After narrowly defeating Houston Dynamo 2-1, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC hit the road again, this time visiting FC Cincinnati for the clubs’ second and final regular season meeting this year.
With the Orange and Blue earning a surprise 1-2 victory at Exploria Stadium back in March, the Lions will be out for revenge in their third ever trip to TQL Stadium.
Right now, Orlando City SC sit fourth with FC Cincinnati eighth in the Eastern Conference.
Much improved under new head coach Pat Noonan this season, Cincy are no longer the pushovers they’d become known as.
Enduring a tough baptism in Major League Soccer, FC Cincinnati finished 12th, 14th and 14th in their first three seasons.
Appointed FC Cincinanti head coach in December 2021, the task for Pat Noonan was huge.
Especially after two dead-last finishes and the fact FC Cincinnati is Noonan’s first full-time head coaching role in his career.
So far this season however, the Orange and Blue have gone 6-2-7, impressively winning four games on the road.
In fairness to the Orange and Blue, their passionate support has never wavered at their new purpose-built TQL Stadium home. They now seem to have some genuine momentum in MLS.
Heading into this fixture, Orlando City SC are undefeated in their TWO visits to TQL Stadium so far.
Achieving a 1-1 draw and 0-1 win in Cincinnati’s West End last season, City also drew 1-1 at Nippert Stadium in September 2019.
FC Cincinnati vs Orlando City SC – 2019/22 head-to-head stats
The last time Orlando City SC faced FC Cincinnati, the Orange and Blue achieved their first ever MLS win over the Lions.
Winning 1-2 at Exploria Stadium back on March 12, Brandon Vazquez scored a brace either side of Júnior Urso‘s 42nd minute leveller.
Following 14 straight losses on the road (2021/22), this was FC Cincinnati’s first away victory in 15 MLS games.
Unfortunately, it was one of those nights in Central Florida.
City recorded double the amount of shots (18) as the Orange and Blue (9).
However, the Lions unfortunately met FC Cincinnati stopper Alec Kann in truly inspired form.
Orlando City 1 FC Cincinnati 2 – Highlights – March 12, 2022 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Right now, Orlando City SC hold THREE victories to FC Cincinnati’s ONE, with TWO draws played out too.
On Orlando City SC‘s last visit to TQL Stadium, the Lions ground out a hard fought 0-1 away win in October 2021.
With Júnior Urso opening the scoring on 13 minutes, the rest of the game was super nervy for City supporters to watch.
On 85 minutes however, Tesho Akindele cannoned in a strike that first hit Przemysław Tytoń’s crossbar.
However, referee Marcos de Oliveira and his fellow officials failed to spot that the ball had crossed Tytoń’s line after the woodwork was hit.
With no goal-line technology in Major League Soccer and no resulting VAR call, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Especially considering that FC Cincinnati were calling for a penalty deep in stoppage time when sub Rodrigo Schlegel fouled Brandon Vazquez.
Fortunately, there was a no-call from Marcos de Oliveira, and City earned their first ever win at TQL Stadium.
FC Cincinnati 0 Orlando City SC 1 – Highlights – October 16, 2021 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Despite FC Cincinnati being largely pushovers in MLS since their inaugural 2019 season, recent head-to-heads have been tight.
Prior to this season’s 1-2 home loss to the Orange and Blue, Orlando City SC achieved the aforementioned 0-1 victory at TQL Stadium in October 2021.
With both recent games being separated by ONE goal, there has been little to choose in recent fixture history.
FC Cincinnati form
It’s been a case of all or nothing for Pat Noonan’s FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium so far this season.
Cincy have won TWO and lost FOUR of their SIX home games so far.
All four losses were by agonising one-goal margins too.
The home defeats to D.C. United (1-2) and New England Revolution (2-3) were particularly painful for the Orange and Blue.
After all, the game winners by Ola Kamara (penalty) and Tommy McNamara came late, late on after the 88th minute mark.
FC Cincinnati 2 New England Revolution 3 – Highlights – May 21, 2022 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Orlando City SC form
If you’re looking for an Orlando City SC goalscorer against FC Cincinnati, don’t look past Júnior Urso.
Scoring 10 MLS goals for City, three of these have come against the Orange and Blue.
Indeed, Júnior Urso has scored in THREE of the last FOUR league head-to-heads.
FC Cincinnati supporters must be sick of the sight of “The Bear”.
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Don’t forget, FC Cincinnati vs Orlando City SC will be shown LIVE on FreeSports at 00:35 (GMT) in the early hours of Saturday morning.
You can view our TV Fixture Tracker by clicking here.
GOOD NEWS 🚨 | @fccincinnati 🆚 @OrlandoCitySC will be shown LIVE on @FreeSports_TV in the early hours of Saturday morning. 😄📺⚽👏🏽
VIEW TV TRACKER 📺: https://t.co/KV9JvpAA0o#OCTwitter #CINvORL #AllForCincy #OrlandoCity #MLSUK pic.twitter.com/adlStCoUqt
— Orlando City UK 🌈 (@Orlando_CityUK) June 22, 2022
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