MLS leaders Inter Miami CF, FC Cincinnati meet at TQL Stadium
The scoreboard watching around FC Cincinnati started early this season. Months ago even, and with good reason.
From the start of the 2024 season in February, results and performances around Major League Soccer gave ample warning that a different kind of race for the Supporters’ Shield would arise, and that’s what’s come to be.
A months-long run of dominance in 2023 culminated with last season’s Supporters’ Shield triumph for FC Cincinnati. FCC clinched its first major trophy with games to spare, and no real challengers emerged from May onward. By contrast, the 2024 season has given way fascinating race involved multiple clubs from both conferences, and it shows no signs of letting down.
Entering Saturday’s round of matches, the top five clubs in the league-wide standings were within seven points of one another. Two of those clubs meet Saturday at TQL Stadium as Inter Miami CF and FC Cincinnati will face-off in a battle of the league’s current Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the standings.
The game (7:30 p.m.) stands as one of the most important in TQL Stadium history, even when accounting for the multitude of U.S. Soccer and high-profile cup and postseason matches the venue has seen.
A win for Cincinnati (14-4-3, 45 points) would push it past Miami (14-3-5, 47 points) for MLS supremacy, albeit it by a narrow margin. A win for Miami would allow it a measure of breathing room atop the league, which would be welcome considering FC Cincinnati’s close pursuit of the club for weeks.
Both clubs are missing stars entering the game, and Lionel Messi won’t be present. But the match between FC Cincinnati, the defending Supporters’ Shield champion, and Miami, the current frontrunner for the Shield, isn’t necessarily driven by individual star power.
“As far as this particular game, I think it loses hype for obvious reasons,” FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan told The Enquirer at Audi Field on Wednesday. “You’ve got Messi gone. You’ve got (Luis) Suarez gone. You’ve got key injuries to Matt (Miazga). We weren’t expecting Miles (Robinson) back, but now Miles is back… you just miss key pieces in a Supporters’ Shield race with teams at the top, so that part is disappointing. But it’s the cards that both teams are dealt and you try to perform. Both teams have done that in a really strong way.
“I think their depth is being shown right now and the quality of the XI they’re still able to field. They’ve put together a really strong team, and I think we have as well. That’s why we’re both in a position where we’re able to win games with those absences.”
A new frontier for FC Cincinnati
FC Cincinnati is looking over its shoulder in a Supporters Shield race for the first time, and hosting matches against direct rivals in the face.
When FC Cincinnati looks in the rearview mirror, it’s not just looking back at one or two teams, too. At the moment, the Shield race is five clubs wide, with three Western Conference teams − Los Angeles FC, Los Angeles Galaxy and Real Salt Lake − all looking like classy, viable Shield-worthy contenders.
That means each week is a pressure cooker for all involved. One slip, or a late point rescued, could decide a team’s fate in the race.
“It seems like you can’t have a letdown. You can’t have a bad week or that’s gonna change the Supporters’ Shield race which, right now, there’s a lot of teams that can go and win that trophy,” Noonan said. “Now, the position we’re in (and) Miami’s been consistent and winning. You have out west, LAFC and Galaxy have caught fire. ‘RSL’ has been there for a while.”
The head-to-head FC Cincinnati will host Saturday is unlike any other home match in team history.
While FCC has 13 regular season games to go and that’s plenty of time for shakeups in the Shield race, there wasn’t one head-to-head matchup last season that held the immediate implications for the Shield race that the Miami game seems to have.
“Last year, because of the lead we have and when we clinched, it was on the road and against a (Toronto) team that was out of the playoff hunt,” Noonan said. “The energy, the atmosphere isn’t the same as if you’re in a title race in any league in any country that comes down to that last couple weeks. It feels like that’s what it’s lining up to be. Hopefully, we’re involved. Whether we’re involved or not, I think all the teams I mentioned are all right there, and it’s going to make for an interesting end to the season.
“The pressure’s a little bit higher… It just changes the pressure and the excitement and how you go about winning. That is what would feel different than 2024.”
Personnel comings, goings for FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami
The list of unavailable players Noonan alluded to Wednesday is indeed a long one. Lionel Messi (Copa America), Luis Suarez (Copa America), Jordi Alba (suspension) and Diego Gomez (suspension) are out for Miami.
