Cover Image via FC Cincinnati
By Kyra Campbell
FC Cincinnati (18-4-8) defeated Charlottte FC (7-10-12) in a much needed 3-0 victory.
The win sees the Orange and Blue keep their 9 point lead in the Supporters’ Shield standings, sitting on 62 points.
FCC starting XI was much of the usual, with the exception of Ian Murphy in for Matt Miazga, who was out on yellow card suspension. Nick Hagglund and Yerson Mosquera made up the rest of the defense.
Alvaro Barreal and Santiago Arias started at wingback. Brandon Vazquez and Aaron Boupendza started at striker.
The midfield was made up of Junior Moreno, Obinna Nwobodo, and Luciano Acosta, who just signed a contract extension to stay with the club through 2026.
Cincinnati dominated much of the first half and were creating chances, but the team was unable to find the back for the majority of the 45 minutes.
Then, in stoppage time of the first half, Lucho won a free kick right outside of the box, setting Barreal up for an incredible set piece goal, putting FCC in front 1-0.
Five minutes after the second half kicked off, Boupendza made the score 2-0 thanks to a great assist from Acosta.
In the 74th minute, Yuya Kubo came on for Moreno and Dominique Badji came on for Vazquez.
Four minutes later, in the 78th minute, Lucho got a goal of his own, assisted by Nwobodo, though Acosta did much of the work to make it happen.
Cincinnati would be able to see out the 3-0 scoreline with a trio of late-game substitutions: Alvas Powell for Arias in the 84th, Marco Angulo for Lucho in the 85th, and Ray Gaddis for Barreal in the 88th.
FC Cincinnati are back in action on Saturday 9/30 when they travel north to BMO field to face Toronto FC (4-15-10) in the two teams’ second meeting of the year. The previous meeting in Cincinnati resulted in a 3-0 win for FCC back in June.
The match is at 7:30p.m. As always, fans can tune in on the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.