FC Cincinnati are looking to turn the page after a disappointing Game 2 and secure their advancement at home in Game 3. With the deciding match of Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs being hosted at TQL Stadium, The Orange and Blue have a chance to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Semifinals with a victory at home.
After working for this home field advantage all season long, earned via the Eastern Conference table and winning 65 points, the opportunity to reap the rewards of this season are there for the taking. FC Cincinnati took down Columbus in Game 1 at home with a vibrant crowd behind them, and are now looking to replicate that.
“That's the importance of a strong regular season and being towards the top of the conference,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said after the Game 2 defeat on Sunday. “We get that opportunity (to play at home) and I'm looking forward to how we take advantage of it.”
While a win in regulation secures the advancement outright, should things be even after 90 minutes a win in the penalty shootout would similarly punch the ticket to the next round all the same. Since the current format was introduced in 2023, the home team has advanced five times in the seven deciding Game 3’s and are 2-1 when the game goes to penalty kicks.
“No time to put our heads down. We get to go again on Saturday, and our focus will be on us and having a good week and being ready to step on the field and have a much better performance on Saturday,” Noonan said of the mindset headed into Game 3.
“It’s trying to go about it in a confident and calm way, but with the right intensity and urgency at the right moment,” Noonan added Thursday at his prematch press conference. “So, it's not frantic, it's controlled but with a really good intensity.”
“Everyone has just turned it up a notch, to be honest. Not that we are a completely different team now, but I think it's just about understanding how big of a game this is, and understanding how important it is for players, for fans, for clubs, for everyone. I think everyone is just five-ten percent more dialed in,” defender Lukas Engel said Thursday ahead of the match.
“The worst thing we can do is sit after the game and say we could have done more,
Engel continued. “So I think it's about preparing ourselves to go out there and give everything; die with the boots on. There's nothing worse in this world than sitting back after a game and thinking I could have done more. So I think it's about being prepared to do whatever it takes and get the win.”
Should FC Cincinnati advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, The Orange and Blue would host Inter Miami CF/Nashville SC at TQL Stadium on either Saturday, November 22 or Sunday, November 23 at a to be announced time. That matchup, unlike Round One, will be a single-elimination game with the winner advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Orange Out
Saturday night's deciding Game 3 at TQL Stadium will be an “Orange Out” as FC Cincinnati look to remind MLS that Ohio is Orange and Blue! All fans in attendance, and truly any and all loyal to FCC, are encouraged to wear Orange for the match to help Orange Out TQL Stadium, Cincinnati and anywhere FC Cincinnati fans gather!
FC CINCINNATI vs Columbus Crew – Saturday, November 8, 2025 – 6 p.m. ET – TQL Stadium
Watch/Stream (English/Spanish): Apple TV
English Local Radio: iHeart Media: FOX SPORTS 1360
Spanish Local Radio: La Mega 101.5 FM
TV Talent (ENG): Steve Cangialosi (PxP), Danny Higginbotham (Analyst), Jillian Sakovits (Sideline)
TV Talent (SPA): Bruno Vain (PxP), Andres Agulla (Analyst)
Cincinnati Radio Talent (ENG): Tom Gelehrter (PxP), Kevin McCloskey (Analyst)
Cincinnati Radio Talent (SPA): Gustavo Luques (PxP), José Romero (Analyst)
Playoff Format Explained
The Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs are back for the third season under its current format all eyes will be on the Hell is Real derby in the opening phase of the tournament as FC Cincinnati take on Columbus Crew.
To lift the MLS Cup at the end of the playoffs, FC Cincinnati will have to win four rounds of competition. – Round One being a Best-of-3 series with the following three rounds being single elimination.
In Round One, teams will play three matches against each other (if necessary) and advance from the series after winning two games. Like some other Cup competitions there will be no draws, however, unlike others, should a game be level after 90 minutes a winner will be decided immediately via penalty shootout rather than go to extra time first. A win in the shootout will be as good as a win in regular time. After Round One though, extra time will be utilized as normal and if things are still level then, a shootout will decide a winner.
The Best-of-3 series makes the opening match vital to success as not only does the home team get the third game played at home should they need it, but historically teams who win Game One (in regular time or shootout) advance to the Conference semifinals 87% of the time.
Hell is Real
The most prominent rivalry in Major League Soccer gets a fifth edition this season as FC Cincinnati take on Columbus Crew in the Hell is Real derby to open the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs. The two sides have met twice before in Cup competition dating back to the 2017 US Open Cup matchup where then USL side FC Cincinnati played giant slayers by defeating the MLS Crew side 1-0 in the Fourth Round.
All-time, FC Cincinnati is 5-8-6 against the Columbus Crew, including the 1-1-1 record from this season including Monday’s Game 1 victory. In FCC’s last two visits to Columbus they are undefeated with a win in 2024 and a draw in 2025.
After splitting the first two games of this series, the winner of Round One will be determined in a Game 3.
FC CINCINNATI NOTES
In the MLS Cup Playoffs – FC Cincinnati are in the MLS Cup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and are one of two clubs (LAFC) to have directly qualified without any Wild Card Matches in each of the past four years. Saturday marks the Orange and Blue’s 12th all-time MLS Cup Playoff match. Cincinnati are 5-4-2 in the prior 11 matches, and are 1-1 in match-deciding shootouts.
