Welcome to your preview and match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (4-8-2, 14 points) and FC Cincinnati (4-5-5, 17 points) at TQL Stadium (7:30 p.m., Apple TV) in Cincinnati. It\u2019s the first of the two meetings between the teams this season, with FC Cincinnati scheduled to make the return trip to Orlando on Aug. 15.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you need to know for the match.<\/p>\n
History<\/p>\n
Orlando City leads the all-time series, 5-4-4, with a 3-1-3 mark on the road. The teams last met on Sept. 28, 2025, with Alex Freeman\u2019s goal late in stoppage time salvaging a 1-1 draw<\/a> for Orlando City on the road, canceling out Kevin Denkey\u2019s second-half strike.<\/p>\n Prior to that, the teams also met last year on June 28 at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, with FC Cincinnati winning 2-1<\/a>. An Evander brace, which included a poorly conceded set piece goal from distance, was enough to offset Marco Pasalic\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n These two teams met at TQL Stadium on Oct. 5, 2024, with the Lions leaving southwest Ohio with a 3-1 victory<\/a> in their final road match of the regular season. Ramiro Enrique scored twice and had a third chalked off for a controversial foul on a corner kick. He also assisted on a goal by Ivan Angulo in an impressive performance. Luciano Acosta scored Cincinnati\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n These two sides also met on May 4 of that year in Orlando with FC Cincinnati claiming a 1-0 road win<\/a> on a first-minute goal by Acosta. The Lions went down a man early in the game when Rodrigo Schlegel was called for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity on Yuya Kubo. Orlando City had a second-half goal waved off for an offside in the buildup. Cincinnati lost Bret Halsey to a second yellow card late but the Lions couldn\u2019t take advantage.<\/p>\n The teams met in Ohio on Sept. 2, 2023, with the Lions claiming a 1-0 win<\/a> on enemy soil, becoming the first road team to beat FC Cincinnati all season. Facundo Torres scored the game\u2019s only goal. Orlando had to hold on down a man late when Wilder Cartagena was sent off. The teams played to a 0-0 draw in Orlando on March 4, 2023<\/a> in Orlando.<\/p>\n The Lions fell 1-0<\/a> at TQL Stadium on June 24, 2022. A second-half goal from Brenner represented all the offense, but it could have been worse for Orlando City as Pedro Gallese made eight saves in the match. The first meeting of 2022 took place in Orlando on March 12, with FC Cincinnati notching its first win in the all-time series, 2-1 at Exploria Stadium<\/a>. The Lions were more in control but were wasteful, despite dominating the stat sheet. The visitors got a brace from Brandon Vazquez to offset Junior Urso\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n The final meeting of 2021 was on Oct. 16 in Cincinnati, when Orlando City got its first road victory in the series, 1-0 on Urso\u2019s early goal<\/a>. Tesho Akindele should have scored a second off the crossbar late in the game, but the play was never reviewed, despite video evidence that the ball was completely across the line.<\/p>\n On Aug. 7, 2021, the match in Cincinnati ended up in a 1-1 draw<\/a>. Nani\u2019s strike rescued a point after Brenner had opened the scoring for the hosts just before halftime, taking advantage of an obviously injured Uri Rosell, who subbed off moments later. The first of the three meetings in 2021 came on May 21 in Orlando, with the Lions posting a 3-0 win<\/a>. Akindele scored in the first minute and Nani and Urso each added a goal.<\/p>\n In Orlando\u2019s first trip to the banks of the Ohio River, the match ended in a 1-1 draw at Nippert Stadium<\/a> on Sept. 29, 2019. Benji Michel\u2019s goal in stoppage time rescued a point for the Lions after Allan Cruz had given the hosts a lead. The draw officially eliminated Orlando City from playoff contention that year, but realistically the Lions had been out of it for a while.