FC Cincinnati hit the road for their third consecutive road trip to visit a club in an NFL stadium. Kickoff with Charlotte FC is set for 7:30 p.m. eastern at Bank of America Stadium as The Orange and Blue look to continue their perfect 2-0-0 road record in MLS play. Fans can watch the match MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and listen locally on Fox Sports 1360.
Let’s break down this matchup with key numbers to remember, presented by CTI.
18
With 18 key passes, Luciano Acosta leads all MLS players in passes that directly lead to an offensive opportunity. With two goals and two assists, Acosta is also one of just five MLS players this season to earn multiple goals and assists through five matches.
The 2023 MLS MVP also leads The Orange and Blue with 1.48 xG and five shots on target. Luca Orellano and Corey Baird rank second on the squad in key passes, with six apiece.
89.5
Roman Celentano has dominated MLS play this season, keeping a clean sheet three times and hosting an MLS-best 89.9 percent save percentage through five games. With 17 saves, Celentano also ranks seventh in the league while conceding a league-best two goals on 19 shots.
With three clean sheets this season, Celentano has earned 20 career clean sheets across his three seasons in MLS since being drafted second overall in 2022. His 187 saves are also a club-high.
1.23
Forward Corey Baird has collected 1.23 xG this season, the second most for FC Cincinnati behind only Luciano Acosta, despite having yet to score a goal in 2024. With his high tally of xG despite not having the reward outcome of a goal, Baird ranks seventh in MLS in xG among players who do not have a goal. Baird trails only New England's Tomás Chancalay, LA Galaxy's Ricky Puig, NYCFC's Mounsef Bakrar, Toronto's Federico Bernardeschi, Charlotte's Kerwin Vargas, and D.C.'s Gabriel Pirani.
Baird has been filling up the stat sheet in many ways in addition to his expected goals totals. Baird is one of three FCC players to start all five MLS matches; he also ranks third on the club in shots, shots on target, fouls suffered, and minutes played.
247
FC Cincinnati enters Saturday’s match with 247 goals scored across all competitions since joining MLS in 2019. With three goals Saturday, FCC would reach another milestone of club goals and add to the noted list of goal scorers since Leonardo Bertone scored the first FCC in MLS goal on March 2, 2019.
Additional noted goal scorers in FCC history include Nick Hagglund scoring the 50th goal in club history, Alvaro Barreal scoring the 100th, Brenner scoring the 150th and Aaron Boupendza scoring the 200th last season in a home win over Nashville SC.
5
FC Cincinnati is undefeated in its last five matches on artificial playing surfaces after earning a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution earlier this season. In 2023, FCC was undefeated on turf fields with a 1-0-3 record, including a win at Atlanta United and a dramatic come-from-behind draw against Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium.
At Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, The Orange and Blue earned their first point last season in that 2-2 draw to improve to 0-1-1 all-time. Luciano Acosta and Alvaro Barreal scored in the second half to come level with Charlotte before having to defend for the final 15 minutes after Ian Murphy took a red card.
