513 Day Disaster: FCC blow lead against Inter Miami, lose 5-3
Damon Gumbert
It was a quick presser from Pat Noonan following FC Cincinnati’s collapse against Inter Miami, but the coach summed up the performance within his first few sentences. “Struggled to get out of our own way with some of our play,” he said to a full room of media.
Apt for a performance that was prolific in bad passing and careless turnovers.
Noonan trotted out a questionable lineup, starting both Matt Miazga and Miles Robinson on the back line next to Kyle Smith. Many fans believed that 17-year-old Andrei Chirila was a locked-in starter at this point, but Noonan opted to go with the veterans out of the back.
The questionable part comes from Robinson and Miazga having recently returned from injury, and both being on minutes restrictions. More on this later.
The backline seemed to hold up well for much of the first 20 minutes of the match, despite being consistently under pressure from a very game Lionel Messi. For as bad as the passing and turnovers were for FC Cincinnati, it was equally bad for Miami in the first half. Both teams seemed to be daring the other to score first.
Miami was the first one to hit the scoreboard off a careless turnover from Cincinnati. With Messi patrolling the box, Miami played a through ball to Messi. Miazga intercepted the ball, but instead of attempting to redirect or kick the ball out of bounds, he attempted to clear the ball directly to Messi, who ricocheted the ball off his leg and past Roman Celentano.
This would not be the only fluky goal of the match.
Miami had done a good job of keeping FC Cincinnati players from getting into their box in the first 40 minutes of this match, swarming the line whenever the ball got near the box and forcing a turnover or forcing the Orange and Blue to try and sneak their way through.
In the 41st minute, FCC was finally able to get a dangerous ball into the box to their DP striker Denkey. As he was attempting to pull the ball in, he was pulled down from behind by Gonzalo Lujan, earning a penalty kick in the aftermath. The entire Miami roster, save Messi, surrounded the referee and complained about something that was obviously a foul. We shall see if MLS does anything about Mass Confrontation.
Denkey stepped up to the spot, did a little stutter, and nailed the penalty, and evened the game. After four minutes of added time and a head injury to Pavel Bucha, we went into the half even at 1 a piece.
Six goals were scored in the second half, so I will try to breeze through them. Bucha, who went into the half after suffering a head injury, was the first to score coming out of the break. A break started by Denkey found Bryan Ramirez on the left wing. Ramirez one-touch passed the ball across the box and found Bucha, who, in turn, one-touch shot the ball into the top of the net and put FCC up 2-1.
In the 55’ Messi got on the board with his second goal of the match, again working his way into the middle of the box and having the ball sent in from the wing, putting the ball past Celentano again.
In the 64th minute, Evander put FC Cincinnati ahead again, scoring a classic Evander out-of-the-box banger. Miami had a bout of miscommunication as no one stepped up to Evander as he made his way to the top of the box, allowing the Brazilian to take a clear shot on goal in a spot that he has made his own over the last two years.
That was it for FC Cincinnati when it came to scoring. They held the lead until Noonan decided in the 75th minute to replace both Miazga and Robinson at the same time, opting to bring in Nick Hagglund and Chirila in their stead. Obinna Nwobodo also came into the game to replace Sam Gidi, theoretically adding defenders.
The third goal for Miami came after Matteo Silvetti replaced Luis Suarez in the 76th minute. Suarez, for once, didn’t try to fight, bite, or spit on anyone in this match. Silvetti made his presence known in the 79th minute when he completely embarrassed Nick Hagglund, putting the Cincinnati native on roller skates and sending the ball into the back of the net.
Goal four from Miami was hard to watch. Miami secured a free kick near the box, and once it was sent in by Messi, Celentano came forward to catch the ball. At the same time, Andrei Chirila was backpedaling and then jumped to get his head on the ball, seemingly not knowing Roman was there. The two men collided, Celentano dropping the ball and falling to the ground, Chirila falling and slamming his head on the pitch. German Berterame capitalized on the moment and sent the ball into the goal.
Chirila came out of the match and, according to Noonan, was immediately put into concussion protocol.
The final goal was the icing on the cake that was bad luck for FC Cincinnati. Inter Miami played the ball from the wing and into the box, finding Messi in the middle, as had happened multiple times in this match, with Messi sliding the ball toward the goal. It bounced off the right post and hit a diving Celentano in the back, rolling into the goal. What was initially called a goal for Messi was eventually corrected and called an own goal by Celentano.
Mercifully, the game would end soon after, though not without a fan finding his way onto the pitch and attempting to talk to Messi. I’ve typed Messi far more than I wanted to in this article.
“Forget who hurts us,” Noonan said. “They all hurt us tonight, and he was a part of that. But how we get punished, sometimes it’s a credit to the opponent and playmaking ability. But so many of the situations that we put ourselves in where we conceded goals or chances are some really naive decisions.”
It's been said before, but this was a team that used to pride itself on defense. In 2023, the Supporters’ Shield-winning season, FC Cincinnati only allowed 39 goals the entire regular season. So far in 2026, they have allowed 32 goals.
Fans can debate whether the state of the defense is because of roster build, expensive contracts, Pat Noonan, Chris Albright, or whatever else. In reality, it's likely a bit of everything.
It’s easy to say now that Noonan should not have started both Robinson and Miazga, knowing they could not play 90 minutes and he would be forced to make two subs on the backline at some point.
It’s easy to say now that Albright should have thought twice before accepting the options of Miazga and Teenage Hadebe, adding millions to their budget and getting two players who have missed handfuls of games in the last two years due to injuries and sloppy play.
It’s easy to say that the roster build, with so much money on the back line, is not conducive to a great team. Spending all that money on defense and then depending on players like Tom Barlow and Ayoub Jabbari to excel on offense.
We know these things now, and possibly back then as well. But what we didn’t know, yet Albright and Noonan did, was that Kenji Mboma Dem could be a key contributor to this club. They knew that Andrei Chirila was a great talent, which is why they went and got him from the Philadelphia Union academy and convinced him to join his brother in Cincinnati.
For every bad choice the team has made, there are great choices as well. A good wrap-up to this game, and maybe a larger message to the roster questions that are bound to stick around well into August, is that you win some and you lose some.
