FC Cincinnati’s offense no-shows 1-0 loss to Minnesota United
Damon Gumbert
Cover photo courtesy of FC Cincinnati
A frigid evening in Minneapolis was the setting for FC Cincinnati’s first defeat in 2026. The Orange and Blue put forth a rough showing, getting completely outclassed by Minnesota United in a 1-0 defeat.
1-0 doesn’t sound like a horrible loss, but the score doesn’t highlight how poorly this match was played. Minnesota won the xG battle 2.8 to 1, outshooting FCC 17-12 with five on target to Cincinnati’s four.
Cincinnati’s two starting strikers combined for 52 touches on the evening. All but three players in Minnesota’s starting 11 managed more touches than those two players combined. The FC failing to get their strikers the ball was a common occurrence in 2025, something the club made a point of saying they were working on in the off-season.
“It looked like we were indecisive, or just lacking creativity and disguise, and some of the things we did when we got into the box, because I think we could have done more with some of the moments that we had," Head Coach Pat Noonan said about the offense play.
On top of poor play from their two men up top, the midfield and wing backs did little to help slow down United’s blistering counterattack. A good first twenty minutes from Dado Valenzuela was overshadowed by a bad foul in a worse spot.
Samuel Gidi and Pavel Bucha were ghosts for much of the game, combining for 10 passes into the final third, while Minnesota’s 22-year-old midfielder Nectarios Triantis had nine himself. Poor passing was the story for Bryan Ramirez and Ender Echenique, who combined for two accurate crosses out of 10 attempts.
No players on Cincinnati looked good in this match, though, as usual, the defense was the best part of the team. Miles Robinson made several plays in the first half that kept the game even 0-0 going into the break, and Nick Hagglund was a menace in the air, completing nine aerial clearances.
“For stretches it was good, but it was, I would say, below the standard in kind of where we’ve been,” Noonan said of the defensive play. “But a lot of that was just the way we had to defend in a less controlled manner because of the turnovers.”
That being said, their complete lack of defense on Michael Boxall’s free kick attempt led to an easy rebound goal for Kelvin Yeboah.
“You know, how the foul happens is poor,” Noonan said. “How we defend it is poor. And that’s the difference in the game and kind of how you feel, despite other chances being there for both sides.”
The entire performance was reminiscent of the lowest points in the club’s 2025 season. The question that keeps coming up is this: Whose fault is it? Do we blame the coaching staff, the players, the front office?
That’s an interesting discussion, as there is plenty of blame to go around. Is the coaching staff not getting the players sufficiently ready for games? Are the players just not that good? Did the front office make mistakes putting money in some places rather than others?
Personally, I don’t think any of those are the case. Pat Noonan and his coaching staff are one of the most successful in recent MLS, dragging a three-time wooden spoon team into the playoffs and then to the top tier of the Eastern Conference.
The players have shown how talented they are. This is, essentially, the same team that completely shut down Inter Miami 3-0 in the regular season last year and that took two games from Columbus in the playoffs.
The front office has shown its ability to find good talent for good prices. Yes, they signed Miles Robinson to a DP deal instead of investing that in an offensive player. Miles Robinson is also the best player on the team after two games. He gets paid significantly less than Kevin Denkey, but is making a significantly bigger impact than he is.
Occam’s razor dictates that the simplest answer is usually the correct one. The thing I see on the pitch when FC Cincinnati runs up against a team that seemingly has their number is that they get frustrated. Frustration leads to mistakes. Mistakes breed more frustration and can break a team.
It isn’t something that only happens to FCC; The Vancouver Whitecaps clearly got frustrated in their MLS Cup match against Inter Miami. It is something that should be focused on and fixed if they want to make the next step into that upper echelon of MLS clubs. It would be interesting to find out if the club is employing a sports psychiatrist who can help them work through their emotions and play.
While missing Evander is a big loss for the club, it’s not likely that having a player back who is possibly the biggest example of that frustration problem will completely change how the team plays. There needs to be work from the players and coaching staff to put that frustration into a place where it can be used positively.
“...Second half, I think, outside of that late push that we had last 10, 15 minutes, just lacked aggression, and really the final decision, the final pass,” Noonan said. It would be interesting to see if they can channel the team’s frustration more into aggression. Lucho Acosta used to channel his frustration into being more aggressive with the ball and trying to do more, and maybe that is something the team is missing: a player who uses adversity to motivate him.
We’ll see if the team can adjust and get better in these situations in the future.
FC Cincinnati’s next match will be Sunday, Mar. 8 at 7:00 p.m. at TQL Stadium. Tickets are available, or the match can be viewed on AppleTV+. You can also view the match at any of the club’s Pub Partners, including Streetside Brewery.