Best XI – Major League Soccer announced Wednesday that FC Cincinnati’s Evander was named to the 2025 MLS Best XI, which recognizes the league’s top players at each position as determined by members of the media, MLS players, and MLS club technical staffs
The Brazilian’s second-straight season with at least 15 goals and 15 assists joined Lionel Messi (2024-25) and Sebastian Giovinco (2015-16) as the only players to accomplish the feat in consecutive seasons. Among all players in 2025, his goals above expected (+9.17) ranked first in MLS. Evander is the first Brazilian player in league history to be named to multiple MLS Best XIs, after he was also named to the Best XI last season.
Rebound Well – Losses do not tend to compile for FC Cincinnati under Head Coach Pat Noonan. The Orange and Blue are 18-12-11 in the match immediately following a loss in all competitions since the start of 2022.
Win or Go Home– Every match is win-or-go home from here on out in 2025. Saturday will be the 19th single-elimination knockout stage match for the club since 2019 – the first of this season for FC Cincinnati. The Orange and Blue are 7-5-6 in the 18 prior win-or-go-home matches (2-4 in the six match-deciding shootouts) since joining MLS in 2019.
SCOUTING Columbus Crew (14-8-12, 54 Points, 7th in the Eastern Conference)
The Columbus Crew come into this game hot off their Game Two victory and looking to break the status quo of this series where the home side has had the edge.
In a uniqueness to the MLS season, FCC and Columbus are set to face off for the third time in three weeks and the fifth time this season. Two and half times more than any team FC Cincinnati has battled this season.
The challenges of playing a team twice in two weeks are complex enough, but adding a third team to the mix makes for an even bigger challenge. That test is only elevated further from both the outcomes of the matches and the performances.
“There's been some changes in the first two playoff games from regular season play, and I imagine there'll be changes in what the game looks like in game three, but there's also components of the game that you have a pretty good idea both sides, what you're going to see,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said Thursday ahead of Game 3. “Then it comes down to duels, or comes down to execution, and who can make more plays? So of course, you have to be prepared for what the changes could look like. Then, in some of it, it's ‘yeah, you've played each other a lot,’ and you have a decent idea of the personnel. “What does the game look like in different phases, but who can make more plays?”
From Earlier…
The Crew came into this playoff series after one of their worst stretches of play in the Wilfried Nancy era, but also on a high note as emphatic winners on the final day of the regular season to escape the Play-In game. The Crew, who defeated the New York Red Bulls on Decision Day 3-1, leapt from the 9th seed to the 7th on that final day to set up the match with FCC in Round One. But prior to that victory Columbus had only won once in their previous 10 games and had earned just four draws in that stretch as well.
But that poor run matters not now, the records have been wiped away and all that is left is a 0-0 score line. While FC Cincinnati has the advantage in the series entering Game 2, Columbus is more than capable of defending their home turf as they own a 9-3-5 record at home this season.
This biggest question for the Columbus Crew is the health of its stars. Diego Rossi, who led the team in goals scored this season at 16, appeared in Game 1 but only played 75 minutes as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury that left him out of action for most of the final two months of regular season action. Newly acquired Designated Player striker Wessam Abou Ali has been sidelined for a reported six-weeks after he sustained a hairline fracture in his right ankle during a game against Toronto FC on September 20th. Ali was absent for Game 1 and was confirmed as out by Columbus Head Coach Wilfried Nancy for this game as well on Thursday.
With those two DP’s out, the lineups they have put together in that stretch have relied on their depth and youth to see them to this point. While known MLS star Darlington Nagbe has been ship stabilizer during this period, young players like Jacen Russell-Rowe, Sean Zawadski and Max Arfsten have stepped up to take on a bigger role. And they will continue to have to if they want to find success.
Another key contributor to overall team success this season is French midfielder Dylan Chambost, who led the team in minutes played this season and assists with eight. The 28-year-old joined the side in 2024 after the summer window and has since appeared in every match for the Crew and started in 30 of 34 matches this season.
On the defensive side of the ball, Steven Moreira has been the key cog in the backline playing 30 matches this season and logging just under 2500 minutes. Malte Amundsen has been the other defender in the formation to step up this season with 2024 MLS All-Star Rudy Camacho out for the season to this point (though Camacho did make his first appearance on the bench this past week).
Wilfried Nancy's Columbus side plays, most often, a 4-3-3 formation with Nagbe as the center midfielder of the group to play as quarterback. Of late, with Rossi and Ali out, Russell-Rowe has been the starting forward at the top of the forward three with Hugo Picard and Lassi Lappalainen on the outside.
American keeper Patrick Schulte has been the man between the pipes for Columbus for years now after being drafted ahead of the 2022 MLS season. The Saint Louis University Billiken’s product played one year with the MLS NEXT Pro side Columbus Crew 2 before making the leap to starter in 2023 where he has since played 83 matches in three seasons. This season, Schulte has made 65 saves on 101 shots and earned three clean sheets, both of which (saves and clean sheets) are career lows.
