FC Cincinnati drops second game in loss to Montreal: Replay

MONTREAL — Regular-season losing streaks have been rare for FC Cincinnati under third-year head coach Pat Noonan, but the club is now dealing with such a stretch for the first time since May 2022.

FC Cincinnati dropped their second straight match on Saturday, losing 2-1 to Montreal CF on a rain-soaked night at Saputo Stadium. The loss drops Cincinnati to 3-2-3 in Major League Soccer this year.

Montreal, which celebrated its 2024 home opener on the night, improved to 3-3-1 in front of a sellout crowd.

Joseph Martinez opened the scoring in the first half. Raheem Edwards found Martinez unmarked around the box, and Martinez slid the ball past goalkeeper Alec Cann for 1-0.

Cann started the match with a clean sheet for FCC following Evan Lauro's MLS debut against the New York Red Bulls on April 6.

FC Cincinnati took the lead in the first half but regained their footing in the contest with Yuya Kubo's third goal of 2024 in the 58th minute.

The teams were not friendly for a long time. Three minutes later, Ariel Lassiter slotted home the last-gasp winner to end Montreal's counterattack.

Cincinnati's offensive struggles continued and two goals from Montreal were too much to overcome. So far in the regular season, FCC has scored multiple goals only twice in a single match.

The Enquirer will update this report.

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A rare losing streak for FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati has lost a regular season game for the first time since May 2022. Montreal kicks off 2024 at home after a long stretch of road games to start the season.

Montreal takes the lead (62')

Ariel Lassiter fouled Alec Cann to restore his team's lead.

Away kick back (58')

Yuya Kubo might be the best option in Cincinnati right now. He just scored his 2024 team's third goal to tie the match 1-1.

Home team takes the lead (45+5')

Raheem Edwards found Joseph Martinez, whose left-footed shot from around the box hit the side netting and beat Alec Cann. That 1-0 deficit feels like a deep hole for FC Cincinnati, especially after they almost saw out the first half.

36th minute

All Montreal Early (20')

Cincinnati wingers DeAndre Yedlin and Luca Orellano are both on yellow cards, and Montreal is dominating the match. One of the club's shots went wide of the crossbar and another was pushed over by Cann, no small feat in the swirling wind and rain. Cincinnati doesn't have much to hang its collective hat on, except that the game still ended in a scoreless draw.

Bad Weather Game (1')

The weather conditions are among the worst games FC Cincinnati has ever played. The situation does not threaten the end of this game. We are playing at Saputo Stadium.

“Cincinnati” football club's starting line-up: a change in the goalkeeper

• Cincinnati FC Starting XI: Alec Cann (GC), Luca Orellano, Ian Murphy, Matt Miazga, Miles Robinson, DeAndre Yedlin, Pavel Bucha, Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta (capt), Yuya Kubo, Aaron Bupendza.

• Cincinnati Seat: Alvas Powell, Nick Haglund, Corey Baird, Kipp Keller, Bret Halsey, Sergio Santos, Gerardo “Dado” Valenzuela, Malik Pinto, Evan Luro (GK).

• Notes: After starting last week's game against the New York Red Bulls, Evan Luro was benched in favor of Alec Cann, who started his first league game since October. Both goalkeepers will compete for the right to fill in for Roman Celentano, who missed his second game in a row due to injury.

This article appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati suffers second loss to Montreal: Replay