Matchday 26: New York City vs Cincinnati at TQL Stadium

It's Matchday 26, and New York City are back in the Buckeye State to face conference-leading FC Cincinnati. These two teams last met on May 4 at Citi Field, when NYCFC won 1-0 on a rainy night in Queens. New York City looked dangerous, and with more clinical finishing they could have won the game 3-0.

But they just as easily could have lost 1-0 to a Cincinnati that are even better than last year's edition despite selling Luciano Acosta to FC Dallas. That's because this edition of FCC added two of the league's best players in striker Kévin Denkey (13 goals, 1 assist) and midfielder Evander (16 goals, 8 assists). Evander is having an MLS MVP-caliber season – his five braces this year equals the record set by Lionel Messi in 2024 – which makes the $12 million Cincinnati paid to pry him away from the Portland Timbers look like a bargain.

New York City are feeling good after a hard-earned 2-1 win over Nashville SC on Sunday in their first Major League Soccer match since enduring a brutal four-game roadtrip in July that saw the team win two, draw one, and lose one. Designated Player Nico Fernández made his first league start in the Nashville game, and he's starting to develop some chemistry with NYCFC striker Alonso Martínez.

Will this be a game decided by two surging attacks? Denkey and Martínez lead the league with seven game-winning goals each. Or will it be decided by injury-depleted defenses? NYCFC captain Thiago Martins will be available after returning from knee surgery but might not be ready to start, and it's unclear if new signing Raul Gustavo will secure a visa in time to be involved, while Cincinnati will be without Miles Robinson and Luca Orellano.

Or will the X-Factor be vibes? NYCFC are giant killers in the Eastern Conference, undefeated in seven matchups against Top 5 teams: They play up to the occasion. Will it be location? Cincinnati have trouble winning at TQL Stadium, but then so do New York City: The team's last regulation away victory came way back on September 18, 2021, when Taty Castellanos and Keaton Parks scored in a 2-1 win that saw two late red cards shown to Cincinnati.

To be clear, that's the last regulation win. In NYCFC's most recent visit to TQL, the visitors outlasted Cincinnati and knocked the home team out of the MLS Cup Playoffs on penalty kicks in the decisive third match of the best-of-three Round One series. That's we first learned that Matt Freese likes a shootout.

New York City defy odds, advance to Eastern Conference Semi

NYCFC did just enough to hold Cincinnati scoreless at TQL Stadium, then prevailed in a nutty 18-attempt penalty shootout to win the best-of-three playoff series.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

New York City vs Cincinnati H2H