FC Cincinnati went into this game with a singular idea as to the goal of the game. Win.
That doesn’t sound too radical, especially considering it's been the motive of every game they’ve ever played in. But in Leagues Cup, there can be a temptation to put too much pressure on not only winning but getting a mutli-goal result. Goal differential is, after all, a key tiebreaker to advancing out of Phase One.
But if you don’t win, you can’t get a multi-goal performance, and to focus on not just winning against a quality team like CF Pachuca, but winning big, is, in the words of Head Coach Pat Noonan, arrogant.
Well, they got that win on Tuesday night to open the 2026 edition of Leagues Cup, and they looked really good doing it. A rotated lineup, which brought eight new players into the lineup compared to the weekend’s victory over San Jose, gutted out an impressive 3-1 victory over one of the giants of Liga MX and set themselves up for success with a tone setting performance.
So, by sticking to their focus of just winning, they were rewarded with that multi-goal result as a bonus.
“Very pleased,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said from his press conference following the full time whistle. “I think we follow up one of our strongest performances on the weekend with another good performance against a strong Pachuca team.”
“When you're playing a very strong team, the result's the most important thing,” Noonan continued. “What we didn't do well last year was follow up with a similar performance and getting more points. So we're in a good position, but we need to turn it around and have another strong performance.”
The night didn’t start on a high note for FC Cincinnati, but after an early dip it was a glorious climb.
From the moment the match kicked off at TQL Stadium, CF Pachuca had their foot on the gas and pinned The Orange and Blue into their own defensive end. After eight minutes of an offensive onslaught the visiting Liga MX side broke through for the opening goal of the night with a header from inside the box.
But after that, that’s all CF Pachuca had on the night as the FC Cincinnati defense got stuck in and held the line, handing the game over to the high flying offense to go win the game.
“We knew that they were going to come out firing, and it’s not the start that we wanted, but at the end of the day, we took the first punch, and I think it's all about how you react to that,” said goalkeeper Evan Louro postgame, who made seven saves on the night. “I think we (reacted) in a good way. I think we just kind of settled ourselves down and took it from there.”
“The response after a slow start to the game was excellent and a lot of good contributions from guys we've seen and from guys that had an opportunity tonight,” Noonan added, explaining how he saw the opening part of the game play out. “A little bit of our press (was off), a little bit of conceding territory, and them being good at getting service into the box. So we were conceding a lot of set pieces, and the second phase of those wasn't controlled enough that we could get effective pressure to the ball and move them deeper and then get into our structure. So I think that was a big part of the early stretch there.”
Evander got the party at TQL Stadium started and continued his absolute tear of late, adding to his world class goal scoring resume in the 18’ to tie up the game.
With momentum swinging back in FC Cincinnati’s favor after a dire early stretch that belonged entirely to CF Pachuca, Gerardo ‘Dado’ Valenzuela rolled a pass to Evander along the top of the box and the Brazilian All-Star put lightning through his boot. His strike banged home his first goal of the tournament to the upper corner of the net, leaving the Pachuca keeper frozen and awestruck when he turned around to see the ball scorch the mesh behind him.
"For me the thing is, when I'm around that area, I'm always looking for him," Valenzuela said of his approach when playing with Evander.
"Certain players understand each other, and and if I'm gonna be honest, I went for a one-two with him, but he took it himself," Valenzulea added with a laugh. "Which, I don't mind either. Even if he was to sky the shot, or whatever, I always tell him keep shooting. So, it was nice for the assist. But it was a very easy assist for me."
Before the break, FC Cincinnati got their second goal of the night on a true team effort, but it was Pavel Bucha who started the play and Pavel Bucha finished it off.
Starting the sequence on the right side, Bucha found Evander for a shot but that effort was blocked. The Czech midfielder got the rebound and fed a pass across to Bryan Ramirez who, after a little adventure, made his way to the touchline before firing a pass across the goalmouth. That pass, ran just out of reach from Tom Barlow and Ayoub Jabbari, but the presence of the forwards took the attention of the Pachuca defense and left Bucha wide open on his side. He broke in and pounced for the goal to give FC Cincinnati the 2-1 lead.
That’s the way it would stay for the half and then 25 minutes into the second frame before another highlight reel sequence from the very back of the field.
Goalkeeper Evan Louro fired a pass upfield to a sprinting Ender Echenique, and the speedy Venezuelan could not be caught. He blazed up the wing, beating his man and getting in on goal to make one final pass to Kenji Mboma Dem, who put away the third and final goal of the night.
“I think we've asked too much of ourselves all year to come from behind. We need to start games stronger, and that was the message tonight,” Noonan said. “We've shown we can come back. We've shown we can respond even when we go down a goal… but that's still something that I think we can eliminate; putting ourselves in that position. But the guys continue to work when things aren't going their way and try to find some solutions and get themselves back into the game. So that's certainly been a positive.”
A win Tuesday night is a massive step forward in Leagues Cup, where anything less would have significantly hampered their potential advancement to knockout stages of the tournament. In 2025, it took seven points and a +6 goal differential just to be the final MLS team to qualify, so it will take nearly a perfect three Phase One games.
What’s even more impressive, and worthy of its own version of celebration, was that FC Cincinnati achieved this result with a rotated lineup and didn’t have to dig into their bench for extended minutes for high mileage players. Those who had been loyal and faithful reserves – excelling in their roles off the bench – were given starting roles and proved themselves.
Guys like Evan Louro, Ayoub Jabbari, Tom Barlow, Brian Anunga and Andrei Chirila all put in important shifts, and while they were not noted on the score sheet, their contributions were noticed and vital to success. Some of those selections were by virtue of need. With FCC playing on Saturday and only having two days between matches, rotation was required when considering fitness levels. But they had earned the opportunities, and delivered.
What that has done now is set up FC Cincinnati excellently for the future.
The Orange and Blue continue Leagues Cup this Friday when they host Pumas UNAM, another of the historic giants of Liga MX football. FC Cincinnati are now more poised to enter that game a little more rested and prepared for another fight. The ‘depth,’ so to speak, didn’t just do their job: they thrived.
There is lots of work to be done still, and that was clearly a message coming out of the locker room Tuesday night; Dado Valenzuela, Evan Louro, Kenji Mbomba Dem and Pavel Bucha all said versions of that as they left TQL Stadium. But The Orange and Blue are one step closer to Leagues Cup glory on Wednesday morning than they were when they woke up the day before, and that’s worth celebrating.
“We're in a good position, but again, we need to turn it around and have another strong performance,” Pat Noonan said to close the night. “You see with the structure of the tournament, seven points and a good goal differential is probably what gets you through. Last year we went into the last game with four points and too big of a goal differential to make up. We're in a similar position, and now we know what we need to do to follow it up. So, I'm pleased about the result, and I'm pleased about winning by two goals against a good team.”
