Evander's First Career Hat Trick Earns FC Cincinnati 3-2 Win against Chicago Fire FC
MLS FC Cincinnati

Evander's First Career Hat Trick Earns FC Cincinnati 3-2 Win against Chicago Fire FC

Published on May 2, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release


CHICAGO, Ill. - FC Cincinnati defeated Chicago Fire FC, 3-2, Saturday night at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Evander scored his first career hat trick for the Orange and Blue (4-4-3, 15 points) to help take three points against Chicago.

Evander and Chicago's Hugo Cuypers exchanged first half braces to send the match into the break tied 2-2. Cuypers scored in the 16th and 28th minutes but Cincinnati's Brazilian playmaker answered each Chicago goal, matching Cuypers with goals in the 24th and 31st minutes.

Chicago was awarded a late second-half penalty, but goalkeeper Roman Celentano, who set a career high for saves in a match with eight, made a save against Cuypers to keep Cincinnati level.

Evander would go on to convert a penalty in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time to complete his hat trick. The hat trick also marks Evander's sixth multi-goal performance for the Orange and Blue. Evander has five goals this season.

FC Cincinnati remain on the road for their next MLS match, taking on Charlotte FC on Saturday, May 9 at Bank of America Stadum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will air globally on Apple TV.

GAME NOTES

- Evander scored his first career hat trick against the Fire. Evander records his sixth multi-goal performance for FC Cincinnati since joining the club in 2025. Evander has now scored in three of Cincinnati's last four matches. Evander has five goals in MLS play this season.

- Pavel Bucha made his 100th appearance for FC Cincinnati, across all competitions, Saturday night against Chicago. Bucha becomes the 11th player in FC Cincinnati history to hit the 100-appearance mark. 96 of Bucha's 100 appearances have been starts.

- Roman Celentano set a career high for saves in a single match with eight, which includes his penalty save against Hugo Cuypers in second-half stoppage time (90'+1).

- Defender Nick Hagglund Matt Miazga returned to play after absences due to injury. Hagglund made his first appearance since April 18 against Chicago, while Miazga sees his first minutes since April 11 against Toronto FC. Both players were second half substitutes.

- Saturday's result marks the second time in club history in which FC Cincinnati have won a match after going down a man while tied or trailing in a match (3/22/26 vs CF Montréal, 4-3).

- Kenji Mboma Dem recorded his first MLS assist.

FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT

FC Cincinnati at Chicago Fire FC

Date: May 2, 2026

Competition: MLS Regular Season

Venue: Soldier Field | Chicago, Illinois

Attendance: 18,639

Kickoff: 8:40 p.m. ET

Weather: 53 degrees, clear

SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT

CHI: 2-0-2

CIN: 2-1-3

CHI - Hugo Cuypers 16', Hugo Cuypers (Zinckernagel, Salétros) 28'

CIN - Evander 24', Evander 31 (Kenji Mboma Dem, Gerardo Valenzuela), Evander (PK) 90'+7

LINEUPS

CIN: Roman Celentano, Samuel Gidi, Andrei Chirila, Kyle Smith, Bryan Ramirez (Ayoub Lajhar 88'), Tah Brian Anunga (Nick Hagglund 46'), Gerardo Valenzuela (Matt Miazga 66'), Pavel Bucha, Evander (C), Kévin Denkey (Ayoub Jabbari 77'), Kenji Mboma Dem (Tom Barlow 77')

Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Gilberto Flores, Tom Barlow, Stiven Jimenez, Ender Echenique

Head Coach: Pat Noonan

CHI: Chris Brady, Andrew Gutman, Jack Elliot (C), Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Johnny Dean (Jason Shokalook 90'+7), Dje D'Avila, Anton Saletros, Robin Lod (Jonathan Bamba 59'), Maren Haile-Selassie, Hugo Cuypers, Philip Zinckernagel

Substitutes not used: Josh Cohen, Puso Dithejane, Viktor Radojevic, Joel Waterman, Mauricio Pineda, Dylan Borso, Sergio Oregel Jr.

