Orlando City
Orlando City vs. FC Cincinnati: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
Orlando City’s tough schedule continues with a trip to play Evander, Brenner, and FC Cincinnati.
Welcome to your match thread for a Sunday night matchup between Orlando City (14-7-9, 51 points) and FC Cincinnati (18-9-4, 58 points) at TQL Stadium (7 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV) in Cincinnati. It’s the second of the two scheduled meetings between the teams this season.
Here’s what you need to know for the match.
History
Orlando City leads the all-time series, 5-4-3, with a 3-1-2 mark on the road. The teams last met on June 28 at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, with FC Cincinnati winning 2-1. An Evander brace, which included a poorly conceded set piece goal from distance, was enough to offset Marco Pasalic’s goal.
The last meeting at TQL Stadium took place on Oct. 5, 2024, with the Lions leaving southwest Ohio with a 3-1 victory in their final road match of the regular season. Ramiro Enrique scored twice and had a third chalked off for a controversial foul on a corner kick. He also assisted on a goal by Ivan Angulo in an impressive performance. Luciano Acosta scored Cincinnati’s goal.
These two sides also met on May 4 of last year in Orlando with FC Cincinnati claiming a 1-0 road win on a first-minute goal by Acosta. The Lions went down a man early in the game when Rodrigo Schlegel was called for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity on Yuya Kubo. Orlando City had a second-half goal waved off for an offside in the buildup. Cincinnati lost Bret Halsey to a second yellow card late but the Lions couldn’t take advantage.
The teams met in Ohio on Sept. 2, 2023, with the Lions claiming a 1-0 win on enemy soil, becoming the first road team to beat FC Cincinnati all season. Facundo Torres scored the game’s only goal. Orlando had to hold on down a man late when Wilder Cartagena was sent off. The teams played to a 0-0 draw in Orlando on March 4, 2023 in Orlando.
The Lions fell 1-0 at TQL Stadium 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.
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 early goal. 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 coming off a hard-fought 3-2 home win over Nashville SC on Sept. 20. Martin Ojeda’s brace in the first half had the Lions rolling, but Nashville equalized early in the second half. Duncan McGuire’s late goal gave Orlando three much-needed points and stopped a five-match winless streak in all competitions. The Lions will hope that win can be a springboard to a good finish, but Orlando City has a difficult remaining schedule. After beating Nashville and playing second-place FC Cincinnati tonight, Orlando must still face the Columbus Crew and Western Conference power Vancouver at home before visiting Toronto FC on Decision Day.
Orlando City is 6-3-6 on the road in MLS play this season. The Lions clinched a playoff spot Saturday night with New York City FC’s win over the New York Red Bulls, but postseason positioning is still up for grabs, meaning three points tonight — and in the final two games — would be crucial.
FC Cincinnati is coming off a 3-2 road win over the LA Galaxy on Sept. 20 and has won two straight matches. The team’s 2-1 win over Nashville on Sept. 13 was its only win in its last six home games in all competitions. In MLS play, FC Cincinnati is 8-5-2.
To win tonight, the Lions will have to stay organized defensively and keep a lid on Cincinnati’s dangerous goal-scoring threats. Evander is in the MLS MVP discussion with 30 goal contributions (17 goals, 13 assists), keeping pace with Orlando City’s Ojeda. Recently re-acquired Brazilian forward Brenner has scored three goals in three matches since returning to the Queen City on loan from Udinese Calcio in Italy’s top flight. At the other end, Miles Robinson is a difficult defender to beat in the air or off the dribble.
“FC Cincinnati is a club that has good players,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “We have our references, but now we’re just thinking about our team. How can we use our own players? How can we affect Cincinnati? We have won in Cincinnati before, so we’ll push, and we’ll do it again.”
The Lions will be without Zakaria Taifi (thigh) Wilder Cartagena (Achilles), and Yutaro Tsukada (knee), while Cesar Araujo (back), Joran Gerbet (head), Adrian Marin (thigh), and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson (thigh) are questionable. FC Cincinnati will be without Roman Celentano (leg), Matt Miazga (leg), Obinna Nwobodo (quad), and Brad Smith (leg), while Paul Walters (foot) is questionable.
Match Content
- Our Intelligence Report provides more info about FC Cincinnati from Rupesh Sharma of Cincinnati Soccer Talk.
- The most recent episode of The Mane Land PawedCast features our key matchups and score predictions for tonight’s match.
- Our David Rohe provides his three keys to an Orlando City victory on the road in tonight’s match.
Official Lineups
Orlando City (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.
Defenders: David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Alex Freeman.
Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Kyle Smith, Eduard Atuesta, Marco Pasalic.
Forward: Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire.
Bench: Javier Otero, Adrian Marin, Thomas Williams, Joran Gerbet, Colin Guske, Gustavo Caraballo, Nico Rodriguez, Tyrese Spicer, Luis Muriel.
FC Cincinnati (5-3-2)
Goalkeeper: Evan Louro.
Defenders: Lukas Engel, Nick Hagglund, Miles Robinson.
Wingbacks/Midfielders: Luca Orellano, Samuel Gidi, Evander, Pavel Bucha, Ender Echenique.
Forwards: Kevin Denkey, Brenner.
Bench: Alec Kann, Alvas Powell, Teenage Hadebe, Brian Anunga, Gerardo Valenzuela, Yuya Kubo, Dominik Marczuk, Ayoub Jabbari, Kei Kamara.
Referees
Ref: Rosendo Mendoza.
AR1: Corey Rockwell.
AR2: Kevin Lock.
4th: Jon Freemon.
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic.
AVAR: Joshua Patlak.
How to Watch
Match Time: 7 p.m.
Venue: TQL Stadium — Cincinnati, OH.
TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish).
Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.
Enjoy the match. Go City!