FC Cincinnati Match Club Record for Goals in an MLS Match
MLS FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati Match Club Record for Goals in an MLS Match

Published on May 23, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release


CINCINNATI - FC Cincinnati earned a dominant 6-2 win over Orlando City SC Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 25,513 at TQL Stadium.

The Orange and Blue (5-5-5, 20 points) head into the pause for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Orlando fell to 4-9-2 (14 points).

After conceding the opening goal from the penalty spot, Cincinnati tied Orlando with a Kenji Mboma Dem header in the 42nd minute off a corner kick and gained the lead six minutes later when Evander scored in first-half stoppage time.

Orlando equalized in the 48th minute but the Orange and Blue immediately answered, retaking the lead 3-2 with Mboma Dem's second goal just four minutes later in the 52nd minute. Cincinnati never looked back, as Evander added a second goal in the 58th minute, putting Cincinnati ahead 4-2.

The historic goal scoring evening was capped off with a 77th minute goal from Kévin Denkey and then a second-half stoppage time goal from Tom Barlow. FC Cincinnati's six goals matched a club record for goals scored in an MLS regular season match.

Evander's five goal contributions (two goals, three assists) set a new individual single-game record.

FC Cincinnati and Major League Soccer pause competition for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with FCC's next MLS match scheduled for July 22 against Vancouver Whitecaps FC at TQL Stadium. For more information on FC Cincinnati's full lineup of events for the club's Soccer Celebration, visit FCCincinnati.com/Summer-Of-Soccer.

AS IT HAPPENED

ORL: Martín Ojeda, PENALTY KICK GOAL - 15' (0-1) - Orlando striker Martín Ojeda converted from the penalty spot after Kyle Smith was called for a foul on Tiago in the box.

CIN: Kenji Mboma Dem, GOAL - 42' (1-1) - Evander's corner kick found Kenji Mboma Dem in the middle of the box and he was able to head the ball into the top left corner of the net to tie the match. The goal was FCC's league-leading 13th set piece goal of the season.

CIN: Evander, GOAL - 45'+3 (2-1) - After assisting on Kenji Mboma Dem's goal minutes earlier, Evander notched a goal of his own after a perfect cross-field pass from Pavel Bucha. The Brazilian's left boot drove the ball past a diving keeper.

ORL: Martín Ojeda, GOAL - 48' (2-2) - Orlando tied the match early in the second half as Martín Ojeda secured a brace with his second goal on a free kick, from just outside the box.

CIN: Kenji Mboma Dem, GOAL - 52' (3-2) - The Orange and Blue quickly responded to retake the lead when Evander skillfully dribbled into the box, and for the second time in the game, connected a pass to Kenji Mboma Dem, who found just enough space to strike one into the net.

CIN: Evander, GOAL - 58' (4-2) - Evander swiftly moved through Orlando's defense, dribbling from midfield to just outside of the 18-yard box. He quickly struck a strong and low shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

CIN: Kévin Denkey, GOAL - 77' (5-2) - Kévin Denkey notched his ninth goal of the season after fighting off contact from two Orlando players and sneaking a shot just past goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau. On this goal, Evander set the club record for five goal contributions in a single match with his assist into Denkey.

CIN: Tom Barlow, GOAL - 90'+1 (6-2) - Ender Echenique kept a ball in play down the right side and found Tom Barlow who cleanly finished his career-high fifth goal of the season.

GAME NOTES

- FC Cincinnati's six goals matched a club record high for an MLS match (9/10/22 vs SJ; 7/6/24 vs MIA).

- With his 75th career MLS win in his 151st MLS match, Head Coach Pat Noonan matched the MLS-post shootout era record in becoming the fastest coach to reach 75 regular season wins (Brian Schmetzer).

- Evander set a new club record for single-game goal contributions (5) with his two goals and three assists.

- Saturday marked Evander's third game of multiple goal contributions. His 17 career multi-goal contribution games in his two seasons with FCC place him second in club history.