Head Coach: Gregg Berhalter

STATS SUMMARY: CHI/CIN

Shots: 32 / 11

Shots on Goal: 10 / 4

Saves: 1 / 8

Corner Kicks: 10 / 1

Fouls: 12 / 5

Offside: 1 / 0

Possession: 52.4 / 47.6

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

CIN - Kyle Smith (Red Card) 56'

CIN - Kévin Denkey (Yellow Card) 68'

CIN - Ayoub Lajhar (Yellow Card) 90'

CHI - Dje D'Avilla (Yellow Card) 90'+3

CIN - Andrei Chirila (Yellow Card) 90'+12

OFFICIALS

Referee: Joe Dickerson

Ast. Referees: Cameron Blanchard, Logan Brown

Fourth Official: Ricardo Montero VAR: José Carlos Rivero

AVAR: Craig Lowry

Stay up-to-date and connected with FC Cincinnati! Select your schedule of choice to receive the latest match details, events and other relevant messages directly to your digital calendar. For up-to-the-minute information about FC Cincinnati, visit the team's official website at fccincinnati.com, or follow the team on X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at @FCCincinnati. Additionally, fans are encouraged to download the team's official mobile app on iOS or Android for instant access to mobile tickets, team content and match notifications.

FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan

Postmatch Press Conference at Chicago Fire FC

May 2, 2026

Thoughts on the match against Chicago Fire FC

Pat Noonan 00:15"Yeah, sometimes this stuff doesn't make sense. That's kind of how it felt in the second half and sitting here with that group somehow winning the game. You know, first half with the ball there's some good ideas, without the ball we struggled on the left side for us, just, dealing with their attack, moving off the line, direct balls at times, and so, tried to solve that with the halftime adjustment, and things calmed down a little bit, but then the red card changes the game, and credit to the guys for the way they figure stuff out, again. I'm kind of tired of saying that, but it's for good reason. So, we'll take it and move on."

On rolling out the same lineup as a weekend ago and why the decision was made

Pat Noonan 01:28"The previous game. Simple. We're thin with some bodies and even though with Matt [Miazga] and Nick [Hagglund] coming back, there wasn't 90 minutes in either of them. So we had to factor that in and so we ran it out again and we knew some of the struggles that we were going to face, and we saw that, but trying to reward a group that had done well over, I guess, a game plus period of time."

On five match unbeaten run and the takeaways from that run of form

Pat Noonan 02:20"I don't know because we're still trying to piece together some things. We're still scrambling too often. I don't want to be too critical because they should feel good about how they have come out of this period of red cards and injuries and all of it, but we just, I think we have to find more control of a lot of things and really just decision making. Because even tonight, there was some great moments where we get out into open space and I think we're just playing too fast in the wrong moments and struggling to control the tempo, because early on I think we did that well. It's just how does that play out in a better way over 90 minutes so it's not so chaotic, and that's what we'll continue to address. But, yeah, the red cards unfortunate. There was a lot of things tonight that I thought 'can we wait on that red?' and is his head going down? It's obviously not malicious but is it so dangerous? I have to see it back, but it didn't feel that way. Give a yellow, let's see if we can use VAR in that moment, again, I know [Robin] Lod came off, so hopefully he's okay. And then the penalties. Pavel [Bucha] is getting, got an X-Ray, so, that's come back negative, which is a good thing, but, maybe an ankle sprain there, so we have to see. But their penalty, you know, maybe it is, maybe it isn't, I don't know. Yeah, I don't want to talk too much about that stuff but it did seem like it was influential in how the game played out. But some of that's us too, just being more in control of things.

On Evander wearing the captain's armband and whether that has impacted his play

Pat Noonan 04:35"Not necessarily. I think he's been pretty consistent in his demeanor and his behavior as a player on this team and if you ask him, maybe there's a different level of pride and responsibility. I think that's natural with wearing a captain's armband. It just so happens that in those games, he's also delivered with his production so, his, I think his engagement, his understanding of his importance to the team, the role in different moments has improved, and like I keep saying, it's our job to continue to understand how to help him be impactful for our team, because he's a game changer, and so he's been excellent in this recent stretch, and we'll try to keep that going,

On Matt Miazga's return and if there was a worry of over pushing

Pat Noonan 05:56"Yeah, it was, because when you saw how thin we were, we used the Nick [Hagglund] sub at halftime and 30 [minutes] was probably the max, and we had a conversation just to see where he was at, but he came over a little earlier than probably he was supposed to because I think he just felt where the game was going and how he could be helpful. I think the way the game played out and how he was going to be used in a moment where we were going to have to defend deep and we were going to have to defend the box and face crosses and need the organization. All of his strengths were able to come out because of the game state. So, that's why I think we felt comfortable putting him in probably earlier than maybe planned because of maybe what the physical exertion was going to be with us defending deep."