For FC Cincinnati, Miazga is out for the season, as is Nick Hagglund. FC Cincinnati confirmed Hagglund’s placement on the Season Ending Injury list in a Friday news release. Hagglund, who broke his fibula in the June 22 loss to New England Revolution, also required ankle ligament reconstructive surgery, team officials stated. Hagglund is expected to rejoin the club during the 2025 preseason.
There’s still star power on the field, though. For Miami, that comes in the former of midfield maestro, Sergio Busquets, as well as 19-year-old Benjamin Cremaschi.
Many pundits expected Miami to fade during this portion of the regular season. Busquets, Cremaschi and others on what is now viewed as a well-constructed Miami roster have helped the club maintain its position atop MLS during the long-anticipated absences of Messi and Suarez for the Copa America tournament.
Miami has won four straight games coming into Cincinnati. Three of those games were on the road, and games were won with goals in the 86th minute or later on two occasions.
With 24 combined goals missing between Messi and Suarez, Leo Campana is the team’s available leading scorer with five goals. Robert Taylor, who flourished after Messi’s arrival in 2023, has four goals.
Ten Miami players other than Messi and Suarez have scored a goal this year, and Julian Gressel is the best-available attacking facilitator with nine assists.
FC Cincinnati labored to produce results in the absence of Miazga and Hagglund over its last two games, but did anyway.
When the U.S. men’s national team was controversially ousted from the Copa America in the group stage of the competition, FCC immediately regained the services of USMNT center-back Miles Robinson. Robinson saw the USMNT eliminated from Copa America on Monday night, arrived in the Washington, D.C. region Tuesday evening, and started in the following day’s 3-2 win on a patchy playing surface.
Cincinnati won twice on the road ahead of hosting Miami, which saw the club tie an MLS record for consecutive road wins (seven). FCC is also a league-best 9-1-1 away from TQL Stadium.
Results at home have been harder to come by. Cincinnati hasn’t yet treated its fans to home dominance in 2024 like it did during the Shield-winning 2023 season via a 5-3-2 record in the West End.
“I was actually thinking about this the other night,” FC Cincinnati defender and former Inter Miami player DeAndre Yedlin said of the club’s home form. “I honestly don’t know what the difference is. Probably the only difference is that we’re staying in a hotel versus staying at home… On the road, we’ve been great, excellent. At home, I haven’t quite put my finger on it but it’s definitely something we’ve got to fix, really. Not only are we letting those games slip, but we’re letting them slip in front of our home fans.”
The game
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. | TQL Stadium; Cincinnati
Broadcast: Apple TV MLS Season Pass
All-time series: Inter Miami leads the all-time series against FC Cincinnati with a 4-3-2 record.
FC Cincinnati D.C. United FC Cincinnati wins historic road match in 3-2 victory at D.C. United
FC Cincinnati
Record (MLS): 14-4-3, 45 points; Second place in Eastern Conference
Goals for: 36 (No. 2 in east; Tied for No. 7 in MLS)
Goals against: 25 (Tied No. 3 in east; Tied for No. 4 in MLS)
Head coach: Pat Noonan, third season as head coach
Projected starting XI: Roman Celentano, goalkeeper; DeAndre Yedlin, left wing back; Ian Murphy, center back; Kipp Keller, center back; Miles Robinson, center back; Luca Orellano, right back; Obinna Nowbodo, midfielder; Pavel Bucha, midfielder; Luciano Acosta, midfielder; Kevin Kelsy, forward; Gerardo Valenzuela, forward.
Inter Miami CF
Record (MLS): 14-3-5, 47 points; First in Eastern Conference
Goals for: 50 (No. 1 in east; No. 1 in MLS)
Goals against: 31 (No. 8 in east; No. 14 in MLS)
Head coach: Gerardo “Tata” Martino – second season as Miami head coach
Projected starting XI: Drake Callender (GK); Noah Allen, left back; Serhiy Kryvtsov, center back; Tomás Avilés, center back; Marcelo Weigandt, right back; Sergio Busquets, midfielder; Robert Taylor, winger/forward; Leo Afonso, forward; Benjamin Cremaschi, midfielder/forward; Julian Gressel, winger/forward; Leo Campana, forward.