- Evander now has a goal contribution in five straight games, matching his longest streak from last season (6/25 - 7/16, 2025: at MTL, at ORL, vs CHI, vs CLB, vs MIA).

- Kenji Mboma Dem netted his first career MLS brace, scoring his third goal in the past two games.

- Cincinnati have scored multiple goals in eight consecutive games, which extends the longest streak in FCC's MLS history.

- Tom Barlow scored his fifth goal of the season and in his second consecutive match. Barlow's five goals set a career high for goals in a season.

- At the end of Saturday evening, Cincinnati leads the league in goals scored in MLS play with 36 goals.

- Cincinnati native Kyle Smith surpassed 10,000 career MLS minutes with tonight's start against his former club.

- FC Cincinnati's 13 points earned from trailing positions lead MLS.

FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT

FC Cincinnati vs Orlando City SC

Date: May 23, 2026

Competition: MLS Regular Season

Venue: TQL Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio

Attendance: 25,513 (sellout)

Kickoff: 7:40 p.m. ET

Weather: 73 degrees, cloudy

SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT

CIN: 2-4-6

ORL: 1-1-2

CIN - Kenji Mboma Dem (Evander) 42', Evander (Bucha) 45'+3, Kenji Mboma Dem (Evander, Denkey) 52', Evander (Miazga, Nwobodo) 58', Kévin Denkey (Evander, Ramirez) 77', Tom Barlow (Echenique, Bucha) 90'+1

ORL - Martín Ojeda - PK 16', Martín Ojeda 48'

LINEUPS

CIN: Roman Celentano, Bryan Ramirez, Kyle Smith, Matt Miazga, Samuel Gidi (Nick Hagglund 90'+2), Pavel Bucha, Obinna Nwobodo (Tah Brian Anunga 74'), Gerardo Valenzuela (Ender Echenique 83'), Evander, Kenji Mboma Dem (Tom Barlow 83'), Kévin Denkey (Ayoub Jabbari 90'+5)

Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Gilberto Flores, Andrei Chirila, Ayoub Jabbari

Head Coach: Pat Noonan

ORL: Maxime Crépeau, Adrián Marín (Duncan McGuire 72'), David Brekalo, Robin Jansson (C), Griffin Dorsey (Wilder Cartagena 72'), Braian Ojeda (Luís Otávio 85'), Eduard Atuesta, Tiago (Tyrese Spicer 46'), Iván Angulo, Justin Ellis (Marco Pašalić 57'), Martín Ojeda

Substitutes not used: Javier Otero, Zakaria Taifi, Tahir Reid-Brown, Iago

Interim Head Coach: Martín Perelman

STATS SUMMARY: CIN/ORL

Shots: 23 / 20

Shots on Goal: 11 / 9

Saves: 7 / 5

Corner Kicks: 6 / 9

Fouls: 17 / 13

Offside: 0 / 1

Possession: 56.8 / 43.2

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

ORL - Adrián Marín (Yellow Card) 10'

CIN - Gerardo Valenzuela (Yellow Card) 32'

ORL - Tiago (Yellow Card) 41'

CIN - Matt Miazga (Yellow Card) 47'

ORL - David Brekalo (Yellow Card) 70'

OFFICIALS

Referee: Rubiel Vazquez

Ast. Referees: Cory Richardson, Oscar Michell-Carvalho

Fourth Official: Allen Chapman

VAR: Ismir Pekmic

AVAR: TJ Zablocki

FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan

Orlando Postgame

Opening comments on the 6-2 win ... (0:16)

"A nice way to go into the break. A very good attacking output, and a lot of guys performed well. That's the difference in the way the game looks when you can go down the list of the starters and who comes in off the bench and say, 'Did he have a good game?' I think a lot of guys performed tonight, and it gives us a nice feeling going into the break here."

