FC Cincinnati Burned in Second Half, Settle for 3-3 Draw with FC Dallas

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MLS FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati Burned in Second Half, Settle for 3-3 Draw with FC Dallas

May 29, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release


CINCINNATI - Pat Noonan entered the press conference room calm and assured after the 3-3 draw with FC Dallas. A draw yielded in added time after going up 2-0 in the first half, conceding twice, retaking the lead then giving up the winner with less than three minutes to play.

On the outside, that is.

On the outside, he was calm and composed.

On the inside though, based on his press conference answers he gave, he was anything but calm. Yes he was composed, but he was also fired up. He was embarrassed. He was confused. He was frustrated. Pat Noonan was, to say the least, confident in what he had to say. Even if he didn't feel like he had answers (that he was pleased with) for what to do about it.

"It was a tale of two halves. We were excellent in the first half, and we were embarrassing in the second half," Pat Noonan said plainly to open his postgame press conference. "So it falls on me, because there were guys that had no idea how to manage a two goal lead and manage the momentum we had coming out of the break. So, there'll be some good conversations around what we want this to look like moving forward and what we want to accomplish, because there were guys that were nowhere close in the second half."

FC Cincinnati stormed out of the gate in the first half, but faded to start the second and allowed a Luciano Acosta led Dallas side - a side that looked dead in the water for nearly all 45 minutes of the first half - back into the game. Pavel Bucha scored the opener off a strong shot to the far post that beat the keeper and deflected off the Dallas defender and in. The second goal was earned after a brilliant pass from Evander sprung Kévin Denkey, who was fouled by the keeper in the box and eventually converted the penalty kick.

They took that 2-0 lead into the halftime break after continuing to pour on the pressure, but came out in the second half missing a step. Bucha, who was the team's standout contributor in all 60 minutes of his play before subbing out (even beyond his goal) said the squad lacked the intensity to start the second half. He said they maybe got too comfortable, and they made "silly" mistakes FC Dallas capitalized on.

"I don't know why. We had, in my opinion, a very good performance in the first half," Bucha said after the match. "We felt too comfortable with the result at half time, and then we started in a bad way in the second half."

"That's just my feeling. I felt that we were less intense in our movement and aggressivity(sic.) in our pressing...they were just getting through us really easy, we gave them a space."

Dallas scored three times in the second half, coming back to steal a point from TQL Stadium and giving FC Cincinnati their third draw of the season. Gerardo "Dado" Valenzuela appeared to give FCC the lead in the final moments of the match, controlling a ball to the middle of the box before catching enough of the ball on a swinging shot to trickle past the FC Dallas keeper. But less than seven minutes later Dallas equalized on a header, and the draw was effectively sealed at that point.

"You get the answers from the games, and like I said, the second half shows how far we are away from becoming a real team," Noonan continued in his press conference. "There were so many other things that are again, nowhere close if we are going to be a good team."

Noonan provided a rare glimpse of genuine frustration and criticism for his side in the press conference Wednesday night. While the fourth-year head coach of FC Cincinnati has never shied away from critiquing his team from a dais or in an interview, it is rare to see him so direct.

But that's where FC Cincinnati find themselves. The once vaunted defense that buoyed the squads offensive struggles early in the season has conceded seven goals this week in a loss and a draw, and the offense has not been able to keep pace despite scoring five goals in that stretch - the second most in a two-game period in MLS this season.

Where the change has come, or what happened over the last two weeks, to leave FCC at this point isn't as clear. There has not been a large-scale change in personnel recently, and the team has been strong with their depth to this point. But the team's foundation, the bedrock, has shifted beneath their feet.

"There's a lot of things, there's a lot of things. But, clearly they're not receiving something," Noonan said of if the team isn't responding to his messaging, or if he has to change the way he communicates with them to get results. "We conceded three goals in a half, at home, when you're up 2-0. So it's myself, it's them, I don't have an answer for that right now because how we conceded, and how we managed the second half is, again, embarrassing."

"Decision making. Guys' understanding of the moment," Noonan continued. "How we're getting pressure on the ball, where the danger is, and awareness. There are some simple plays that we make very complicated. Then some are more complex where maybe you got, you know, lack of experience, or you know, poor understanding of how to keep play in front of us and how to defend the box, and make real simple plays that don't turn into chaos."

Hypothetically, the second half was, aside from the important context of conceding three goals, statistically one FC Cincinnati could have looked to and been proud of. FCC retained possession, had another night where they put on 20+ shots, and were the more threatening team.

But that's where stats don't always tell the truth. They show a lot, but not everything.

"I don't care about the possession numbers if we're not doing anything with it," Noonan said, blasting the performance with the ball. "The idea is to move teams around, to advance the ball, to create chances, and we did that in a decent way. But how do you organize behind the ball? How are you alert for transition moments? There's just a lot of guys that are nowhere close on the defensive side of the ball to understanding the game and having the right intensity and awareness. It's getting exposed. So, we'll see where we go from here."

Where they go from here may be the biggest question left at the feet of Pat Noonan, his staff, and his players. After months of earning results despite not having the performances they're overly pleased with, the reckoning (or a reckoning, at least) has come. Noonan said they would address the goals and standards again; that he would be having the conversations needed to come to a better place and how they get there.

To that effect. In the past, Noonan has been quick to place the blame at his feet. His general philosophy usually gravitates itself around to the ideology that as Head Coach it is his job to find the answers. The buck stops with him, so to speak. He did that again Wednesday. However, FC Cincinnati players, particularly one of its leaders, said they deserved more responsibility for their performance than their coach.

"I think he's too nice with us," Pavel Buch shared. "He sometimes takes it on his shoulders, but I think on that pitch it's just about us. He cannot really do anything about our decisions, and we made some bad decisions tonight."

FC Cincinnati will have to reflect on this performance. That reflection, based on the commentary from both coach and players, will be spurred internally. But it will have to happen fast. The Orange and Blue host D.C. United this weekend, with kick-off just 68 and a half hours after the final whistle of this match.

That match presents another opportunity. An opportunity to get back on track, to prove Wednesday wrong.

Kick-off against D.C. United is set for 7:30 pm at TQL Stadium. Given the words Pat Noonan gave the public on Wednesday night, FCC will be looking to prove themselves.

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