Orlando City
Orlando City vs. FC Cincinnati: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The Lions head north to face the Supporters’ Shield leaders to close out their two-game road swing.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (12-6-8, 44 points) and FC Cincinnati (17-3-6, 57 points) at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, OH (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). It’s the second of the two scheduled meetings between the teams this season and the only matchup in Ohio.
Here’s what you need to know for the match.
History
Orlando City leads the all-time series, 3-2-3, with a 1-1-2 mark on the road. The Lions are winless in the last three meetings after being swept a season ago — for FC Cincinnati’s only two wins in the series — and a 0-0 draw in Orlando back on March 4 in the most recent meeting.
The Lions fell 1-0 at TQL Stadium the last time the teams played in Cincinnati on June 24, 2022. A second-half goal from Brenner represented all the offense, but it could have been worse for Orlando City as Pedro Gallese made eight saves in the match. The first meeting of 2022 took place in Orlando on March 12, with FC Cincinnati notching its first win in the all-time series, 2-1 at Exploria Stadium. The Lions were more in control but were wasteful, despite dominating the stat sheet. The visitors got a brace from Brandon Vazquez to offset Junior Urso’s goal in the 42nd minute.
The final meeting of 2021 was on Oct. 16 in Cincinnati, when Orlando City got its first road victory in the series, 1-0 on Urso’s goal in the 13th minute. Tesho Akindele should have scored a second off the crossbar late in the game, but the play was never reviewed, despite video evidence that the ball was completely across the line.
On Aug. 7, 2021, the match in Cincinnati ended up in a 1-1 draw. Nani’s strike rescued a point after Brenner had opened the scoring for the hosts just before halftime, taking advantage of an obviously injured Uri Rosell, who subbed off moments later. The first of the three meetings in 2021 came on May 21 in Orlando, with the Lions posting a 3-0 win. Akindele scored in the first minute and Nani and Urso each added a goal.
In Orlando’s first trip to the banks of the Ohio River, the match ended in a 1-1 draw at Nippert Stadium on Sept. 29, 2019. Benji Michel’s goal in stoppage time rescued a point for the Lions after Allan Cruz had given the hosts a lead. The draw officially eliminated Orlando City from playoff contention that year, but realistically the Lions had been out of it for a while.
The first ever meeting between the two sides took place on May 19, 2019, when the Lions pummeled the expansion side, 5-1. Both Nani and Akindele bagged braces in the match and Dom Dwyer added a goal as well.
Overview
The Lions are playing their second road match of the week after drawing 1-1 in heavy rain at Charlotte on Wednesday night. Martin Ojeda’s on-target set piece delivery from long range allowed Orlando to leave North Carolina with a point after Rodrigo Schlegel’s foul in the box on Enzo Copetti set up the latter’s penalty kick just minutes earlier. Orlando City is an MLS-best 6-3-4 on the road in 2023 and is unbeaten in its last three away from Exploria Stadium (2-0-1).
Cincinnati holds the league’s best home record (12-0-1) and is the only team in MLS to have clinched a playoff spot already, having done so with a 2-1 comeback win in Atlanta on Wednesday, coupled with other results from around the league. Cincy is 4-0-2 in its last six matches in the regular season, having last lost 3-0 at D.C. United back on June 24.
Only two players on the current Orlando City roster have scored a goal against FC Cincinnati, and they’re both unlikely heroes. Junior Urso, who was not on the team for the first meeting this season, has scored three career goals on nine shots in five appearances against Cincinnati. Felipe has also scored a goal against FC Cincinnati, but he did that before joining Orlando City.
FC Cincinnati is basically good at everything, but despite its excellent record, the Ohio side has only scored four more goals than Orlando City and has only conceded two fewer than the Lions. That means FCC knows how to win games whether they’re wide open or tight, low-scoring affairs.
Cincinnati has gifted offensive players who are especially dangerous in transition. Luciano Acosta is the reigning MLS Player of the Month and paces the FCC attack with 24 goal contributions in 2023. He leads Cincy in both goals (13) and assists (11). The key to beating FCC is to keep Acosta under wraps — easier said than done — and frustrating him. Vazquez is a gifted goal scorer, chipping in five strikes to go with three assists on the year. Dominique Badji, Sergio Santos, and Junior Moreno all have added four goals, while fullback Alvaro Barreal is a dangerous playmaker who can also score.
“We see a team that has a lot of continuity and has been sharp offensively,” Head Coach Oscar Pareja said. “I think that they have found consistency very early on that has kept them adding points. At home, they are strong, and that’s our biggest challenge but also is a big motivation.”
The Lions will be without defender Antonio Carlos (lower leg), midfielder Gaston Gonzalez (thigh), and midfielder Favian Loyola (arm). Robin Jansson was not on the availability report despite leaving the match late on Wednesday with a knock. Whether he’s not on the list because he’s OK or because his status was unknown when the availability report was turned in remains to be seen. If Jansson can’t go, the Lions will almost certainly go with a center back pairing of Rodrigo Schlegel and Abdi Salim, which would not be ideal against Cincinnati’s attack. FC Cincinnati lists Arquimides Ordoñez (leg) and Stiven Jimenez (lower leg fracture) as out, while Badji (leg) is questionable.
Match Content
- Our Intelligence Report provides more info about FC Cincinnati from Justin Blair of Cincinnati Soccer Talk.
- This week’s PawedCast features our key matchups and score predictions for tonight’s match, as well as our match preview with Cincinnati Soccer Talk’s Geoff Tebbetts.
Official Lineups
Orlando City (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.
Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.
Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.
Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, Facundo Torres.
Forward: Duncan McGuire.
Bench: Mason Stajduhar, Michael Halliday, Kyle Smith, Abdi Salim, Felipe, Junior Urso, Martin Ojeda, Ramiro Enrique, Jack Lynn.
FC Cincinnati (3-4-1-2)
Goalkeeper: Roman Celentano.
Defenders: Ian Murphy, Matt Miazga, Nick Hagglund.
Midfielders/wingbacks: Alvaro Barreal, Junior Moreno, Obinna Nwobodo, Santiago Arias.
Attacking Midfielder: Luciano Acosta.
Forwards: Sergio Santos, Brandon Vazquez.
Bench: Alec Kann, Bret Halsey, Alvas Powell, Raymon Gaddis, Yerson Mosquera, Marco Angulo, Malik Pinto, Yuya Kubo, Aaron Boupendza.
Referees
REF: Drew Fischer.
AR1: Jose Da Silva.
AR2: Ben Pilgrim.
4TH: Chris Ruska.
VAR: David Barrie.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.
How to Watch
Match Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: TQL Stadium — Cincinnati, OH.
TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.
Radio: FM 96.9 The Game (English), Accion 97.9 FM & 810 AM (Spanish).
Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).
Enjoy the match. Go City!