FC Cincinnati and San Diego FC Share the Spils in Thriller
MLS FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati and San Diego FC Share the Spils in Thriller

Published on May 16, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release


SAN DIEGO - FC Cincinnati and San Diego FC played to a 3-3 draw Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium in the first-ever meeting between the sides. Two stoppage time goals, including an initial 90'+6 go-ahead goal from San Diego and Tom Barlow's 90'+8 equalizer in the match's final moments capped the six-goal fixture.

Cincinnati (4-5-5, 17 points) head home next Saturday, May 23 to host Orlando City SC in the final match before the pause for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. San Diego FC (4-5-5, 17 points) hold an identical record to FCC following the draw.

The Orange and Blue opened the scoring in the 11th minute as Kenji Mboma Dem netted his second career MLS goal. The hosts answered back in the 32nd minute with Marcus Ingvartsen's first goal of the night.

Halftime substitute Tom Barlow sent FC Cincinnati ahead in the 50th minute. After Evander nearly scored on a free kick which was saved out for a corner kick, the Brazilian delivered in the ensuing corner kick which Barlow stabbed home unmarked in the box.

San Diego FC equalized again with Amahl Pellegrino scoring in the 66th minute, and with six minutes added in stoppage time, the hosts went ahead in the 90'+6 after Marcus Ingvartsen scored his second of the night. On the ensuing restart with seconds remaining, Samuel Gidi sent a long ball into the box which substitute Ayoub Jabbari headed down for Tom Barlow all alone to tuck home the equalizer.

Barlow's second goal at 90'+8 marked the latest equalizer in an MLS Regular Season match in club history.

FC Cincinnati are back at TQL Stadium next Saturday, May 23 to host Orlando City SC in the final match before the pause for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Tickets are available at FCCincinnati.com/Tickets or by calling 513-977-KICK.

AS IT HAPPENED

CIN: Kenji Mboma Dem, GOAL - 11' (0-1) - FC Cincinnati countered out of pressure in the back to perfection, with Matt Miazga finding Gerardo Valenzuela in the midfield who chested the ball down to Evander in the midfield circle. After the Brazilian controlled in the midfield, he picked out a darting Kenji Mboma Dem down the left side who took a pair of touches before finishing home his second goal of the MLS season.

SD: Marcus Ingvartsen, GOAL - 32' (1-1) - San Diego built out of the back for their opener as well, with Onni Valakari finding Kieran Sargeant down the left side who played a low cross into the box where Marcus Ingvartsen tucked home his 10th goal of the season.

CIN: Tom Barlow, GOAL - 50' (1-2) - Directly off a corner kick, Evander placed a ball into the six-yard box for Tom Barlow to tap home his third MLS goal of the season.

SD: Amahl Pellegrino, GOAL - 66 (2-2) - Pedro Somo's ball broke though Cincinnati's backline and found Amahl Pellegrino streaking in who finished a breakaway chance.

SD: Marcus Ingvartsen, GOAL - 90'+6 (3-2) - San Diego won possession with 30 seconds left in stoppage time as Marcus Ingvartsen broke through down the right side. He scored his 11th goal of the campaign with a shot across the goal past the fingertips of Roman Celentano.

CIN: Tom Barlow, GOAL - 90'+8 (3-3) - In the final opportunity for Cincinnati, Samuel Gidi at the midfield line played a long ball into the box. Ayoub Jabbari outdueled two San Diego defenders to place a perfectly-weighed header down for Tom Barlow who tucked home the late equalizer.

GAME NOTES

- Tom Barlow's 90'+8 goal is the latest equalizer in an MLS Regular Season match in club history.

- FC Cincinnati are 17-5-6 against Western Conference opponents in MLS play under Head Coach Pat Noonan.

- Under Noonan, FC Cincinnati are 22-11-11 in 44 matches on two-days rest in all competitions.

- With two assists on the night, Evander recorded his 22nd and 23rd assists for FC Cincinnati and surpassed Emmanuel Ledesma into third place in club history.

- Tom Barlow became the third substitute in the club's MLS era to score multiple goals in a match (Yuya Kubo, 3 goals - 6/15/24 at SJ; Ayoub Jabbari, 2 goals - 2/18/26 at OYM, Concacaf Champions Cup).

- Matt Miazga became the 14th player in FC Cincinnati's all-time history to make 100 appearances for the club.

- Evander made his 100th career MLS appearance Saturday.

- Nick Hagglund made his 200th career MLS start Saturday.

FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT

FC Cincinnati at San Diego FC

Date: May 16, 2026

Competition: MLS Regular Season

Venue: Snapdragon Stadium | San Diego, California

Kickoff: 9:40 p.m. ET/6:40 p.m. PT

Weather: 66 degrees, cloudy

SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT

SD: 1-2-3

CIN: 1-2-3

SD - Marcus Ingvartsen (Sargeant, Valakari) 32', Amahl Pellegrino (Soma, McVey) 66', Marcus Ingvartsen (Saidi) 90'+6

CIN - Kenji Mboma Dem (Evander) 11', Tom Barlow (Evander) 50', Tom Barlow (Jabbari, Gidi) 90'+8

LINEUPS:

CIN: Roman Celentano, Kenji Mboma Dem (Bryan Ramirez 73'), Miles Robinson (Kyle Smith 46'), Matt Miazga, Nick Hagglund (Obinna Nwobodo 73'), Pavel Bucha, Samuel Gidi, Tah Brian Anunga, Evander, Gerardo Valenzuela (Tom Barlow 46'), Kévin Denkey (Ayoub Jabbari 90'+1)

Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Gilberto Flores, Ayoub Lajhar, Ender Echenique

Head Coach: Pat Noonan

SD: Duran Ferree, Kieran Sargeant (Oscar Verhoeven 46'), Manu Duah, Christopher McVey, Luca Bombino, Onni Valakari, David Vazquez (Alex Mighten 69'), Anibal Godoy (C) (Pedro Soma 46'), Amahl Pellegrino (Alejandro Alvarado 78'), Anders Dreyer, Marcus Ingvartsen (Anisse Saidi 90'+1)

Substitutes not used: CJ Dos Santos, Lewis Morgan, Bryan Zamble, Ian Pilcher

Head Coach: Mikey Varas

STATS SUMMARY: SD/CIN

Shots: 17 / 8

Shots on Goal: 5 / 6

Saves: 3 / 2

Corner Kicks: 7 / 2

Fouls: 8 / 9

Offside: 1 / 0

Possession: 58.6 / 41.4

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

CIN - Miles Robinson (Yellow Card) 24'

SD - David Vazquez (Yellow Card) 54'

CIN - Obinna Nwobodo (Yellow Card) 87'

CIN - Tom Barlow (Yellow Card) 90'

OFFICIALS

Referee: Timothy Ford

Ast. Referees: Jeremy Kieso, Eduardo Jeff

Fourth Official: Ricardo Fierro

VAR: Ramy Touchan

AVAR: Joshua Patlak

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FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan

Postmatch Press Conference at San Diego FC

On the result

Pat Noonan 00:18"Yeah, the way the game plays out, that seems to be the norm right now for our group, a lot of highs and lows. Just breaking up the game, the first half, there was a few transition moments that were threatening, certainly the goal. Really struggled to get a hold of a rhythm and playing more advanced, I think still a challenge for us is knowing how to slow the game down when we get closer to goal and when we rush plays, then you give a team that's very good on the ball and moving the goal a chance to get out in space, and they did a good job of pinning us in, and then getting control of space that we just couldn't find any consistency in breaking their pressure. And we were forced to play direct a lot and didn't have success with that. So second half were able to get in a good opening stretch with finding the goal on the set piece, but again the game was in control as far as them having the ball, I thought for long stretches, there was some good defensive work by our guys, but a big demand against a team as strong as San Diego and the idea is to still find more solutions to control the tempo. The end of the game is chaos and the turnover that leads to their goal that we certainly can see out the game in a better way. Credit to the guys for that last action to make something out of it. Ayoub, Tom, two subs came in and did a good job to have us feeling better than we probably should be."

On the final momentsPat Noonan 02:36"No, but it's something to address. It's, you're in the moment, you concede a goal, there's despair, there's guys that are on the ground because they feel like we let one go; when I say let one go and let one slip up, it's really just a point, it wasn't about winning a game at that stage in how the game was playing out. But when I look up and I see guys that look a little distraught, it's let's push up and see if we can in this moment get numbers as quickly as possible, as close to goal, to create a little bit of chaos. And credit to Matt, he doesn't just put the ball up the field, he finds Sami and enough delay from Sami to get the ball in a good spot, and then you're relying on two bigs with Ayoub and Tom to challenge for an aerial duel, which is what Ayoub was able to do. But it wasn't just the challenge, it was the positioning, and then the control to be able to lay the ball off and Tom does a good job in that moment to finish it, because there's a lot of adrenaline, there's a lot of emotion, and for him to get another goal was again, it was a chaotic ending, but credit to those two to make a play."

