FC Cincinnati’s season didn’t come to a close on Saturday night at TQL Stadium, but it might be the last time in 2026 that The Orange and Blue play at TQL Stadium. In a season that has felt like everything that can go wrong, has, everything that could go wrong, did.
After a competitive 90’ of soccer on Decision Day between FC Cincinnati and Nashville SC, FCC fell to the Supporters’ Shield winners and MLS single-season points record setters by a score of 2-0. The first goal didn’t come until the 61’, and the second came as a byproduct of FC Cincinnati pushing forward desperately for a goal. But on a night where FCC needed to get points to secure their fate, execution is all that mattered, and they didn’t do that.
Meanwhile, around the league, Orlando City SC defeated the New England Revolution and the Columbus Crew defeated the Chicago Fire in the final moments of their match. So by the end of Decision Day festivities in the Eastern Conference, FC Cincinnati had not only lost to Nashville, they had tumbled down the table into the bottom place in the playoff picture.
From controlling their own destiny and having a guaranteed place in Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs, to having to travel down to Orlando to compete in the one-game winner-take-all Wild Card round next week. It was just a missed opportunity all around.
“We just didn’t take advantage of this opportunity tonight with our play and with the result. So, sure, you can find positives, but that’s not really going to be the feeling with where we stand now,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said after the match at his postgame press conference. “Certainly a disappointing result. There were aspects of the game that were strong…but a tough night. Losing a little bit of steam and then losing that seeding. Our next challenge is now going on the road against Orlando because that’s how the results went. We had it in our own hands but unfortunately couldn’t make the most of it.”
There were positives on the night, the defense for example did stand out and – save for a situationally unfortunate second goal – kept the best team in the history of Major League Soccer’s regular season at bay all night. They also generated chances for themselves with relative regularity. Most of that came in the first half but right until the final whistle, FCC had chances to score.
But all that, while positive, really does not matter. The time for ‘moral victories’ is well past and FC Cincinnati needed, and need, results. No matter how they come.
That element of play had improved in the last few weeks, earning three wins and a draw in four matches, but the margin for error FCC was working within was small by their own doing. So now, when it comes just short on the final day, they are again punished for it.
The other matter is that this was a de facto playoff game. Both in the stakes but also in the style of play. So the rubric for evaluation naturally needs to change.
For example: it would be rather easy to write off the second Nashville goal as a byproduct of circumstance. It’s late in a game where losing by one or losing by five really has no bearing, but a draw or a win is extremely valuable. So you push everything forward and go for a goal. Which makes sense, you do what you have to do, it would be silly to not push your chips in with what’s on the line given the worst case scenario is already the status quo.
But in a playoff game the evaluation isn’t ‘well you gave up a late goal because you pushed forward,’ it’s ‘you lost, nothing else matters.’ So it’s not as though there is a positive spin to pull away. Not unless you’re looking really hard for one, and the FC Cincinnati locker room wasn’t interested in looking.
“There's never a positive if we lose, especially for me,” FC Cincinnati midfielder Obi Nwobodo said postgame. “I don't have anything positive. The only thing I know is I will get ready to go again, but taking something away from this game, the only thing I can say is that I see, the whole group, we see, what we're going to see in the playoffs.”
“So, a disappointing result for us. We all know that. We all know how important this game could have been for us to win and qualify automatically for (Round One),” Nwobodo continued. “But still, it is another test for us to test ourselves and to prepare more for the playoffs. Because this is what we're going to expect to go to the playoff. So we need to learn from this.”
FC Cincinnati kept control, or at least had far more rhythm and success, in the first half of the game. They generated seven shots in the half and scored once, but it was wiped away due to an offside call. The second half was more challenging and Pat Noonan indicated postgame that adjustments from Nashville at halftime disrupted in ways they couldn’t overcome.
“I think overall, we limited dangerous moments with a strong attacking team and had a few good sequences where I thought we were in control of where the game was being played and some of the opportunities we had,” Noonan explained. “They are tough to score against and play against, and we didn’t make the most of those moments. In the second half, the positioning of (Andy) Najar and (Matthew) Corcoran caused us some challenges on our left side defensively.
“Then I just think they took their moment that opened up the game, got us stretched when we were pushing for the equalizer and left us exposed on that last action where we were trying to switch play, were too stretched out and we lost a couple essential duels and opened up the space behind.”
The reality is that FC Cincinnati face the end of their season now and do so by needing to go on the road and win in order to play again at TQL Stadium for what will only be one final time in 2026. And, if they do that, who will be waiting for them? Well, only one Nashville SC, again, that’s who.
The goal now can only be to earn that right, and learn from the Decision Day defeat in the process. Big cats only have so many lives, and while Gary is a winged lion who may have more than nine, FC Cincinnati are on their last one of 2026.
“If we meet this team again, this is what we're going to expect, and nothing less. So this has to be a preparation for us, and to see if we're going to do this and we have to step up more, every one of us, because it's not going to be easy,” Nwobodo said to close the night. “This is the team that won the Supporters’ Shield, and obviously there was a reason why they won it. They are good. We played against them already in the past, playing them again. But I believe in this team, that we can win, that we can beat this team. It just didn't happen today.”
