FC Cincinnati clinches MLS Cup playoff berth in win at Atlanta United

Jun 10, 2023

ATLANTA – Playing Atlanta United FC has historically been a challenging proposition for FC Cincinnati, as has any game played on synthetic turf. And Atlanta plays its home matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on artificial turf.

That's made Atlanta one of the least-hospitable road matches for FC Cincinnati each season − until Wednesday, when FCC overcame both the opponent and the fake grass in a come-from-behind, 2-1 win against Atlanta before a crowd of 42,568.

The victory was Cincinnati’s first inside the arena, and its first on an artificial playing surface (other than the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium) since its fourth-ever MLS match in March 2019.

The win pushed FC Cincinnati to 17-3-6 (57 points) in Major League Soccer, where it swelled its lead in the Eastern Conference to 11 points over New England Revolution. In the race for the Supporters Shield, St. Louis CITY SC remained 10 points back of FCC.

"What a big win for our group. The response after a slow 25 minutes to start the game, and to find our way into the half... the way the guys came out and went after it in the second half was really impressive," FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said. "To find two goals and walk off the field with three points is, I think, huge for us in the big picture."

More:Why FC Cincinnati's NYCFC rout was the biggest win of 2023: MLS takeaways

It what was something of a forgone conclusion, but FC Cincinnati also clinched an MLS Cup playoff berth with the victory. It marked playoff berths in back-to-back years for the first time in club history.

While expected, Cincinnati officially clinching postseason soccer was still significant. It signaled to all of MLS that the stretch run is well underway, and pressure races in the standings will continue to heat up.

The early stage at which FCC clinched its playoff berth was impressive, too, as eight matches and almost two months still remain in the regular season.

"It's a sign of growth where, now we're a stronger regular season team than we were last year. We'll see what that looks like in postseason, if we were a better version of ourselves than last year, and I thought we were a strong team," Noonan said. "But yes, we've maintained our position consistently all year and that's what's allowed us to secure this spot this early, but hopefully that's just another milestone that the guys can be pleased about that is en route to our bigger goals."

FC Cincinnati erred in failing to clear the ball in the 10th minute, which led to an opening score by Atlanta's Edwin Mosquera. The goal was the first of the 22-year-old's professional career.

In the 75th minute, Luciano Acosta's 13th tally of the year cancelled out Mosquera's opener. A quick passing combination with Junior Moreno, who headed the ball down for Acosta to half-volley it past Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan, was the key sequence in the buildup.

The shot found the side-netting, freezing Guzan to his position..

"I think it was a play that just came from the moment," Acosta said via a team interpreter. "Junior got the ball and found me. We played a one-two. It came to me and I hit it."

Cincinnati evened out defensively after Mosquera tallied early for the hosts. Then, FCC's attack grew into the match, which seemed likely to happen if only because Atlanta entered the contest having allowed the second-most goals in the east in 2023.

FC Cincinnati seemed increasingly worthy of victory as the match wore on, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see the Orange and Blue continue the assault on Atlanta's back line after Acosta's equalizer.

More of the same quality buildup play led to Brandon Vazquez's go-ahead goal in the 80th minute. Acosta fed the ball to Alvaro Barreal on the wing, and Barreal dribbled and lashed the ball to the front of the goal.

Vazquez, who had four shots in the match and was especially active in the second half, side-footed the ball past Guzan off Barreal's pass.

The strike was the 17th for club and country across all competitions in 2023 for Vazquez, who scored 20 goals across all competitions in 2022.

Barreal recorded his sixth assist of 2023 on the play.

Playoffs are "what we put in our heads at the beginning of the season," Acosta said. "Win whatever games we could. We've had some great games at home, some great games away. Today was a massive game but it's not a surprise because the team played really well today."

FC Cincinnati's comeback win has secured its MLS Cup playoff berth. No more turf monster conversation. FCC also shed a long history of not winning in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as did Pat Noonan since he'd never won in the building as a coach.

Brandon Vazquez's fifth MLS goal of 2023 put FC Cincinnati on top and in position for a huge, and deserved, road win.

Luciano Acosta's 13th goal of 2023 pulled Cincinnati level. The strike pulled Acosta into the MLS lead with Hany Mukhtar for goals.

Xande Silva appeared to double Atlanta's lead off a corner kick but the goal was waived off due to an obvious foul prior to the shot.

Unfortunately for FC Cincinnati, the opening goal conceded against Atlanta ended up being an outlier compared against the hosts' chance creation the rest of the half. FCC could be deadlocked against the second-worst defensive team in the east to begin the second half but they begin still looking to dig out of a hole.

Edwin Mosquera blasted a shot home from close range as Atlanta took control early.

The match kicked off at 7:39 p.m. FC Cincinnati is in head-to-toe orange and Atlanta is wearing a very interesting third jersey called the "404 kit." The top is a collaboration with local creative firm, Atlanta Influences Everything. The graffiti-style graphics on the shirt call upon the city's global and national cultural contributions during the 1990's.

Aaron Boupendza did not travel with FC Cincinnati to Atlanta on Tuesday. He picked up an unspecified injury in the win Saturday against New York City FC and is considered day-to-day.