Since arriving from FC Viktoria Plzeň of the Czech First League in February 2024, Pavel Bucha has logged more minutes than any other FC Cincinnati player. So when the 28-year-old midfielder was not listed in the starting XI for Saturday night’s eventual 1-1 draw with Seattle, the omission was glaring.
From the start of the 2023-24 European season in August 2023 with Viktoria Plzeň through the end of the 2024 MLS season, Bucha made 73 appearances and spent 4,941 minutes on the pitch. He added 3,378 minutes last year and is up to 2,119 minutes in 2026. Before Saturday, he had started FCC’s first 19 league tilts.
In August alone, Bucha played 529 of a possible 630 non-stoppage minutes in the Orange and Blue’s seven matches. Only Evander, who played virtually every minute in August, saw more action. Availability is a skill, folks.
In addition to the sheer number of minutes he soaks up, Bucha is FCC’s best player at two positions. After beginning the campaign in his usual central midfield role, he shifted to right wingback in late April in a selfless move to stabilize one of the league’s worst defenses. The Orange and Blue have surrendered just one goal in each of their past three MLS contests and 10 in their past eight matches in all competitions, a shift from porous to middling. That’s progress.
But Bucha is more than just a 90-minute machine and self-sacrificing teammate. He impacts the offense, too. Last week, he became just the fourth player in club history to reach 20-plus goals and 20-plus assists. The other members of Cincinnati’s 20-20 club are a pair of MVPs (Lucho Acosta and Emmanuel Ledesma) and two-time MVP finalist Evander, who may just get his own MVP this year.
Bucha’s three goals in August brought him to seven goals and 11 goal contributions for 2026, both career highs. Just don’t expect him to celebrate much.
No. 1 awaits
Nashville is FC Cincinnati’s next opponent Saturday night in Music City, and they rallied from a 2-1 deficit in second-half stoppage time to beat Columbus over the weekend. The late surge was another chapter in what’s a storybook season for Nashville, which is 10 points clear of Inter Miami in the Eastern Conference and nine points ahead of Vancouver in the Supporters’ Shield race.
The Coyotes top the league in points (49) and fewest goals conceded (17 in 21 matches), rank second in goal differential (plus-26), and are unbeaten (10 wins, 1 draw) in 11 home MLS matches at Geodis Park. Their lone league defeats in 2026 were 1-0 road setbacks to Orlando and Chicago.
In six matches since the World Cup break, FC Cincinnati have won three times, drawn twice, and lost once. That’s solid though not spectacular. The locals will need to elevate their game from the former to the latter in order to nab even a point on Saturday.
Grant Freking is in his eighth year of FC Cincinnati coverage for Cincinnati Magazine.
