FC Cincinnati shuts out NY Red Bulls for 19th win of the season

FC Cincinnati picked up an important 1-0 win against the New York Red Bulls Oct. 4 at Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey.

Cincinnati improves to 19-9-5 for 62 points, and second place in the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference. They lost their chance at the MLS Supporters’ Shield when Philadelphia Union defeated New York City Football Club 1-0 Oct. 4.

Cincinnati clinched home-field advantage for the first round of the MLS playoffs, which begins Oct. 24. Cincy will be battling Inter Miami for second place in the East the final two weeks, and can finish no worse than third place. Miami (17-7-8, 59 points) is three points behind after beating New England 4-1 on Oct. 4, and have a makeup game Oct. 11. Cincinnati clinches second place with a win Oct. 18 and would win any tie with Miami for the spot.

There are three teams in the Western Conference, San Diego, Vancouver and LAFC, who can finish ahead of Cincinnati for home-field in a potential MLS Cup final.

Kevin Denkey scored the winning goal in the 12th minute. He took a pass at midfield from the left side from Brenner, dribbled without resistance for about 30 yards, then fired a laser under the crossbar from about 30 yards.

“They get behind the ball very well, and run and play well in transition, all of it,” said FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan. “It's tough to break down and it took one special moment from Kevin to change the game. Certainly an important win at a crucial time.”

Evan Louro posted the shutout against his former team, his first career MLS clean sheet. It was his fourth consecutive start as Roman Celentano remained out of the lineup with injury. He did not make the trip to New Jersey.

“It's cool, obviously. It’s a cool little thing, but at the end of the day, I don't really care where it is,” Louro said. “Credit to the guys, they fought with me, and it was a real team effort today. We were under a lot of pressure. They were a good team.”

Louro made numerous tough saves as the Red Bulls had 10 corner kicks. On one late sequence, the Red Bulls had two shots hit the post on the same possession in the 83rd minute.

Louro credited the players in front of him for putting their bodies on the line to block the ball.

Cincinnati posted its 10th shutout of the season. The club improved its record to 18-1-3 when scoring first this season and 13-0-2 when leading at halftime.

“I’m really happy for Evan, especially with the clean sheet here,” Noonan said. “I know there's a lot of support there in the stands for him. He's been consistent with his starts. I think from distribution to making the saves when we need him to. I thought he handled the crossing moments well, especially on the set pieces. They put a lot of numbers around him and he was able to do a good job of working his way through that to get his hand on a few of those, because those are tough plays. So just a strong performance. Well-deserved shutout for him and our group, defensively.”

Player Notes

Teenage Hadebe and Alvas Powell started as outside center backs in the game. Lukas Engel started at left wingback.

Noonan said that defender Matt Miazga had a setback in his recovery from a leg injury Oct. 2 and would be out another three to four weeks, which leaves his availability for the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs in question.

Denkey picked up a yellow card in the first half, meaning he will be suspended for the regular season finale Oct. 18 against Montreal due to card accumulation.

What’s next for FC Cincinnati?

After next week’s international break, Cincinnati will host Montreal on Decision Day 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18 at TQL Stadium. Miami will host Atlanta in a makeup game Oct. 11, then play at Nashville Oct. 18 on Decision Day.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati shuts out NY Red Bulls for 19th win of the season