FC Cincinnati take to the road for the first time in 2025 when they travel to the City of Brotherly Love for a matchup with the Philadelphia Union. After a 2024 season where The Orange and Blue set a record for away victories, FCC is looking to continue its strong start to the season and take three points from Philly on its home opening night.
The matchup with Philadelphia will look very different this time around, though, as in the offseason, the Union moved on from long-time Head Coach Jim Curtain and hired Bradley Carnell to lead the squad. FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan served on Curtain's staff as an assistant in Philly and described a sadness over his "good friends" removal as Head Coach.
But just because some of the faces and key characters from this budding rivalry have changed, Noonan believes the fervor of the rivalry will continue.
"I think when you're looking at two teams that have a good history of playing against each other in meaningful games and spirited games, as we've seen, certain pieces that you lose from those matchups affects how it looks moving forward," Noonan explained at his pre-match press conference. "I think the dislike is a lot more of the players on the field for each other, and that's the way the games have played out. And I have no problem with that. You're not meant to love your opponent, so I think they have kind of dictated how these games have looked."
This is not the first time this year that FCC has had a clash with Philadelphia as the two sides met for a preseason friendly in Clearwater, Florida earlier this year, providing a sneak peak for both sides in a less intense and less formal setting. Noonan said that what they learned from that match was that while the new coaching staff in Philadelphia has instituted some new ideas, much has remained similar to previous years at this point.
"There were some differences, certainly. I mean, personnel wise, a lot of the same faces. I think the structure was a little bit different than we've seen in the past. I think the pressing early on was like we saw a year prior," Noonan explained. "But, you know, I think knowing a lot of the same personnel on the field kind of helps to know the strengths and weaknesses. It's a matter of the structure, it's a matter of, you know, how they'll look to press, and some of the differences with the ball. But you know, I think it was probably beneficial for both teams to have seen each other fairly recently."
In 2024, FC Cincinnati won 11 road games, which tied for the most in league history in the post "No-Draw" Era. If FCC are going to repeat that feat in 2025, Noonan says they are going to have to start the trend early and build confidence.
"It'll be difficult to repeat that," the FCC Head Coach confessed. "(2024) was a group that I think, from years prior, expected to play any team and get a result. That's a starting point."
"The way the guys talked about a road mentality, because it's different challenges when you play away from home than when you're playing at home and understanding how to accept that at times you're not going to have control of the game, and you don't have a fan base on your side. You don't have, maybe the officials always on your side. That's part of playing on the road. How do you deal with those different elements? I think our guys did a really good job of that, and expected to be successful. When you're able to win games early on then it's an expectation and a confidence that, yeah, we can do this. We know how to do this. So we're trying to find that early on this year as well."
FC CINCINNATI at Philadelphia Union – Saturday, March 1, 2024 – 7:30 p.m. ET – Subaru Park
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Against the Philadelphia Union
The rivalry continues to grow between these MLS Eastern Conference sides.
The last time FC Cincinnati faced off with Philly was on Decision Day 2024, where FCC earned its first-ever win at Subaru Park. FC Cincinnati and Philadelphia Union have faced each other multiple times in knockout competition, seeing each other in the 2022 and 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs as well as the 2024 Leagues Cup knockout stages.
All-time, Philly owns the series record, with FCC going 5-7-3.
FC CINCINNATI NOTES
The only matchday 2 where – FC Cincinnati (1-0-0) and Philadelphia Union (1-0-0) is the only Matchday 2 MLS game which features two clubs which both won their season opener. FCC defeated the Red Bulls, 1-0, at TQL Stadium while the Union defeated Orlando City SC, 4-2, on the road.
Scoring Touch – FC Cincinnati’s touted new Designated Player forward Kévin Denkey has scored in each of FC Cincinnati’s three matches in 2025.
Accounting for non-MLS Regular Season matches, only twice before has an FC Cincinnati player scored in four-straight matches: Brandon Vazquez from July 23-August 2022 and Luciano Acosta from April 20-May 11, 2024.
First 2-0-0 start? – FC Cincinnati have never started an MLS Regular Season with a 2-0-0 record. Last Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Red Bulls marked the second MLS Matchday 1 win for the club since joining MLS in 2019. In 2023, after defeating Houston Dynamo 2-1 on the first matchday, Matchday 2 brought a scoreless draw at Orlando City SC.
Start all over – On Decision Day 2024, FC Cincinnati earned a 2-1 win at Philadelphia Union to defeat the Union on their home field for the first time. The Orange and Blue were winless in six prior trips to Philadelphia before earning the win last October.
SCOUTING PHILADELPHIA UNION (1-0-0, 3 Points, T-1st in Eastern Conference)
With a new manager on the sidelines for the first time since 2014, the Philadelphia Union won their opening day match last week, a 4-2 away result over Orlando City SC to give Bradley Carnell his first win with The Union.
After 10 years of service the Union parted ways with Jim Curtain over the offseason and brought in former St. Louis CITY SC Head Coach Carnell to lead Philly for 2025. While in St. Louis the South African coach helped lead the expansion side to a playoff appearance in their first season. Prior to his time in the Show Me State, Carnell served as an assistant for the New York Red Bulls and has also served as an assistant for the Canadian Men’s National Team.
In the opening day victory over Orlando, Tai Baribo earned a brace and Daniel Gazdag and Mikhel Uhre also scored. Last season, that trio led the Union in goal scoring with a combined 26 goals. Gazdag led the squad with 17, tied for sixth most in 2024. The Hungarian forward is also the clubs all-time leading goal scorer.
Andre Blake remains as the man between the metal again for the Union, entering his 11th season in Philadelphia. A three-time winner of the Goalkeeper of the Year award, Blake is also the starting keeper for the Jamaican National Team and is captain of the Philadelphia Union.
In the first match under their new coach the Union deployed a 4-2-2-2 formation, with center backs Jakob Glesnes and Olwethu Makhanya at the base of the formation. Full back Kai Wagner also started and is known as one of the best outside backs in MLS with quality set piece and cross service. On the other side of the Union backline Frankie Westfield made his MLS and professional debut.
The Union are historically known to be one of the most effective clubs at bringing players through their academy and making an impact on the first team, but Philly could see some new signees rather than academy graduates make their debut in this match. The club recently traded from one of Carnell’s old players in Indiana Vassilev from St. Louis CITY. Similarly the Union recently set their record transfer fee in signing Uruguayan forward Bruno Damiani from Nacional. Both could make their debuts on Saturday.