On accounting for San Diego possession

Pat Noonan 04:14"I anticipated we weren't going to win a possession battle tonight, so a lot of our conversation was making sure our defensive structure was as solid as it could be to make sure that we had the spaces right to be able to get pressure to the ball and not let them get into good spots to consistently move to goal, which they're good at doing. However, there is still a large chunk of the first half, especially where we have to have more confidence to play, and I know that's easier said than done, but there were still spaces to understand how to move the ball, and still moments where we turn the ball over, where it's, I think, just a lack of composure or the wrong decision. Until we can eliminate that against teams that are strong in possession, like San Diego, those types of games will be us defending for long stretches, and that's a hard way to play, but it's important to also know how to play in games like this, where you're on the road against a strong team, and you know they're going to have more of the ball to make sure that that possession is not consistently in front of our own goal, because if it's 60 yards from goal, we can live with that. It's when it gets closer to goal, and the demand and the need for making a play becomes more important and more extreme. And there were certainly stretches where it was both, and we can combat that with how we are on the ball."

On offensive positives

Pat Noonan 06:21"Transition in the first half was our biggest opportunities, and that's when we were able to get the defending right, and then connect the pass, or have the right movement to get out into some space, and cause them some challenging moments, you know, that was the goal. There was a couple more, obviously, when Evander gets his opportunity, great save, but there was probably a handful more, maybe three that kind of stuck out in the first half, where if I think we just control that moment in how we move up, in how we can connect the same passes and get into our structure, and have some of the ideas that we saw when we were deeper, and we just couldn't, we struggled to live there because of rushing plays. And so those are the moments that stood out. We didn't create a whole lot as far as being able to break down their defensive structure and consistently playing there, and so you know that's credit to them too on the defensive side."

On dealing with fatigue following the midweek match and cross-country trip

Pat Noonan 07:53"The fatigue definitely did, but we've seen this structure that San Diego was in previously, you know, as you start to accumulate more games and see more teams and more structures, there's similarities, and there's things that we can revisit, and I just don't think in the first half that we moved with the play well enough and found the right time to try to dribble in in when the passing option wasn't there or rotate the ball because we were playing into channels and we were playing into pressure at times where I think we needed another rotation or two, and then maybe the solution or the space would be there. But fatigue was played a part, and I will say even at the end of the game I thought you could tell there was some tired legs out there because of how much was being put into the game on both sides, and I thought then we actually found more comfort and more space and more decisive actions to play forward, but still within that, after we break the initial pressure, then understanding and finding the next pass or movement to really advance up the field, that's still, I think, too many guys maybe ball watching or not recognizing certain space to move into. But fatigue probably factored into that, maybe at times more than understanding of the game."

On Obinna Nwobodo and health of the group

Pat Noonan 09:53"No, he's not limited. He was kind of full go before this game, and he got the minutes ... last game, and then with this particular game going into it, and a lot of guys that we were going to have to be mindful of their minutes with the starting group. And with Matt and Miles, Miles unfortunately comes off at half, that was not part of the plan, took a knock, and it was precautionary, so there was one. You know, with Matt starting to push his fitness and minutes, that was one to monitor, and I think that was the decision with Brian and Obi, is feeling that Brian could go 90. If Obi started, I think he's probably coming off the field, just based on where he's at. Now, could he mentally push through that? Of course, but it would just be another body that we knew he would have to take off the field, and that was really the reason that he didn't start the game. So, he's not limited, you know, as far as the physical state, it's just the third game of the week, and with a lot of guys that I liked, as far as performances, despite results, and what it's looked like defensively, we wanted to maintain some consistency in a lot of the guys that started tonight."

On Kenji Mboma Dem at wing back and his goal

Pat Noonan 11:38"Yeah, Kenji's played there before, and he's done a good job up top. It was a back and forth of do we maintain Brian out there with Kenji and Dado, but I think Brian Anunga and having the fresh legs centrally was going to be important, and that was a big factor in it, and just with Kenji and Dado's performances, they both played these positions, we felt comfortable Dado can play a similar role to Kenji higher up the field and Kenji could give us something from the left side. And so yes, it was a challenging ask, considering the last few starts and where he's been, but you know, I think he did a good job defensively as well, and he took the goal well. I think Dado does excellent on, you know, it's kind of a Matt under pressure, and he just anticipates a play to get control of it, and then find Evander, and Kenji does a good job of recognizing the timing and the angle to get to get the goal. So a well-timed pass and finish, yeah he's done a good job, continues to contribute."

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