“We really Needed it”: FC Cincinnati come from behind in 4-3 victory over CF Montreal
All photos courtesy of FC Cincinnati
Damon Gumbert
Standing in front of the media, Ender Echenique was blunt on what this win means for the players and club, saying through a translator, “This victory feels like a bit of a breather for the team. Because honestly, we really needed it.”
FC Cincinnati has had a rough last few outings in MLS, not to mention a devastating 5-1 loss to Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The three MLS matches that came after the season-opening win against Atlanta United were all losses, with the third match being a drubbing by the New England Revolution.
In those three matches, the Orange and Blue gave up a combined eight goals. A team that was once known for its defensive prowess was getting demolished by teams that aren’t exactly known for their offensive explosion.
If you include the CONCACAF Champions Cup and go as far back as the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs, that number balloons up to 22 goals over the last 12 games. In 34 league games in 2025, the club averaged 1.18 goals allowed per game. In five league games this season, they are averaging 2.2 goals allowed per game.
When asked what needs to be fixed for the defense, Pat Noonan said, “There’s a lot to correct. It’s not good enough, and I don’t want to bring too much negativity to the three goals we conceded, but I like the four goals that we scored. Defensively, we’re not very strong right now, and that’s clear.”
It’s hard to point to just one thing that is going wrong with a once prolific defense. Miles Robinson, who arguably was the strongest part of the team through the first three games of the season, has looked awful over the past two league games and the loss at Tigres, including receiving a red card and penalty in this match.
Many people thought that having Matt Miazga back would make the defense better, but it was clear early in the match on Sunday that he was not completely up to speed. The 30-year-old was caught off guard and out of position on two of Montreal’s three goals.
Noonan has been experimenting with the back line, removing Teenage Hadebe and Nick Hagglund for this game and putting in Miazga and Alvas Powell to the starting lineup. That did not work out the way he wanted, with Powell injecting his unique brand of chaos directly in front of goal, leading to a few close chances for Montreal.
Roman Celentano, who has gotten obliterated lately, picked up a knock in training and was out for this game and pulled out of USMNT training as well, which led to Evan Louro starting this match. Louro made a few saves and missed a couple others, but altogether was a good replacement for Celentano, especially in his ability to get the ball down the pitch on his goal kicks.
The best the defense looked was in the final 20+ minutes of the match, when Hagglund, Hadebe, and Samuel Gidi replaced Miazga and Powell on the back line. The team ran a pseudo back four, whether on purpose or forced to do so due to the red card, and looked its strongest in the match.
While the defensive woes are worrying, the offense finally came alive in this match. Kevin Denkey will get a lot of the praise for his game-winning goal in the 90+4 minute, but Echenique was the man of the match. The Venezuelan was instrumental in the first two goals, scoring the first and assisting Ayoub Jabbari on the second.
“I never focus on individual stats,” Echenique said after the match. Yes, obviously, I love scoring goals and helping the team in that way, but I also contributed with an assist. Honestly, the most important thing is to keep picking up points—helping the team, whether through goals or assists—and making a direct impact on the match.”
Tom Barlow joined the match after the red card to Robinson, coming into the match in the 77th minute. The St. Louis native evened the match at three goals a piece just three minutes later, after hustling to a loose ball in the Montreal box and sending a deflected shot past the goalkeeper.
“Tom is a team player,” Noonan said of Barlow’s impact this season. “He wants to help our team win. It’s simple.”
“It was just right spot, right time,” Barlow said about the goal. “Somehow the ball popped out, and I think I reacted pretty quickly, got on the end of it, it happened pretty quick so I don’t remember too much of it.”
Denkey put the game away in the 90+4 minute off a Nick Hagglund long throw-in. The ball was knocked backwards by a leaping defender, falling right in front of Denkey, who slid it past the goalkeeper to put the Orange and Blue up 4-3. The jubilation of the team, who had been down a man for 20+ minutes at that point, was evident as Denkey ran to the sideline and ditched his jersey, opting to celebrate the moment freely on his upper torso. As Denkey was walking back after the goal, the referee walked up to him, said “I have to do this,” and gave the Togo national a yellow card.
The importance of this win, after suffering a streak of poor performances, cannot be understated. The team battled back from being a man down and a goal down late in the second half and won the match.
“You go into the international break with some positive feelings, some momentum,” Noonan said. “That’s kind of all we really needed. How it played out...sure, you’d like it to look different, but they fought, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Louro was a little less polished in his answer, but the sentiment was similar.
