When FC Cincinnati lost the 2023 Eastern Conference final to Columbus Crew, it felt in some ways like Cincinnati lost something it could never get back.
How could FC Cincinnati ever settle the matter with Columbus in the years to come when equivalent circumstances would be impossible to replicate? That season was FCC’s best ever, complete with 20 regular-season wins, a Supporters’ Shield trophy and a trip to MLS Cup on the line in that 3-2 extra-time loss Dec. 2, 2023.
Fast forward to this season and FC Cincinnati had a chance to close out its 2025 Eastern Conference first-round series against Columbus on Nov. 2. Not unlike the catastrophic ending to the 2023 east finale, the game eventually went wrong and turned ugly. The Crew won, 4-0. Midfielder Yuya Kubo received a red card. It was a calamitous defeat, and the kind that could ultimately beat Cincinnati again on another day if it didn’t respond correctly.
The chance to respond arrives Nov. 8 at TQL Stadium. There, almost two full years on from the fateful defeat of 2023, FC Cincinnati and Columbus will decide their Eastern Conference, best-of-three series (6 p.m.). Revenge for 2023 doesn’t seem far off at all − if Cincinnati can pull it off. If they don’t, an open wound will continue to ooze and fester.
How the FC Cincinnati-Columbus Crew series ended up here
Cincinnati opened the series with Columbus in a 1-0 victory Oct. 27. Roman Celentano starred with three saves. Kevin Denkey thrashed a game-winner home from close range in 78th minute. The game was tense. Both clubs seemed risk-averse. Cincinnati did what it needed to do in a typical MLS playoff game between familiar foes.
Nov. 2 was, as FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan told MLSSoccer.com, the worst defeat of his Cincinnati tenure.
“We’ll be moving on,” Noonan said post-match on Nov. 2. “Of course, there’s always lessons. But we won’t analyze much of the game where we’re down for 60 plus minutes.”
Columbus successfully made strategic adjustments from Game 1 to Game 2, and FC Cincinnati failed early on Nov. 2 to respond. Game 3 promises to be another game of adjustments, and that will likely require an early feeling-out period.
“You can’t go after it scared or you don’t have a chance,” Noonan said Nov. 6. “Take the lessons from the last two games and not going back to years past. We know what the results were in those moments, but different group, different opportunity and I think everybody knows what’s at stake.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Can FC Cincinnati finally put Columbus Crew away in the MLS Cup playoffs?
Reporting by Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
