FC Cincinnati will look to maintain their solid MLS form when they take on New York Red Bulls at TQL Stadium on Sunday morning.
The hosts are still unbeaten in the league this season with 12 points after six games, while the visitors are fourth in the Eastern Conference and just a point behind their opponents.
Match preview
© Reuters
FC Cincinnati are one of only two sides in the Eastern Conference that are yet to taste defeat in MLS this season, and extended their unbeaten streak to six matches (W3 D3 L0) with a 1-1 draw away to Charlotte last weekend.
Djibril Diani gave the hosts on the day the lead from the penalty spot at the hour mark after a lengthy review, but the Orange and Blue managed to find a 93rd-minute equaliser when Aaron Boupendza knocked home after some excellent interplay between substitutes Dado Valenzuela and Sergio Santos.
With that result, the reigning Supporters Shield winners maintained their place atop the Eastern Conference standings, but most in-tune followers of the Orange and Blue would likely agree that there is still plenty of improvement to be made.
Indeed, Pat Noonan's side are in pole position and possess the best defensive record in the division (three goals conceded), but only three sides in the East have played at least six games and scored fewer than the six goals the FCC have netted this term. Those are Orlando City, New York City and New England - the bottom three sides in the Eastern Conference.
The hosts have yet to concede a goal at TQL Stadium this season, though they will be without their first-choice goalkeeper Roman Celentano, who suffered an ankle injury during last weekend's trip to Charlotte.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, with FCC, Inter Miami and Columbus Crew all playing out draws last weekend, the New York Red Bulls missed out on an opportunity to move to the top of the league table, as they also played to a 1-1 draw away to Orlando City.
Lewis Morgan put the Red Bulls in front just 20 minutes into the match from the penalty spot, and they held onto the lead until the 89th minute when they conceded a Noah Eile own goal, which forced them to settle for a share of the spoils.
That goal was Morgan's sixth of the season, which included a hat-trick against a Messi-less Herons side a week earlier. With that, the midfielder currently leads the top scorer charts this season and tied Carlos Vela's record set in 2019 for the most goals scored by an MLS player in the month of March.
Under the guidance of Sandro Schwarz, NYRB have taken five points from a possible 12 so far this season but they are winless in their last two and were fairly comfortably beaten 3-0 on their last trip to this venue back in October last year.
Team News
© Reuters
Noonan confirmed in the week that Celentano will "miss a couple of weeks", which means that the FCC boss will have to call upon one of his fairly inexperienced reserves Alec Kann or Evan Lauro.
Kann has only featured for the Orange and Blue eight times in just over two seasons, while Lauro has played exclusively for FC Cincinnati 2 since signing for the club in August 2022.
London Aghedo is the only other absentee and is set to remain on the sidelines for at least another month due to a leg injury that has prevented him from featuring so far this term.
Red Bulls captain Emil Forsberg has now missed the last two games with a hamstring strain, and reports indicate that the Swedish international could be out of action until the end of the month.
Jamaican midfielder Cory Burke picked up a groin injury after coming off the bench in the side's only loss of the season against the Columbus Crew and has been ruled out until the start of May.
FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:
Kann; Hagglund, Miazga, Murphy; Yedlin, Kubo, Bucha, Nwobodo; Acosta, Boupendza; Baird
New York Red Bulls possible starting lineup:
Carlos; D. Nealis, Reyes, S. Nealis, Duncan; Gjengaar, Amaya, Stroud, Carmona; Morgan, Vanzeir
We say: FC Cincinnati 1-0 New York Red Bulls
Both sides are coming into this match following fairly underwhelming performances last weekend and will be looking for a better showing this week. There is very little to separate these two on paper but Cincinnati's defence, particularly at home, has been impressive and we feel they will be able to manage another shut out here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