Importance of the strong performance on top of the win ... (0:58)

"There are still stretches. We started the game slow again, and when you're watching some of the decisions early on to try to play, it's 'All right, do we recognize their press and where the outlets are, and the holdup play that we get from Kevin (Denkey)? Can we bypass that and move off it?' We started to recognize that too far into the first half, but once we figured that out and we were able to play into switch play, then we found some really good actions. So, I didn't love the start of the game, but I liked how the remainder of the half played. In the beginning of the second half, we lost territory, gave up the foul and the goal, so you lose momentum. But we immediately gained it back, and I liked the majority of the remainder of the game up until the last 5 to 7 minutes, where our management of getting the sub on, and then where we're trying to play the mistakes we're making. These are still things that if we want to take our group to another level, we have to learn from some of these things we've done previously and eliminate them. But overall, you score six goals against a very good Orlando team, and we relied on Roman (Celentano) to make more saves than probably necessary toward the end."

How the team responded after the slow start and going down 0-1 early on the PK ... (2:24)

"It wasn't immediate, but just a lot of the play was sloppy. And then just engagement, awareness of how we can play, how we have to defend. It was just too many things were a little bit off, so whether it was a penalty or not, play improved and the remainder of the half was played in a more controlled way."

Being able to enjoy a win like this even with the goals they conceded ... (3:06)

"We conceded on the penalty, which I think we're in control in the moment. Maybe the ball over the top you can do better with, and then just the positioning we have in the box and their attacking threats. We just don't recognize in that moment how to control it, how to take away what happens, and then a free kick that reflects off our wall. Sure, they had other chances that could have been goals, but it's hard to win. It's hard to score six goals, and so there are a lot of positives to take out of it, and just the feeling of going into the break with a good performance in the majority of our play in front of these fans is important. Set pieces continue to be a strength, and I'm pleased about that growth because it's given us a lot of production. There are still a lot of positives."

On Pavel and his work at wingback (4:33)

We know we can rely on Pavel. Reall, it's wherever he plays. I said it earlier, for me it wasn't the long-term play for us. But in the moment, we kind of rode some of his performances there, some of the production, but I think a part of the plan was to get to the break with, I think, guys that were doing well in certain spots and trying to have consistency with that our structure and our group. But Pavel is reliable and made some really good defensive plays with the ball. I think [he] grew into the game and does what is necessary to help the team win. He's the ultimate competitor and winner, and so that's why you see him have success wherever he's positioned. He made some really big plays for us to contribute to some of the goals, and I think he was the one to play Ender in behind, towards the end there, for Tom as well, if I'm not mistaken. So he tries to make right plays for the team."

On what impressed him the most tonight and if it was the offensive output or team management of their performance. (6:04)

"More the output, because there were some really good attacking sequences, where, like I said, we're 15-20 minutes into the game, we haven't sustained a lot in the attacking half, we weren't threatening them a lot. So for a 75-minute block, a 65-75 minute block, we attacked in a really good way, scored a lot of goals against a very good Orlando team. So, for me it's these guys understanding, when you trust your the next guy, when you make the right pass and we can get guys in better positions, higher up the field, closer to goal, we have the players to make plays. And then we have the players behind the ball to help us make plays to try to attack again. We need to trust that more and simplify the game. If we can get that in a more complete way, I think that's what could take the group to another level."

On Kenji Mboma Dem (7:17)

"It's been his consistency in play. I haven't seen, we haven't seen a drop. He's gotten the opportunity, and now gotten really, I wouldn't say comfortable but found some consistency playing higher up the field. We put him out wide at San Diego, so he's played both, but I think his positioning ahead of the ball has been really key to how we can break pressure. And then even in those moments when he's dealing with pressure, I think he's won a lot of 1v1 moments to change how the game looks, or how the moment looks, where it could be a turnover or transition or us defending, and it's him recognizing how to connect the right pass, how to play under pressure, how to switch play. He's been pretty consistent in that regard, and building some nice chemistry with the Evander, with Dado [Valenzuela], with Pavel [Bucha], obviously, who's moving wide on the right with Kevin, so a good stretcher.

