Written by: Kyra Campbell
FC Cincinnati (13-2-4) was handed just its second loss of the season this Saturday when D.C. United (7-8-5) beat FCC 3-0. Due to some fortunate results around the rest of the league, FCC only lost 1 point of its cushion in the Supporters’ Shield standings and now sit 7 points above second place New England (10-3-6).
Cincinnati was once again missing some key starters for this match. Yerson Mosquera was once again missing, dealing with visa issues, but Nick Hagglund did return to the starting XI after missing time due to injury. Alvas Powell once again started at center back and Ian Murphy rounded out the backline. Marco Angulo once again filled in for Junior Moreno, who is still out with an injury. Arquimides Ordonez got the start up top at striker, with Yuya Kubo out due to illness.
It was off to a bad start for FCC when D.C. went up 1-0 in the 10th minute, thanks to a Pedro Santos goal. Things got even worse just seven minutes later when Derrick Williams scored off a rebound from a set piece. Cincinnati desperately needed to get into halftime at that 2-0 scoreline to have a chance of coming back, but Cristián Dájome put any hopes of a comeback to bed when he scored in the 43rd minute, putting D.C. up 3-0. The second half saw a lot of FCC trying to create something in the attacking third, but despite a couple of decent chances, nothing really came of it. Murphy picked up a yellow card in the 66th minute and would get another one in the 79th, resulting in a red card and a suspension for the next match. On the brightside, this match saw Joey Akpunonu make his MLS debut.
FC Cincinnati are back home this Saturday 7/1 to take on the New England Revolution. The previous meeting between these two teams at Gillette Stadium resulted in 1-1 draw. The match is at 7:30pm and, as always, fans can catch the action on the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.