FC Cincinnati and New York City FC get their best-of-three playoffs in the 2024 Major League Soccer campaign underway with a meeting at the TQL Stadium on Monday night.
The home side endured a relatively underwhelming regular-season journey to secure third place in the Eastern Conference, while their visitors finished three spots down below in sixth.
Match preview
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After remarkably defying expectations last season to finish with the most points (69) in the entire MLS, Cincinnati put the whole league on high alert and were tipped to enjoy another impressive campaign this term.
However, Pat Noonan's men were unable to hit the heights of last season after dropping 12 points in the opening eight rounds of matches, during which they managed to pick up just three victories.
A run of seven wins on the bounce soon followed for the Knifey Lions to restore some confidence, but a dismal run in the final five games that yielded only four points saw them finish well behind Inter Miami and Columbus Crew.
Nonetheless, Cincinnati are heading to their third straight playoffs which is largely impressive when you consider the fact they finished bottom of the Eastern Conference in each of their first three seasons.
Courtesy of a 3-2 defeat after going 2-0 up, Sunday's hosts were knocked out in the semi-finals last time out by eventual winners Columbus Crew and will be looking to make another deep run into the postseason.
Seeking to steal an early march on the visitors ahead of Saturday's second meeting, Cincinnati will fancy their chances of securing a positive result having lost just one of the last eight editions of this fixture.
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New York City's only victory over Cincinnati since the start of 2022 came in the most recent clash earlier this month which ended 3-2, and they will be hoping for more of the same in Monday's tie opener.
Following just one win from their first seven outings, Nick Cushing's men recovered from a slow start to the regular season to finish sixth in the Eastern Conference and return to the playoffs having missed out last season.
Off the back of three victories prior, The Boys in Blue were beaten 2-0 by CF Montreal in their final outing of the campaign on Saturday as first-half goals from Caden Clark and Josef Martinez settled matters.
That was only a first defeat in five matches for New York City, who ended the season with 10 points from the last 15 available—behind only Charlotte, Montreal and Inter Miami in the East—ahead of their trip to Ohio.
However, Monday's visitors have not fared well on the road of late, managing just one win from their last five away involvements, and even that came against city rivals New York Red Bulls in late September.
Team News
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Cincinnati's Matt Miazga remains unavailable for selection having had surgery to fix a cruciate ligament injury that he sustained in the middle of June.
Nick Hagglund is also a long-term absentee for the hosts, as he currently nurses a broken fibula, while Sergio Santos is a doubt for Monday's game through concussion.
American defender Isaiah Foster has not featured since July when he picked up a knee problem, ruling him out of contention for his side alongside Alec Kann.
Twenty-three-year-old Justin Haak is ineligible to play any part for New York City FC here as he serves a one-game suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
Sierra Leone youngster Malachi Jones also misses out for the away side due to a broken leg and is still a considerable way off making his return to first-team action.
FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:
Celentano; Hadebe, Robinson, Awaziem; Asad, Nwobodo, Bucha, Yedlin; Acosta, Kubo, Orellano
New York City FC possible starting lineup:
Freese; O'Toole, Ilenic, Martins, Gray; Sands, Park; Rodriguez, Moralez, Wolf; Martinez
We say: FC Cincinnati 2-1 New York City FC
Goals have been a constant feature of this fixture over the years, and we can see Tuesday's clash following suit.
That said, we are backing the home side to emerge victorious in front of their fans and put themselves in the driving seat to go through to the next round.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
