FC Cincinnati go into the World Cup Break with Offensive Outbreak

CINCINNATI, OH - FC Cincinnati go into the World Cup break on the heels of a 6-2 win at home against Orlando City SC on AAPI Night.

Speaking of AAPI Night, a quick lesson about lucky numbers in Chinese culture. There were a couple notables:

FC Cincinnati and Orlando City scored 8 goals combined. The word for eight, 八, is pronounced bā, and sounds similar to fā, which is the word to make fortune.

Additionally, in Chinese, the number six (六) sounds like liú. What else is a similar sounding word? 流, meaning flow.

Of course, in American culture, the number six probably just brings anxiety to elementary school teachers that fear the number seven follows along with children violently shaking their arms... but in Chinese culture, six is for good luck.

There's even an idiom - 六六大顺 - (liùliù dàshùn) that translates literally to "six six big smooth", meaning everything goes smoothly.

FC Cincinnati scored six goals on Saturday night in a win over Orlando.

Okay, maybe a stretch. What isn't a stretch? Saying Evander's performance was anything short of record-breaking.

Two goals, three assists for the Brazilian who broke the single match record for most goal contributions in FC Cincinnati history.

After a Hollywood ending the weekend prior in California against San Diego FC, FC Cincinnati and Evander put on a show of their own in their win.

FC Cincinnati conceded first, a poor challenge after being dispossessed inside the box by Cincinnati native Kyle Smith on Tiago Souza of Orlando saw Martín Ojeda step up and convert his penalty to put Orlando ahead in the 16th minute.

Cincinnati responded late in the first half, a header goal from Kenji Mboma Dem in the 42nd minute off a corner kick service from Evander saw the two teams level and Evander slotted home a ball with his left foot, assisted by World Cup hopeful Pavel Bucha in first half stoppage time.

Orlando were quick to come out of the halftime break and equalize, a free kick from Martín Ojeda beat Roman Celentano and the two teams were level, 2-2, with 40 minutes to play.

After Evander picked out Mboma Dem inside the box for the former Dayton forward's second goal of the match, Evander scored his signature goal, drifting from the left and curlig a shot from just outside the 18 yard box to put Cincinnati up a pair inside 60 minutes.

Evander then picked out Kévin Denkey in the 77th minute to score the fifth Cincinnati goal of the night before substitutes Ender Echenique and Tom Barlow combined to score the sixth.

After what was a rocky start to the MLS season, this break comes at the right time for Cincinnati - after a big win to take momentum into the break, while still plenty to work on and adjust before play resumes in July.

“A nice way to go into the break. A very good attacking output, and a lot of guys performed well. That's the difference in the way the game looks when you can go down the list of the starters and who comes in off the bench and say, 'Did he have a good game?' I think a lot of guys performed tonight, and it gives us a nice feeling going into the break here.” - Noonan

One notable missing name from the teamsheet was DP centerback Miles Robinson. Reports from the Guardian on Saturday included Miles Robinson on the US Men's National Team World Cup roster, and so the omission from the matchday roster seems to just be a precuationary measure to prevent any last minute injuries that would prevent Robinson from competing on the World Cup stage. Notably, Robinson missed the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after tearing his Achilles in May 2022, while playing for Atlanta United. Roster officially releases on Tuesday.

Roman Celentano was quite complimentary of the team's performance after the match. Of course, the highlight was Evander's five goal contribution performance.

"Unreal. We know what he can do, and he just does it every week for us, so I'm just happy we didn't concede seven tonight to kind of blow his night." - Celentano

Evander spoke after the match, and when asked if he'd prefer to keep playing considering his run of form (7 goals, 5 asissts in the last 5 matches), he spoke about the importance of this break for the club.

"I think it's going to be a good time for us to adjust some details on the team we have to adjust. We were coming in with some great momentum, I think last week we dropped off a bit, and tonight we showed the team that we are. But I think it's gonna be important, this break, to adjust ourselves. And, of course, I think a lot of teams are gonna change after the break. Teams that are really good right now can drop after the break, so I think it's really important for us, this break, and see if we can change the momentum a little bit." - Evander

Milestone: Pat Noonan tied for fastest in MLS history to reach 75 wins, 151 matches.

Lineups:

FC Cincinnati (3-4-1-2): 18 Celentano; 24 Smith, 21 Miazga, 11 Gidi (4 Hagglund 90'+2'); 20 Bucha, 5 Nwobodo (27 Anunga 74'), 22 Valenzuela (66 Echenique 83'), 29 Ramírez; 10 Evander (C); 9 Denkey (99 Jabbari 90'+5'), 17 Mboma Dem (16 Barlow 83')

Head Coach: Pat Noonan

Unusued Substitues: 13 Louro, 3 Flores, 55 Lajhar, 88 Chirila

Orlando City SC (3-4-2-1): 71 Crépeau, 4 Brekalo, 6 Jansson (C), 3 Marín (13 McGuire 72'); 24 Dorsey (16 Cartagena 72'), 8 B. Ojeda (5 Otávio 85'), 20 Atuesta, 77 Angulo; 22 Ellis (87 Pašalić 57'), 11 Souza (14 Spicer 46'); 10 M. Ojeda

Head Coach: Martín Perelman

Unused Substitutes: 12 Otero, 19 Taifi, 29 Reid-Brown, 57 Silva

Scoring Summary:

16' Goal, Orlando - Martín Ojeda (PK)

42' Goal, Cincinnati - Kenji Mboma Dem (Assist: Evander)

45'+2' Goal, Cincinnati - Evander (Assist: Pavel Bucha)

48' Goal, Orlando - Martín Ojeda

52' Goal, Cincinnati - Kenji Mboma Dem (Assist: Evander)

58' Goal, Cincinnati - Evander (Assist: Matt Miazga)

77' Goal, Cincinnati - Kévin Denkey (Assist: Evander)

90'+1' Goal, Cincinnati - Tom Barlow (Assist: Ender Echenique)

Want some World Cup content?

I co-host an AFC accredited Asian football podcast called the Asian Football Show! We've been releasing a new series, the AFC World Cup Previews, which come out every Wednesday and Saturday in May... plenty have come out and few are still scheduled to release, check it out: The Asian Football Show