FC Cincinnati’s big-money match-winners cashing in. A makeshift defense doing just enough to preserve a one-goal win. A sprinkling of chicanery and grit. Rinse and repeat.
Back at TQL Stadium for the first time in five weeks, the Orange and Blue again adhered to their tried-and-true formula in their fourth consecutive conquest, a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire. Evander’s air-splitting ping from just outside the box was the first half’s lone score and the MVP candidate’s fifth goal in three games. Kevin Denkey polished off a delicious assist from him shortly after halftime. And then FCC boarded up its windows, preventing the Eastern Conference’s highest-scoring team on a per-match basis from locating an equalizer.
Coupled with losses by Philadelphia in the East and San Diego in the West, the Garys moved to the top of the Supporters’ Shield standings with 13 league contests remaining. The true tests now come fast and furious. First up is a Hell Is Real showdown with Columbus on Saturday evening. A duel with resurgent Inter Miami arrives four days later, the Herons likely eager to make amends for the 6-1, Messi-less hiding they received last July.
On Saturday, FC Cincinnati began the match like toddlers on Red Bull, relentlessly pressuring Chicago and seeking to force one of the league’s worst defensive units—entering Saturday, the Fire had conceded more goals than any East team in playoff positioning—into a goal-inducing mistake. FCC owned 80 percent possession in the opening 10 minutes and logged four shots (one on goal).
Head coach Pat Noonan returned to a lineup similar to the one that ran roughshod over a hapless Montreal outfit last week, with Kei Kamara starting with Denkey in a dual-striker setup and Luca Orellano resuming his new-but-familiar-from-2024 role on the left wing after sitting out the victory in Orlando.The first goal came via Evander’s seeing-eye strike, with no Fire defender seeking to disturb the league’s most in-form attacker. (Cue the “It’s a bold strategy, Cotton” meme.) Chicago’s defending sported all the resistance of a broken rubber band for long stretches of the match.
Evander delivered more magic just after halftime, tallying his eighth assist of the league season on a sumptuous feed to Denkey. Chicago bounced back, though, scoring in the 55th minute and forcing Cincinnati to spend the rest of the match defending in its own end. Given Cincinnati’s personnel limitations—no Miles Robinson, Nick Hagglund, Yuya Kubo and Obinna Nwobodo, among other absentees—seeing out the latest one-goal win was good enough on the humid, 90-degree evening.
Quick side note: Nwobodo needs quadriceps surgery, which could force General Manager Chris Albright’s hand in adding to the midfield position. Another worry is that Kubo, who can play anywhere in the midfield and the attack, has spent the better part of the summer on the sidelines. The Secondary Transfer Window opens July 24.
Back to the Chicago match. I haven’t been complimentary of DeAndre Yedlin’s play in 2025, but Saturday was one of his better displays. His leadership was evident in shepherding mismatched pieces around, and he also busted his ass to assist teammates. Yedlin made a handful of crucial defensive interventions when other players were caught upfield and/or a FCC turnover sparked a Fire counter and also took off on a dead sprint up the right flank to draw a defender’s eyes prior to Evander’s goal.
Robinson’s imminent return
Saturday’s MLS broadcast crew noted that despite being down two starters at center back, Noonan believes the Orange and Blue are more comfortable playing three center backs. (So much for my grand alternative idea.) With that in mind, Robinson returning for the matches against Columbus and Miami is essential. He’s been away since May 31 with the U.S. Men’s National Team, which fell to Mexico (once again) in the Gold Cup final Sunday evening in Houston.
Robinson surely won’t turn down call-ups to the USMNT in the future—especially with the center back position thin on reliability—but his time away from FC Cincinnati did little to keep him in game shape. After starting and playing 45 minutes in a friendly vs. Turkey, Robinson managed just two substitute appearances totaling seven minutes (both in the group stage) in the Gold Cup.
When USMNT skipper Mauricio Pochettino wanted to throw on another center back to preserve a narrow 2-1 advantage in the semifinal vs. Guatemala, he chose Nashville’s Walker Zimmermann over Robinson. And Robinson stood little chance of usurping Tim Ream or Chris Richards, the latter of whom was the Americans’ best player and one of the tournament’s top performers.
Club World Cup coming to an end
The Club World Cup enters its final weekend of play, with Chelsea awaiting the winner of Paris Saint Germain-Real Madrid, the past two Champions League winners, in the final. As for MLS clubs, Inter Miami delivered one of the tournament’s biggest upsets with a 2-1 win over Portuguese power Porto, then drew 2-2 with Brazilian juggernaut Palmeiras in its final group game. Miami’s reward for advancing out of group play was a date with Paris Saint-Germain and, well, it went about as you’d expect. Lionel Messi & Co. were thrashed 4-0 by his former side.
Los Angeles FC and Seattle Sounders, the other MLS Club World Cup participants, exited in the group stage with a combined five losses and one draw.
Grant Freking writes FC Cincinnati coverage for Cincinnati Magazine. You can follow him on X at @GrantFreking.
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