10-man Orange and Blue earn dramatic come-from-behind win Sunday
MLS FC Cincinnati

10-man Orange and Blue earn dramatic come-from-behind win Sunday

Published on March 22, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release


CINCINNATI - FC Cincinnati picked up a dramatic 4-3 comeback win over CF Montréal on Sunday afternoon in front of a sold-out crowd at TQL Stadium.

The come-from-behind win was capped by Tom Barlow equalizer in the 80th minute and Kévin Denkey's 90'+4 game-winning goal to snap a three-game league losing streak for FC Cincinnati (2-3-0, 6 points). The win marked FCC's first win in club history when trailing and going down to 10 men.

Montréal (1-4-0, 3 points) took the lead on three separate occasions. FC Cincinnati equalized all three goals from the visitors.

Following the March FIFA International Window, FC Cincinnati return to action Saturday, April 4 at Red Bull New York. Kickoff from Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey is set for 7:30 p.m.

The Orange and Blue are back at TQL Stadium on Saturday, April 18 to host Chicago Fire FC. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET and tickets are available at FCCincinnati.com/Tickets or by calling 513-977-KICK.

GAME NOTES

- FC Cincinnati improve to 8-4-2 all-time against Montréal, including 4-1-1 at TQL Stadium.

- Today's comeback victory over CF Montréal marked the second time in FC Cincinnati's MLS history the club scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in the 80th minute or later.

- Today's 4-3 win for FC Cincinnati over CF Montréal marked FC Cincinnati's first come-from-behind win when playing down a man. In FCC's three prior MLS wins when finishing the match with 10 men, the Orange and Blue were leading at the time of the red card (9/14/19 at MTL; 3/11/23 vs SEA; 5/4/24 at ORL).

- Sunday marked FC Cincinnati's fourth MLS win in club history when trailing at the 75th minute, the first since June 15, 2024 at San Jose Earthquakes.

- The win marked FC Cincinnati's 10th MLS win when conceding the match's first goal (first since March 29, 2025 at Nashville SC) and the club's fourth MLS win when trailing at halftime (March 25, 2024 at Toronto FC).

- Alvas Powell made his 150th appearance, becoming the fifth player in club history to reach the milestone (Kubo, Hagglund, Acosta, Celentano).

- Entering today, FC Cincinnati had never had a regular season match where they tied the game at least three times and went on to win the match.

- FCC have now scored 34 goals and holds an 11-goal differential all-time versus Montréal, its best marks against a single MLS opponent.

- Kévin Denkey has scored four goals in his last four matches played and secured his 14th game-winning goal for FC Cincinnati, extending his club record.

- Denkey's goal was tied for the third-latest game-winning goal in club history.

- Ender Echenique recorded his first game of multiple goal contributions (1 G, 1 A) for FC Cincinnati.

- Ayoub Jabbari scored his first career MLS goal in the 52nd minute.

- Ayoub Jabbari and Tom Barlow became the 55th and 56th unique goal scorers for the club across MLS competitions.

-Sunday marked the 52st all-time sellout of TQL Stadium for an FC Cincinnati match.

AS IT HAPPENED

MTL: Wikelman Carmona, GOAL - 6' (0-1) - The midfielder dribbled into a left-footed shot a few steps outside the penalty area to convert the first shot on target of the match for the away side.

CIN: Ender Echenique, GOAL - 40' (1-1) - With pressure crashing in from behind in the middle third, Echenique turned around and darted up field to distance himself from his marker and start an attacking chance. The Venezuelan took a hesitation dribble toward the right sideline before firing the equalizer across the penalty box low and toward the far post.

MTL: Prince Owusu, GOAL - 45' (1-2) - A defensive breakdown allowed Owusu to slip into the penalty area and regain the lead for Montréal just before halftime.

CIN: Ayoub Jabbari, GOAL - 52' (2-2) - Echenique weaved into the attacking third and drew the attention of Jabbari's defender, leaving the forward all alone on the left side. With just the Montréal goalkeeper to beat, Jabbari took one touch and ripped Cincy's second goal of the day for the near post.

MTL: Prince Owusu, PENALTY KICK GOAL - 64' (2-3) - Miles Robinson was booked for a red card on a foul inside the box that sent Owusu to the penalty spot, where he notched his second goal of the match.

CIN: Tom Barlow, GOAL - 80' (3-3) - What looked like a favorable deflection for the visitors quickly turned into a golden chance for FCC. A defender deflected a dangerous pass away from Kévin Denkey but into harm's way just inside the penalty area, where Tom Barlow pounced on it with the keeper closing in to even things up at three goals apiece.