On Andrei Chirila's play and his comfort level on the ball under pressure

Pat Noonan 07:39"Yeah, you see Andrei's strengths come out in different moments where there's pressure, there's not a clear passing option and he has deception to beat that first bit of pressure, and now all of a sudden, a moment where he can put the ball up the field, he could be less composed, and it's us losing possession turns into finding a forward pass, finding a switch of play. You see those strengths. I think there was a couple direct plays that were maybe forced where it was at the moment. And again, that's all going to be part of his learning and development is, when's the right moment to show your skill set of your passing range and when is it better to just connect the pass, so, game understanding, but, also defensively there was some moments now where you see, okay, you're defending as a left center back because you got moved in the game and now it's a different role, and they were really causing us problems on their right side. Now, [Anton] Saletro's, excuse if I botched that. [Philip] Zinckernagel, those guys are smart players man, and how they find space, how they're able to create space for themselves when they're under pressure, to find passes, play balls into the box. That was tough for Andrei [Chirila] and there were a couple moments where, whether it was Bryan [Ramirez], Ayoub [Lajhar] later, having to release wide where I think he could have shifted over quicker, they attacked that space well, so I'll have to see that back. But those are all things that I think are going to be important for his you know, development."

On Roman Celentano's night

Pat Noonan 09:55"Yeah, much like Matt, that's a night where I think Roman's [Celentano] skill set comes out. We're taking on pressure, we're taking on crosses, they're finding shots from close range, from distance, he's got a lot of action in front of him and bodies in front of him. And the save he makes on Zinckernagel to tip it wide is an exceptional save. The penalty speaks for itself, that save, but a couple where he tips it over the bar, it just brought out his skill set. And he came up big for us tonight."

On moving up to fifth and if this result feels like it's worth more than three points

Pat Noonan 11:05"Well, it's wild to think that we're in fifth based on kind of how things have played out, but it just shows you how tight things are and still it's so early, so, you can move up a bunch of spots, drop a bunch of spots with one result, depending on other results, so, you're right. I don't pay too much attention to it, but the fact that we're nowhere near our best and we're in that position is a positive. But, yeah, while today felt different, just the chaos of how that game played out, and it felt like we stole some points. Some of the other results and endings to the games we're playing down a man felt a little different for me than tonight did. But, like I said, sometimes the game doesn't make sense, and right now we're on the good side of not being at our best and having to play with 10 men too often but somehow getting some results. So, always, that's a credit to guys on the field that have belief that they can get something out of it and when things aren't going our way, trying to do their best to play the game and find that positive outcome. So, this is not how we want this to continue to play out, or myself as the head coach to continue to find more solutions and more clarity and how we can be more in control of decisions, our collective play and then I think when we find that rhythm, just like we're experiencing right now, playing down a man too often, then it's a trend of, okay, we found control, we found a better rhythm in our play and more consistency, and playing with 11 men, and more consistency and decision making and all those things. Hopefully we find that trend soon, so it doesn't have to look and feel the way it does in the moment. But, again, I am very pleased for what these guys are showing when things get tough.

On the surprise of it being Evander's first career hat trick

Pat Noonan 13:42"That surprises me. Yeah. He's pretty good. So, happy for him, happy for how it helped us to get three points. I know that's how he will feel. And what he said before the game when he spoke to the group, was, we know we're still not good enough. It's still not good enough and we need to continue to be stronger. And, so, it was a good, good message, and we didn't listen very well, but, he stepped up in a big way tonight and even the penalty, there's pressure in that moment and he was able to convert and step up for his team again. So, hopefully there's more to come."

On Pavel Bucha and the thought of having him remain out of the game

Pat Noonan 15:00"That's just toughness. He is a really tough kid. It's going to take a lot to mentally, physically, rattle him and so most people, probably with the pain and the discomfort are not finishing that game. But he just wants to do whatever he can to help our team, and maybe to a fault, because you hope that nothing worse came from him being out there those minutes, but, we just tried to adjust it and let him be higher up the field as somebody that likely was going to be unable to defend one v one in wide channels to see out the game. So, that was the decision to if he can stay, which we tried to communicate, if he's able to stay, he's going to be higher up the field and if he can't, here's our five three structure that is going to try to see out the game."

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