<\/p>\n The first-ever meeting between the two sides took place on May 19, 2019, when the Lions pummeled the expansion side, 5-1<\/a>. Both Nani and Akindele bagged braces in the match and Dom Dwyer added a goal as well.<\/p>\n Overview<\/p>\n The Lions are coming off back-to-back matches at home against Atlanta United. Orlando City conceded a late goal a week ago, allowing the Five Stripes to snatch a point in a 1-1 draw<\/a>. On Tuesday night, Orlando City ran roughshod over Atlanta in the first half on the way to a 4-0 lead at the break and a 4-1 win<\/a>. The Lions are playing their fifth match in 15 days, and now they take their heavy legs with them on the road, where they are a terrible 1-5-1 on the season.<\/p>\n FC Cincinnati is the much better-rested side, having last played a week ago in a wild 3-3 draw at San Diego FC. That match featured two goals deep in stoppage time, with Cincy scoring the final one in the 98th minute to snatch a road point. Tonight\u2019s hosts are 3-2-1 at home this year, but they\u2019re also 0-1-2 in their last three games. <\/p>\n To win tonight, the Lions will have to play much better defense than they have throughout most of the season. Cincinnati is second in the Eastern Conference and tied for third in MLS in goals scored (30). Neither side has been good defensively, with Orlando continuing to lead Major League Soccer in goals conceded (38) and FC Cincinnati second in that category (35). Orlando City\u2019s offense has come to life in recent weeks \u2014 at least at home \u2014 but with so many miles logged in May, the Lions can\u2019t afford to make tonight\u2019s match a track meet.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are preparing this game like it\u2019s the most important, not because it\u2019s more important than the previous ones, but because the next one always is the more important for us,\u201d Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said ahead of the match. \u201cSo, it\u2019s true that this one is the last one of this semester (before the World Cup break), but for us it\u2019s about one game at a time, so hopefully we can do a good job against Cincinnati. We know them. I think they know us as well. Both of us, we changed a little bit some things, but Cincy\u2019s a good team and we\u2019re going to be ready to go there and do our best in order to bring the points to Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lions will be without Joran Gerbet (knee), while Tyrese Spicer (ankle) is questionable. FC Cincinnati will be without Teenage Hadebe (leg) and Alvas Powell (leg).<\/p>\n Match Content<\/p>\n Projected Lineups<\/p>\n Orlando City (4-4-2)<\/p>\n Goalkeeper:\u00a0Maxime Crepeau.<\/p>\n Defenders: Adrian Marin, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Griffin Dorsey.<\/p>\n Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Marco Pasalic.<\/p>\n Forward: Martin Ojeda, Justin Ellis.<\/p>\n FC Cincinnati (3-5-2)<\/p>\n Goalkeeper: Roman Celentano.<\/p>\n Defenders:\u00a0Miles Robinson, Matt Miazga, Nick Hagglund.<\/p>\n Wingbacks\/Midfielders: Kenji Mboma Dem, Samuel Gidi, Evander, Brian Anunga, Pavel Bucha.<\/p>\n Forwards:\u00a0Gerardo Valenzuela, Kevin Denkey.<\/p>\n Referees<\/p>\n REF: Rubiel Vazquez. How to Watch<\/p>\n Match Time:\u00a07:30 p.m.<\/p>\n Venue:\u00a0TQL Stadium \u2014 Cincinnati, OH.<\/p>\n TV\/Streaming:\u00a0Apple TV.<\/p>\n Radio:\u00a0AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa R\u00e1dio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).<\/p>\n Social Media:\u00a0For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at\u00a0@themaneland.bsky.social<\/a>\u00a0or follow Orlando City\u2019s\u00a0official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC<\/a>) feed.<\/p>\n Enjoy the match. Go City!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to your preview and match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (4-8-2, 14 points)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-282082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
AR1: Cory Richardson.
AR2: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho.
4TH: Allen Chapman.
VAR: Ismir Pekmic.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.<\/p>\n