I love Cincinnati, but you can keep that spaghetti chili product!
Ron White
11th in the West FC Dallas (16 points, 4-6-4) heads to Ohio to take on 2nd in the East FC Cincinnati (29 points, 9-4-2), in its own building for the first time. Kickoff is set for 6:20 pm CT. The two previous meetings between the two clubs came at Toyota Stadium.
Coach Eric Quill is suspended for this one, for accumulation of yellow cards. Assistant Coach Rodrigo Rios will take charge of Wednesday’s game for FCD.
Broadcast Info
TV: Apple TV+, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
– Apple TV English: Nate Bukaty (PxP), Devon Kerr (Analyst)
– Apple TV Spanish: Sergio Ruiz (PxP), Walter Roque (Analyst)
– Dallas Audio: Ryan Figert and Steve Davis.
MLS Injury/Player Availability Report
FC Dallas
Léo Chú – Knee (Out)
Geovane Jesus – Knee (Out)
Enzo Newman – Knee (Out)
Eric Quill – Suspended yellow cards.
Suspension after 2 yellows: Kaick, Ramiro, Osaze Urhoghide
FC Cincinnati
Nick Hagglund – Chest (Out)
Yuya Kubo – Leg (Out)
FC Dallas Lineup Prediction
Having rotated in Seattle, FCD should be at what Coach Quill currently has penciled in as his best XI.
I can’t quite bring myself to predict Paxton Pomykal starts. I think one more game off the bench and he can return at home this weekend.
The big choice is the 4-2-3-1 that we know the coach wants to play versus the diamond 4 that gets better results. I’m going to go with the “better results” and say it’s the diamond with Show Cafumana in midfield rather than say Bernard Kamungo on the wing.
For me, Lalas Abubakar has outplayed Sebastien Ibeagha over the last few games, so I have him in.
I will throw out one caveat… FCC tends to play with 3 at the back and wingbacks. The last team that FCD played with wingbacks was having a field day, so Quill swapped to a 3-4-3 with great effect. Therefore, I hold out a chance that we could see that formation at some point, perhaps even from the beginning.
Bench Prediction
Michael Collodi
Sebastien Ibeagha
Pedrinho
Patrickson Delgado
Paxton Pomykal
Tsiki Ntsabeleng
Logan Farrington
Marco Farfan
Bernie Kamungo
Diego Garcia did travel, so there’s a chance he’s on the bench for someone.
Even though Sebastian Lletget came off the injury list, I will bet they don’t risk him in this one and he’s also not had a lot of training time to reintegrate with the midweek games FCD has been playing.
MLS Kit Assignments
Officials
Referee: Marcos DeOliveira II
Ast. Referees: Logan Brown, Diego Blas
4th Official: Sergii Demianchuk
VAR: Kevin Stott
AVAR: Jonathan Johnson
More Game Info
- FCD vs. CIN all-time: 1-1-0 (3 goals scored, 2 goals conceded)
- FCD vs. CIN away: 0-0-0 (0 goals scored, 0 goals conceded)
Other than San Diego FC, FC Dallas is the last club in MLS to play at FC Cincinnati.
FC Dallas has 1 win in the last 7 league games, a shocking (at the time) 4-3 upset at Inter Miami back in April.
Lucho Acosta was the 2023 MLS MVP, playing for FCC.
Under Head Coach Pat Noonan, FC Cincinnati is 14-4-4 against Western Conference opponents in MLS Regular Season play.
Under Noonan since 2022 in all competitions, FCC are 16-5-6 in 27 matches falling on a Wednesday (2-0-1 this season).
FC Cincinnati is 8-1 this season in one-goal wins, leading MLS, and is 36-9 (.800) in league matches decided by one goal since the start of the 2023 season.
FCD is 4-3-0 in games decided by one goal.
Dallas is 2-5-3 when conceding first, 1-2-2 when conceding the opening goal away from home
in MLS.
Dallas is unbeaten in the last 23 MLS matches when leading at halftime (W17, D6) since May 19, 2022.
Pedrinho is the third player with a goal and an assist off the bench in one game for FC Dallas in the last decade, joining Logan Farrington (twice) and Franco Jara.
Léo Chú has the fastest speed recorded for FC Dallas this season at 35.3 KPH/21.9 MPH, ranking No. 18 in MLS.
FCD has scored six goals in the first half and nine in the second half.
Dallas is ninth in aerial challenges won with 195.
FCD is second in MLS in clearances with 137.
Dallas ranks 27th in xG across MLS with 18.05 xG.
The Burn is second in MLS in counterattack goals (5).
A surprising number of players have played for both clubs: Lucho Acosta, Dom Badji, Johnny Nelson, Victor Ulloa, Eric Alexander, Roland Lamah, and Andrew Wiedeman.
I predict a 2-1 defeat.