CIN: Kévin Denkey GOAL - 90'+4 (4-3) - A long throw-in from Nick Hagglund found the head of a jumping defender on the edge of the goal area to perfectly ricochet the ball toward Denkey in front of the Montréal goal. Denkey slipped off his marker to poke the game-winner underneath the arms of a diving Thomas Gillier.

FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT

FC Cincinnati vs CF Montréal

Date: March 22, 2026

Competition: MLS Regular Season

Venue: TQL Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio

Attendance: 25,513 (sellout)

Kickoff: 1:10 p.m. ET

Weather: 82 degrees, clear

SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT

CIN: 1-3-4

MTL: 2-1-3

CIN - Ender Echenique (Powell, Miazga) 40', Ayoub Jabbari (Echenique, Bucha) 52', Tom Barlow 80', Kévin Denkey 90'+4

MTL - Wikelman Carmona (Owusu, Hidalgo) 6', Prince Owusu (Jaime, Carmona) 45', Prince Owusu - PK

LINEUPS

CIN: Evan Louro, Bryan Ramirez, Miles Robinson (C), Matt Miazga (Teenage Hadebe 65'), Alvas Powell (Samuel Gidi 77'), Ender Echenique, Pavel Bucha (Tom Barlow 77'), Obinna Nwobodo (Stiven Jimenez 88'), Evander, Ayoub Jabbari (Nick Hagglund 65'), Kévin Denkey

Substitutes not used: Fabian Mrozek, Gilberto Flores, Kyle Smith

Head Coach: Pat Noonan

MTL: Thomas Gillier, Luca Petrasso, Brayan Vera, Efrain Morales, Bode Hidalgo, Matty Longstaff (Olger Escobar 84'), Wikelman Carmona (Samuel Piette 74'), Victor Loturi, Iván Jaime (Dagur Thórhallsson 58'), Hennadii Synchuk (Kwadwo Opoku 57'), Prince Owusu (C) (Daniel Ríos 74')

Substitutes not used: Sebastian Breza, Brandan Craig, Tomás Avilés, Aleksandr Guboglo

Head Coach: Marco Donadel

STATS SUMMARY: CIN/MTL

Shots: 15 / 21

Shots on Goal: 8 / 7

Saves: 4 / 4

Corner Kicks: 2 / 2

Fouls: 20 / 11

Offside: 1 / 2

Possession: 52.5 / 47.5

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

MTL - Hennadii Synchuk (Yellow Card) 47'

CIN - Miles Robinson (Red Card) 60'

CIN - Matt Miazga (Yellow Card) 62'

CIN - Obinna Nwobodo (Yellow Card) 67'

CIN - Teenage Hadebe (Yellow Card) 83'

CIN - Kévin Denkey (Yellow Card) 90'+5

OFFICIALS ‚

Referee: Filip Dujic

Ast. Referees: Kathryn Nesbitt, Mike Nickerson

Fourth Official: Elijio Arreguin

VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero

AVAR: TJ Zablocki

FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan

CF Montreal Postgame

Opening comments on the 4-3 win ... (0:16)

"I'm proud of the players for the fight they showed. It wasn't a pretty game. It was not how we anticipated things going or drew it up, but to be honest, I don't care. I just like the fight that we saw to close out that game with the guys who were on the field."

The resiliency of the group ... (0:46)

"You go into the international break with some positive feelings, some momentum. That's kind of all we really needed. How it played out...sure, you'd like it to look different, but they fought, and that's all you can ask for. So, resilience, whatever word you want to use to describe the feeling, how we come out of it...they showed good character."

How the team scored two goals despite being down a man ... (1:28)

"A couple moments. How Tom (Barlow) anticipates a play and capitalizes on it on the long throw in that moment, and Kevin (Denkey) being in a good spot, which is a role that he's been playing on corners, on some of the throw ins, and he's shown great discipline, maturity and growth as a player with so many things. And he's getting rewarded by the finishing product. Really pleased for Kevin. It's two moments. Outside of that, I thought we defended pretty well to see out the game. You look at being down a man, how do you manage the emotions after scoring some goals and seeing the game out. I thought the guys did it in a good way."

What it means to see the team battle back throughout the game ... (2:27)

"You always want to see fight in the group and the team you manage. When things aren't going well, it can go a lot of different ways, good or bad, for different reasons. You ask that guys care and fight and be professional about doing your job and dealing with adversity. It's not always going to be how you draw it up, but that's when you see what you're about. It's certainly a long season, and this is one moment, but it's a promising moment. It's a good sign. Like I said, I'm pleased for the players that they have this feeling right now."

