Replay: Denis Bouanga goal powers LAFC past FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium

The loss was a costly one for FC Cincinnati in several ways.

Playing Los Angeles FC in a high-profile postseason tuneup at TQL Stadium, FC Cincinnati dropped a 2-1 result to the visitors on a rainy Saturday night in front of a crowd of 24,728.

David Martinez scored the first-half opener for LAFC and, after FCC’s Luca Orellano tied the match in the 61st minute, reigning MLS Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga tallied the eventual game-winner in the 73rd minute.

The loss saw FC Cincinnati fall to 17-9-5. The club will look to avoid double-digit losses for the first time since 2022 over its final three regular-season matches in October, starting with a trip to play New York City FC on Wednesday in Harrison, New Jersey.

More: The FIFA Club World Cup is coming to Cincinnati, TQL Stadium

Eddie Segura and Lewis O’Brien (8) manage to get the ball from FC Cincinnati’s Yuya Kubo during the first half of Los Angeles FC’s 2-1 victory at TQL Stadium Saturday night.

Bouanga back-flipped in the southwest corner of TQL Stadium, punctuating a speedy and impressive finish that Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano just couldn’t measure up to.

With Celentano closly guarding his near post, the ball slipped through the narrow space in between. That’s generally considered an error by a goalkeeper, although Bouanga was dancing on the ball with quick feet and hit his shot with impressive force.

“Disappointing result that I think stems from a poor start to the game. Having said that, there was enough out there for us to find another goal,” FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said. “We let up a pretty soft second goal from the beginning of the play and how they’re able to get down the flank… We’ll move on.”

Coming off a midweek triumph in the finale of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, LAFC initially fielded a starting lineup against FC Cincinnati that saw some of its biggest stars, including Olivier Giroud, Timothy Tillman and Bouanga, on the bench.

Cincinnati failed to capitalize on LAFC’s rotated personnel, and later, several of the visitors’ star players entered the fray.

Noonan said his team’s passing was terrible in the opening 35 minutes. FCC also failed to test former French national team captain and FIFA World Cup winner Hugo Lloris in the midst of the rainfall, too.

“There’s no attacking or defensive structure because of the way we passed the ball,” Noonan said.

FCC conceded the opening goal mere moments after losing center back Chidozie Awaziem to an apparent injury.

Awaziem was brought in by FC Cincinnati as a transfer acquisition this past summer in part to help fortify the center back ranks after FCC’s Matt Miazga and Nick Hagglund suffered season-ending injuries at the same position.

Awaziem’s status, as well as that of several other players believed to possibly be injured, was still unclear following the game.

Luca Orellano provided the game-tying goal Saturday night before Los Angeles FC scored for the 2-1 victory. Orellano's goal was his 10th, giving FCC three double-digit goals scorers for the second time in club MLS history. — Luca Orellano provided the game-tying goal Saturday night before Los Angeles FC scored for the 2-1 victory. Orellano’s goal was his 10th, giving FCC three double-digit goals scorers for the second time in club MLS history.

Orellano’s 10th goal of 2024 gave FCC three double-digit goal-scorers for the second time in the club’s MLS history. It seemed to ignite a spark under the club in the moments to come, too, but the spark was short-lived.

Bouanga’s goal arrived about 12 minutes later.

The loss was also a missed opportunity in the sense that FC Cincinnati ceded sole position of the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed to rival Columbus Crew. The Crew tied D.C. United on Saturday, going ahead of Cincinnati in the standings by a point. Columbus also has a game in-hand on Cincinnati, so this could be the end of FCC’s push to hang onto the two-seed, which would have allowed the club to maintain home field advantage through at least the conference semifinals.

“Just not good enough − from myself and the way we kind of approached the game,” Celentano said. “We were just sloppy.”

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Live updates from during Saturday’s LAFC-FC Cincinnati match:

LAFC wins impressively

Coming off winning the Open Cup on Wednesday, LAFC could have been forgiven for a lame performance in Cincinnati. But they weren’t having that. Once their stars came off the bench in the second half, FC Cincinnati just couldn’t keep up.

Denis Bouanga puts LAFC back in front (73′)

Denis Bouanga sliced and diced, and then he backflipped after scoring the go-ahead goal for LAFC as a second-half substitute. The goal was Bouanga’s 18th of 2024 in league play.

FC Cincinnati back on level terms (61′)

Luca Orellano lashed a goal home for 1-1. That was his 10th of 2024.

A bad first half for Cincinnati

LAFC leads FC Cincinnati, which saw a key center back depart the match due to an apparent injury. FCC is yet to put a shot on-target in the rain, and hasn’t tested visiting goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. In other action, Columbus Crew, which is tied with Cincinnati for No. 2 in the Eastern Conference, is losing to D.C. United at halftime. If that result held and Cincinnati managed a win, it would be an important development in the race for playoff seeding.

Tonight is shaping up to be a big missed opportunity in every respect for Cincinnati.

It gets worse for FC Cincinnati (34′)

After play restarted following Awaziem’s departure due to injury, FC Cincinnati conceded a goal to LAFC. David Martínez slotted home on a play that seemed far too easy for the visitors.

Bad news for FC Cincinnati (31′)

Center back Chidozie Awaziem suffered an injury that took the air out of TQL Stadium. Unfortunately, he came out of the match immediately and went down the tunnel for further medical evaluation. Alvas Powell entered the match for him.

A foul-weather game at TQL Stadium (1′)

It’s been a while since FC Cincinnati’s had a good, old-fashioned rainy-day match, but they’ve got one tonight for the big showdown with LAFC.

The National Weather Service is calling for rain throughout the match, and until 11 p.m. in Cincinnati.

Starting lineups for the two title-contending clubs

FC Cincinnati starting XI: Roman Celentano (GK), Chidozie Awaziem, Miles Robinson, Ian Murphy, Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta (captain), Pavel Bucha, Luca Orellano, DeAndre Yedlin, Yuya Kubo, Nicholas Gioacchini.
FC Cincinnati bench: Alvas Powell, Corey Baird, Teenage Hadebe, Sergio Santos, Kevin Kelsy, Gerardo Valenzuela, Malik Pinto, Yamil Asad, Evan Louro (GK).
LAFC starting XI: Hugo Lloris (GK), Omar Campos, Eddie Segura, Sergi Palencia, Maxime Chanot, Ilie Sánchez (captain), Lewis O’Brien, Mateusz Bogusz, Cristian Olivera, Kei Kamara, David Martinez.
LAFC bench: Marlon Santos, Olivier Giroud, Timothy Tillman, Thomas Hasal, Erik Duenas, Ryan Hollingshead, Nathan Ordoz, Diego Rosales, Denis Bouanga.