FC Cincinnati begins its 10th season tonight in Concacaf Champions Cup play at Hondurian side FC Motagua. The Orange and Blue are entering their seventh MLS campaign already, with MLS Cup finalists New York Red Bulls visiting TQL Stadium Saturday evening to kick off league play. Thanks to the stewardship of the Pat Noonan-Chris Albright partnership, FC Cincinnati now have completed as many regular seasons with playoff berths as they did Wooden Spoons (3-3).
Much has transpired since November, when I previewed the offseason the week after the local lads suffered their earliest MLS playoff exit to date. Here are seven items of interest you need to know ahead of Cincinnati’s 2025 debut.
Lucho Acosta chooses the path of most resistance
There’s only one place to start, and that’s with the soap opera that defined the MLS offseason. Lucho Acosta had barely departed the pitch following the season-ending loss to New York City before he let the world know that he preferred to exit the club. The drama continued throughout the winter, with Acosta skipping the first portion of preseason camp.
In my offseason preview column, I wondered if Acosta would use the Jimmy Butler Exit Playbook as a means to expedite his departure. Any doubts about the captain’s conviction to depart were dismissed after he publicly aired his beef with General Manager Chris Albright in early February to Queen City Press. Turns out that Acosta’s flair for eye-rolling histrionics aren’t limited to just the playing pitch—the longtime MLS star also displayed little in the way of recognizing how roster-building works.
A week after that stunt, having failed to find an overseas buyer willing to match Acosta’s salary of nearly $3 million per season, FC Cincinnati traded the best player in club history to FC Dallas. The Garys recouped $5 million (plus up to $1 million in incentives) for Acosta, who was moved via the league’s new cash-for-player rule, which permits teams to use unlimited out-of-pocket funds to trade for other MLS players.
Look, rarely do star players depart under graceful circumstances. Joey Votto, another Cincinnati sports legend, can attest to that. But make no mistake: Acosta is the No. 1 on-field reason for the franchise’s flipped fortunes since arriving prior to the 2021 season. The 2023 MLS MVP was the driving force behind everything positive on the pitch, registering an absurd 94 goal contributions in 125 matches. He delivered wonder goals and sublime assists and played hurt time after time even as the weight of the attack rested on his shoulders.
But it was time for a divorce. The awkward reunion comes quickly, too. Acosta will return to TQL Stadium with Dallas on May 28, three days before his 31st birthday.
Enter Evander
No, not that Evander. Acosta’s replacement is Evander from the Portland Timbers, who has notched 48 goals contributions through two seasons in MLS, including 15 goals and a league-best 19 dimes in 2024. (Acosta had 14 goals and 19 assists last season.) Football Reference’s Similar Players metric has Acosta as Evander’s third-most similar player, and FC Cincinnati are hoping for a repeat of Evander’s 2024 campaign when the 26-year-old Brazilian was an MVP finalist, a Best XI honoree, and an MLS All-Star.
Stars of Evander’s quality do not come cheaply; Cincinnati ownership doled out $12 million for his services. Remember that FCC paid a then-league-record $16.2 million for new striker Kevin Denkey a few months ago. It’s worth noting, too, that the Orange and Blue have traded one disgruntled No. 10 for a slightly less disgruntled No. 10.
Even factoring in the risks, the acquisition is a no-brainer. Evander is four years younger than Acosta and has played 8,000 fewer minutes. He is indisputably one of the top players in MLS and is fully in his prime. Acosta remains an MVP contender himself, but he’ll be on the wrong side of 30 in May and every season seems to pick up leg injuries that affect his form down the stretch.
[Very Catherine O’Hara voice]: Kevin!!!
The big on-field winner of the Acosta situation being resolved is Denkey, whose acquisition I covered in my offseason preview. He won’t be short of service with Evander feeding him. Another positive: Denkey won’t have the weight of being the most expensive transfer in MLS history now that Atlanta dropped $22 million on English second division striker Emmanuel Latte Lath.
Again, with Evander in tow, Denkey is much less likely to avoid following FCC’s striker missteps of Jurgen Locadia and Aaron Boupendza. Denkey, Evander, and Luca Orellano—who appears set for a full-time role in the attack after spending much of last season as a left winger/fullback—are three of the 15-20 best attacking players in the league. Prepare for fireworks in the final third.
When will Matt Miazga be ready to lead the defense?
Noonan’s typically stout defense was never the same after Matt Miazga’s season-ending knee injury on June 15, surrendering nearly a half-goal more per league match without the 29-year-old center back. Miazga, my pick to be FC Cincinnati’s next captain, didn’t make any preseason appearances and will be brought along slowly as the regular season begins.