On the halftime speech to the team, and Ender Echenique's role in the team (8:31)

"The halftime conversation was around some of our positioning in possession--how we could be a little bit more effective with breaking their initial pressure and moving up the field. So just a couple minor adjustments there that I think the guys did a good job, because I think for the majority of the first half, defensively, it was pretty strong. We didn't want to change too much there. As far as Ender [Echenique], he's going to play a big role on our team like he already has. In this moment, he hasn't been a starter, but the way he's trained, the way he's pushed Pavel, his teammates. I've seen growth in just his mentality in understanding this role at this moment and coming in tonight and making a positive impact. It wasn't just the assist, he made a couple of defensive plays where we've been challenging him in those moments, because we ask a lot out of the position, and all of our guys to understand how to defend against the ball, and so he came into that with the right approach, and it was nice to him rewarded with the assist."

On what has gone into success in set pieces this year (10:32)

"More time, more training on it, reviewing it. None of it happens if the delivery's not there. I think Evander's delivery has been outstanding. Guys understanding their role. That header from Kenji is very difficult. So of all the chances that we're storing. That's probably one of the lower percentage opportunities. But within the review, it's everybody understanding their role, because if everybody does it. Some guys? you're not the target. Some guys, Kévin, a lot of times, how do we position Kévin to be sniffing out goals. And his growth on attacking set pieces, where even though tonight, I think he had one second phase moment with Kyle [Smith], it's playing your role. And so guys are doing that in a better way, so Kenji benefits from it, and Kévin, and these bigs that we're trying to get first contact with, everybody, if they do their job, and we get the delivery, you can see the threat that we can be on set pieces. I mentioned Kévin, and it was not just the set pieces, the work he did when we finally realized to play to this guy and eliminate some of the danger. How he's holding up the ball against [Robin] Jansson, who's an excellent center back, and how he gets us moving forward, and we're able to get Evander in dangerous spots. It's all this unselfish play, and understanding it's not always going to be pretty. It's not always going to be with passes, it's got to be with competing. It's duels, and it's nice to see the team benefit when guys like that are setting an example."

On Sami Gidi and if his center back role is permanent or situational (12:28)

"A little bit situational, similar to Pavel. Some of it was on the ball, some of it was speed of Tiago [Souza] or [Justin] Ellis, if he was on that side, [Ivan] Angulo, and obviously when [Tyrese] Spicer comes in. So, a little bit had to do with just, the matchups, but it's still a lot for a player to move from the midfield into the back line. And he's got the confidence, but it's understanding when to be confident in making plays with the ball, and when to just play safe. So, you can see certainly, early on, there's some mistakes that I think are a little bit naive, and maybe just because he hasn't done it enough. And so reviewing that and helping him understand this isn't where we can turn the ball over, and how to see past the short, and even though he feels confident wants to play his teammates, sometimes it's not the moment. Where's Kévin? And where's Evander? And so those are that's still a learning curve for him, but he still makes a lot of plays out of that position, because his comfort level under pressure, I think, is strong. And really just his anticipation, his reading of the game to make plays to intercept plays the way Orlando attacks, and how they use their front five is challenging for a wing back, outside center back. And so the communication, when to release off the line, when you have to release wide, I think he did a pretty good job, I think, of all those things."On Evander's performance tonight (14:20)

"What was most special? I don't know, he scored two goals and had three assists, that's hard to do in a game. When he's on the ball, with space, everybody comes to life. You can feel it, the energy of the stadium, the energy that he provided with moving with the ball, with the one-v-one moments where he creates separation. And for me, it's still about, in that moment, are guys ready to run? Are guys ready to run to goal, because he will get you the ball. And the third goal, Kenji is running hard to goal, and it allows him more time on the ball to push the line a little bit, and he finishes the play. And so, yeah, he's taken his game to another level in this moment, with production, with consistency in his play, and the scary thing is, there's more."

On tying the record for fastest coach to 75 wins and what it meant to him (15:22)

"Not much on an individual level. It's certainly humbling, and I'll take all Brian [Schmetzer]'s trophies. That's, what we're doing this for, I want those trophies. So, the individual stuff is a credit to the people you work with, and consistency in our play, but I want the trophies."

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Major League Soccer Stories from May 23, 2026


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