How this win could change the trajectory of the team moving forward ... (3:14)

"It depends on how we come out of the break. Miles (Robinson) gets the red card. We'll see what he'll be dealing with. There are a couple key pieces right there that we might be down. All of a sudden, you become pretty thin and a lot of guys coming out of the international break or coming back from the international break won't get a lot of time together, so it'll be a challenge. But what I've asked these guys not to do is make excuses of the moments where things aren't good enough, which they haven't been. We'll see how we come out of this break and how we can put a strong team on the field to go and really find consistency. Tonight was about a result. It wasn't about great play, because that wasn't the case. There were great moments, but we need to be more consistent with our play."

What is correctable on the defensive side ... (4:19)

"There's a lot to correct. It's not good enough, and I don't want to bring too much negativity to the three goals we conceded but I like the four goals that we scored. Defensively, we're not very strong right now and that's clear."

Why Miles Robinson was issued a red card ... (4:44)

"We only have a tactical view, so it's not really that clear. So, I can't really argue for or against the decision at the moment."

Ender's performance and recent improvements ... (5:13)

"It's not to be stuck on the touch line. This is a game where you're dealing with man-for-man elements, and if you're standing in one spot, you're easy to play against. Now there are moments where we wanted guys to stay away to open up space for moments where we could break pressure and then taking up different positions ahead of the ball to impact the game and how we could play through that pressure. We can look at all these different scenarios in preparation, which we didn't have a lot of time, but you still need guys to be able to understand the moment and the situation of where to move, because it's not always going to be clear."

What he told the team at halftime and how to adjust ... (6:05)

"With the ball, it was about some duels, the moments that we tried to create when we played wide, to move inside, when we tried to invite some of their pressure and play into our front two. We weren't winning enough duels. That was the difference between the flow of the game and attacking more often than we defended. And there was maybe a 5-to-10-minute stretch, 25 to 30 minutes in where it got better and we lived in the attacking half, but we just didn't win enough duels."

Importance of the win after the result in Monterrey Thursday ... (6:49)

"It's not about how pretty it looks. Sometimes you just need the feeling of a win. Like I said, this isn't how we drew it up, but the players experiencing the positive feeling of winning a game in front of our home fans is important in this moment and how they went about doing it with the situation and the circumstances there at the end. I'm pleased for them."

Importance of having Kevin Denkey deliver late in the game ... (7:21)

"He's maturing quickly, and we're throwing a lot at him to improve all elements of his game. We know he can score goals and we need to get him in those positions, and his teammates need to get him in those positions. But he's done so many things outside of scoring goals that have been really impressive, as far as on and off the field, to become a better pro. And his intent is always good. It's just sometimes figuring out how to maximize his abilities and throwing more at him because he can handle it. He's been excellent."

Tom Barlow and Stiven Jimenez' impacts ... (8:16)

"Tom is a team player. He wants to help our team win. It's simple. You can see it in different ways with players as you go through a season, but this is a challenging moment, and Tom hasn't wavered at all. OK, you're not starting, but you've been producing for us and playing well. And we want some fresh legs, and so we select Ayoub (Jabbari) and he's just ready. He goes, 'I'll be ready.' And there he is. He comes in and he's just active in anticipating plays. Sometimes it's about understanding the game. Sometimes it's just sheer effort and determination. He has that, and that's what gives him an advantage in certain moments. And then Stiven, yeah, we got thin with Brian's (Anunga) injury and with Obi (Nwobodo) having to come off there. And you're looking at how do you change the game in a positive way, whether it's structurally, whether it's like for like. Stiven came in and was on the field at a very important time, and that shows the kid being ready. There's been a lot of conversations over the last couple of weeks where he's had challenging moments that none of you will know about, but he was ready. A mature, young kid, and I'm happy for him for being able to come in and just give us some stability in the middle of the field."

Updates on Obi Nwobodo and Roman Celentano ... (9:58)

"Obi had some tightness at the end. We'll have to see. Roman had tightness that he kind of woke up with and then was going through the training routine, and it just felt like a risk. So, we made a decision where this is one game, and he's obviously an important part of our group. We're not going to take a risk for one game, even when things aren't going our way, to jeopardize him. He's obviously getting called up to the national team camp. We try to do what's best for him and give him a right to potentially go to that camp and then return him ready to go."

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