The Orange and Blue’s defensive retreat wasn’t due just to Miazga’s injury. The occasional absence of Miles Robinson on national team duty and the in-season integrations of Chidozie Awaziem and Teenage Hadebe played a role, too. More changes are in store for 2025, after Awaziem and longtime regular Ian Murphy were traded to Colorado in December. Noonan is on record this season saying he wants to “evolve” the defense. I’m curious to see what that means.
But a back line of Hadebe, Miazga, and Robinson, with Lukas Engal (on loan from England’s second division) and DeAndre Yedlin ready to fly up and down the flanks at left and right wingback, respectively, is impressive on paper.
Meet me in the middle
After listening to me whine for a season and a half about how the midfield needed a veteran backup Noonan could trust, Albright went out and signed former Nashville defensive midfielder Tah Brian Anunga to be Obinna Nwobodo’s deputy. Nwobodo and Anunga are No. 1 on each other’s Football Reference’s Similar Player metric list; both are tackle-first, ask-questions-later enforcers. If you’re an opposing central midfielder, mind your ankles.
Pavel Bucha, Nwobodo’s midfield partner from 2024, should benefit from more midfield playing time from Anunga and Yuya Kubo, who spent last season playing all over the pitch. Bucha was among the non-goalkeeper league leaders in minutes played in 2024. Kubo failed to report to camp until the first full week of February for undisclosed reasons, but he appears ready for the season.
Power balance shifting in the East
In retrospect, Inter Miami (first in the East Conference), Columbus (second), and Cincinnati (third) losing their first round playoff tilts last fall may have been a sign of things to come at the top of the conference. Miami, which racked up a league-record 74 points en route to the Supporters’ Shield, lost their head coach, Tata Martino, one of the top skippers in MLS history. Martino’s replacement is Javier Mascherano, a former teammate of Lionel Messi’s who has coached only youth teams for the Argentina national team. While Miami has strengthened its back line, it remains very reliant on the Barcelona Four: 37-year-old Messi, 38-year-old Luis Suarez, 36-year-old Sergio Busquets, and 35-year-old Jordi Alba.
Columbus, the 2024 Leagues Cup champion and a Concacaf Cup finalist, sold Cucho Hernandez for $16 million to Spanish first division side Real Betis. The Crew will have to wait until the summer window to replace Hernandez, a two-time MLS Best XI pick with 58 goals in 96 appearances. Wilfred Nancy remains the league’s top manager, but he’ll have his work cut out for him in 2025.
Other contenders are lurking with Miami and Columbus vulnerable. Orlando was a top-four East finisher in back-to-back seasons and deepened its attacking corps. Atlanta not only broke the league transfer record to sign one of the top strikers in England’s second division, but its ownership forked over nearly $13 million to re-acquire former star Miguel Almiron from the Premier League. The duo are just two pieces of what will be a devastating Five Stripes attack. After a surprise run to MLS Cup, the Red Bulls have added more talent around metronome Emil Forsberg.
Get ready for a fun season atop the East.
Worst-case and best-case scenarios
Worst case: Evander, Denkey, and Orellano struggle to develop chemistry, resulting in a stagnant attack and a frustrated defense. Acosta notches a hat trick and an assist in his return to Cincinnati. Robinson is swayed by a Godfather offer from a Champions League-chasing Bundesliga side. Old friend Alvaro Barreal, on loan at Santos, spends too much time hanging out with new teammate Neymar and curtails his transfer value for next winter. Another season of supposed silverware-chasing is left wasted by a second straight early-round playoff exit.
Best case: The new attacking trio terrifies opposing defenses, allowing Noonan to experiment with different defensive alignments for the postseason. A deeper midfield leads to fresh(er) legs for Bucha and Nwobodo in late fall, keying a month-long unbeaten streak from August into September that portends a deep playoff run. FC Cincinnati go on to reach the Eastern Conference final with less points than the 2023 Supporters’ Shield winners, but they’re a more seasoned and versatile side that can prevail with multiple game strategies.
Final thoughts
Between the Supporters’ Shield, MLS Cup, Leagues Cup, and Concacaf Champions Cup, FC Cincinnati has four opportunities to win a trophy in 2025. If we reach December and the club did not even play in a match where a trophy was on the line, I’d judge this season to have been a disappointment.
Having said that, enjoy the journey! We might not see FCC click into gear until April or May, but this team is going to be really good. And I’ll be here every week to cover the ups and downs.
Grant Freking writes FC Cincinnati coverage for Cincinnati Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter at @GrantFreking.
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