re ready to go for the next one.”
Cincinnati entered the evening with the maximum point output after two wins, but still without assurance of advancing to the Leagues Cup knockout round. Victories over Pachuca and Pumas left the Orange & Blue with a goal differential of +4. However, Charlotte, Austin, and Chicago stood atop the standings with tiebreakers favoring them over Cincinnati.
A win over Atlas would not be enough. The best scenario would be a win and for Charlotte and Columbus to lose points Tuesday night. That much worked for Cincinnati, as Columbus needed to win over Pumas in penalty kicks, and Charlotte lost 1-0 to Pachuca.
Head coach Pat Noonan opted to play a starting lineup heavy on first-string players. Matt Miazga, Samuel Gidi, and Bryan Ramirez re-entered the Starting XI, while Evan Louro remained as the goalkeeper for the third straight match.
Atlas had very little riding in the Tuesday matchup against Cincinnati. Previous defeats to Columbus and Charlotte already eliminated Los Rojinegros from further qualification. Head coach Hernan Crespo opted to switch out five players from Friday’s 2-0 loss to Charlotte. However, he did keep in left back Milton Valenzuela, who last faced FCC as a member of the Crew back in 2020.
First half
Cincinnati enjoyed initial possession from the whistle, but Atlas was pesky with their one-on-one defending patterns. The Orange & Blue found it difficult to finish plays in the final third. Atlas read many of their passes from the opening kick, disrupting play in mid-pitch for most of the first 45 minutes.
Evander finally gave the Orange & Blue the edge with little time to spare before halftime. In the 44th minute, the Brazilian took the inside route off a pass from Ramirez. His shot from 25 yards out grazed defender Paolo Ramirez’s head, but the momentum sizzled the ball past goalkeeper Camilo Vargas.
Evander’s second goal in the Leagues Cup gave FCC the 1-0 halftime lead.
Much of the possession belonged to Cincinnati after 45 minutes (60/40), but much of the offense came late in the first half. Atlas managed just one shot on frame in the first half, which was easily saved by Louro in the 37th minute.
Second half
Everything seemed to happen all at once in the final 15 minutes. While Atlas pressed for more attempts on goal, Cincinnati were content to weather the storm and get countering chances on net. However, it may have been this reliance on protecting the lead that led to the downfall.
Atlas attacked quickly after an FC Cincinnati substitution, challenging Louro to his left. The FCC goalkeeper was unable to hang onto Ryan Mmaee’s shot in the 79th minute. Substitute Florian Monzon took advantage to tap the rebound past Louro.
The precarious 1-1 result lasted only six minutes and felt like a carbon-copy of the equalizer. In the 85th minute, Mmaee again fired a shot at Louro that the keeper could not smother. Jesus Serrato tapped the rebound home for his first goal with Atlas, giving them a 2-1 lead.
FC Cincinnati still had hope to at least tie the match for penalty kicks. Ayoub Jabbari’s header in extra time was palmed off the line by Vargas. The challenge in the box after the save appeared to lead to a penalty called for Cincinnati, as Jabbari looked to be fouled by Gaddi Aguirre. However, referee Fernando Gómez called off the penalty after VAR intervened.
Tom Barlow had one last breath in the ninth minute of extra time. However, Vargas made another solid reaction save to finish the Atlas victory.
The loss felt all too common for Cincinnati. Needing a win on the final matchday in the 2025 Leagues Cup, the Orange & Blue produced a similar letdown with a 2-1 loss to Chivas.
Truly, Cincinnati no longer have their Leagues Cup fate in their own hands. The loss puts them behind Columbus, Real Salt Lake, and Charlotte in the standings. In order to advance, they would need a lot of dominoes to fall to win the tiebreakers.
Noonan understood the need to turn toward the MLS season again. “We’ve had letdowns, we’ve had low moments, and you address why you why you came up short and be honest about it. You make sure guys are understanding of it and then also professional enough to know how to turn it around. So it’s not a situation we haven’t been in before. You don’t want to be in it, but it’s part of the sport. It’s part of life, and it’s our responsibility to see how we can turn it around.”
Evander was understandably reflective over the lost opportunity. “I think we want to you know grow as a club, we want to grow as a team and win trophies. And I think we need to do more. I think we need to have urgency. We need to, you know, not just think that we lost game and we’re going to be fine tomorrow. It’s not like that. We need to feel the loss in front of the fans. And I think we had a good opportunity to win the Leagues Cup, and we just threw that away, so I think we need we need to be better prepared for this kind of games.”
“I don’t think we came out in the second half as well as we did in the first half, and we knew (Atlas) were going to come out firing in the second half, especially being down,” Dado Valenzuela added afterwards. “We had the game in our hands, and football happens.”
Cincinnati now must recover for a rare away match, returning to MLS play against Orlando City SC on Saturday. Atlas have been eliminated with three points in hand, but head home with at least one pelt in their bag.
2026 Leagues Cup, Match #3
FC Cincinnati vs. Atlas FC
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
Attendance: 15,765
Result: FC Cincinnati 1, Atlas FC 2.
BOX SCORE
FC Cincinnati Starting XI (3-4-1-2):
Evan Louro (GK); Miles Robinson, Matt Miazga (Teenage Hadebe 77′), Samuel Gidi; Pavel Bucha (Kristian Fletcher 89′), Gerardo Valenzuela, Obinna Nwobodo, Bryan Ramirez (Ender Echenique 63′); Evander (C); Kenji Mboma Dem (Tom Barlow 62′), Kevin Denkey (Ayoub Jabbari 78′).
Bench: Roman Celentano, Fabian Mrozek, Alvas Powell, Nick Hagglund, Kyle Smith, Brian Anunga, Andrei Chirila.
Atlas FC Starting XI (4-2-3-1):
Camilo Vargas (GK – C); Gaddi Aguirre, Manuel Capasso, Juan Purata, Milton Valenzuela; Victor Rios (Edgar Zaldavar 59′), Paolo Ramirez (Jesus Serrato 80′); Duk, Arturo Gonzalez (Florian Monzan 59′), Sergio Hernandez (Luis Esteves 46′); Jose Martin (Ryan Mmaee 59′).
Bench: Antonio Sanchez, Luis Hernandez, Gustavo Ferrareis, Adrian Mora, Jose Lozano, Rodrigo Schlegel, Luis Suarez.
Scoring summary:
CIN – Evander 44′ (Ramirez)
ATS – Florian Monzan 79′ (unassisted)
ATS – Jesus Serrato 85′ (unassisted)
Discipline:
YC – Bryan Ramirez 33′ (CIN, foul)
YC – Paolo Ramirez 77′ (ATS, foul)
Next up:
Leagues Cup: at Orlando City SC, 7:30 pm, Saturday August 15th; Apple TV+
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