FC Cincinnati season review: Was 2023 a success?
In Cincinnati, the 2023 Major League Soccer season is just a memory now. Exactly how it's remembered is a matter locals will likely be grappling with for months.
In 2023, FC Cincinnati tasted true, elite-level soccer for the first time and enjoyed all the trappings that accompanied its consistently dominant play. The club claimed its first major trophy, the Supporters' Shield, sent three players to the MLS All-Star game midseason and raked in further awards and recognition after its 20-win regular-season campaign was finished.
In cup play, FC Cincinnati made big waves but ultimately came up empty-handed over three separate competitions and, most notably, in the MLS Cup playoffs.
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FC Cincinnati is now in the midst of an offseason that will feel a little colder and look a little darker for its fans after the playoffs ended with a stunning defeat to arch-rival Columbus Crew. After winning the Shield but losing to the Crew, as well as in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal, we weigh the pros and cons of the most memorable season in FCC history.
But was the season a success? And if so, to what degree?
2023 by the numbers
46 matches (all competitions)
26 wins (all competitions)
26-6-14 all-competitions record
First Supporters’ Shield (for the best record in MLS) in club history
12 matches in cup competitions (6-1-5 record)
3-2 record in penalty-kicks (all competitions; club record for most PK shootouts in a season)
80 goals scored (all competitions)
53 goals conceded (all competitions)
Five players with at least five goals (Acosta 17, Vazquez 8, Badji 5, Barreal 5, Boupendza 5)
Seven players with at least four goals (Above-mentioned plus Moreno 4, Santos 4).
16 shutouts (all competitions)
Three MLS All-Stars (single-season club record)
Five major MLS postseason individual awards (Luciano Acosta – MVP; Defender of the Year – Matt Miazga; Coach of the Year – Pat Noonan; Best XI - Acosta, Miazga)
Five matches, or almost 11% of FC Cincinnati's entire 2023 schedule, were against New York Red Bulls
Season sweeps of four Eastern Conference foes: Inter Miami CF, Toronto FC, NYCFC, Nashville SC
No wins in 2023 against these Eastern Conference teams: New England Revolution, Orlando City SC.
The days that decided FC Cincinnati's 2023 season: July 15 and Nov. 4
Two days stick out from FC Cincinnati’s 2023 season and we’ll take them in chronological order starting with July 15.
East- and Shield-leading FCC played second-place Nashville SC at TQL Stadium on that date. Cincinnati romped to a 3-1 victory, capping a 9-1-3 stretch that pushed the club’s overall league record to 15-2-6 and 51 points. This was FC Cincinnati at its absolute best. It was likely the period that effectively won it the Shield. And beyond that, no trophy seemed out of the club's reach. Cincinnati was tracking toward the conversation of best MLS teams ever.
But FC Cincinnati peaked too soon. July 15 was the team's high-water mark for 2023.
Through the end of the MLS regular season on Oct. 21, FCC finished 6-3-6 across all competitions. It fell well short in Leagues Cup. The U.S. Open Cup semifinal against Lionel Messi's Inter Miami CF went down as a collapse and epic disappointment. Cincinnati clinched the Shield but even that was closer than anticipated in the end. The club didn't look or feel untouchable anymore.
And that brings us to Nov. 4, which was a night FC Cincinnati looked like the best version of itself again − until the night unraveled and irrevocably altered the club’s MLS Cup playoff run.
Nov. 4 was the close-out game of the first-round playoff series against New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena. The game was brutally physical, and a scrappy FCC paid a steep price for its win in penalty kicks. Obinna Nwobodo, one of the club's most important players, exited the match with an injury he wouldn’t fully recover from the rest of the postseason. And after the game, the controversial and still-debated Matt Miazga events occurred.
Afterward, Miazga spoke to The Enquirer about how much he disagreed with the suspension he’d face for yellow-card accumulation, which he triggered that night. But he’d eventually have to serve a second suspension, along with other sanctions, after MLS investigated accusations of him entering the referees’ locker room before FC Cincinnati departed Red Bull Arena.
Without Miazga and Nwobodo available, a pall was cast over the rest of the playoffs. FC Cincinnati barely survived the conference semifinal against Philly Union, which papered over the problems. It all seemed to catch up with FCC in the conference final against Columbus. Cincinnati led the match and probably should have closed it out, but they weren't the better team. The Crew eventually made sure the final score reflected that.
July 15 and Nov. 4 – two nights during the 2023 season that were remarkable and unforgettable. The first date told of the club's full capabilities, as well as what might have been months down the road. Even in victory, Nov. 4 was the beginning of the end of the historic season.
The cup semifinal stumbling block is fixable
Fair or unfair, FC Cincinnati's 46-match 2023 is being reduced to two results − the two blown 2-0 leads in Open Cup and conference final. Admittedly, they are hard to overlook.
The leads were squandered, and squandered late. Cincinnati left trophies on the table as a result, and they were trophies the club was favored to win − especially in the Open Cup.
Win just one of those two competitions and FC Cincinnati is in the discussion for greatest seasons in MLS history. Now, it's just another Shield winner that found a way to not deliver in the playoffs. How can you not mourn that? You could even suggest the semifinal losses took some of the shine off the Shield triumph. That's fair game to question.
The cup semifinal losses also seemed to leave many with the impression there were deep-rooted problems about the team’s ability to perform, coach, build a team, and brace for the pressure-cooker moments that inevitably arise during any cup competition.
FC Cincinnati proved to be one of the MLS elites in 2023 but it wasn't a finished product, and maybe we shouldn't have expected it to be. After all, Cincinnati's first taste of success in MLS was in 2022 − a fifth-place finish in the east that required a Decision Day win to lock up a playoff spot. And even though Cincinnati was fit to outlast the rest of MLS over the 34-match marathon this year, that doesn't necessarily mean it knew how to close up cup competitions after winning just two cup matches in all of 2022.
The Enquirer sees the semifinal losses more as growing pains for what should be an ascendant FC Cincinnati that must, and can, improve in all of those capacities for 2024 − on-field performance, management/coaching, roster building, and handling adversity on the biggest stages.
FC Cincinnati took a huge jump from Year One to Year Two under the current regime. This team doesn't need a vast personnel overhaul or more giant steps forward to address the deficiencies that came to light in the cup semifinals.
To panic now is to think the club hit its ceiling and can't go any higher based on those semifinals, but it can go higher. Small tweaks might be all it takes.
Everything that went wrong in the cup semifinals is correctable. The semifinal stumbling block can be fixed. The story of 2024 will more than likely be told by how FC Cincinnati grew (or didn't grow) from those two losses.
Superlatives: The bests and worsts of 2023
The best win: FC Cincinnati 2, New York Red Bulls 1 on July 12 − FC Cincinnati was on the road at Red Bull Arena and without head coach Pat Noonan, who was away for his father's funeral. Assistant coach and seasoned MLS deck hand Dominic Kinnear was in charge for the game. FCC fell behind in the first half but scored twice in the final 10 minutes to steal the win (and three days later was that Nashville match discussed above). This win was a night when it felt like anything and everything was possible for Cincinnati.
The best draw: FC Cincinnati 3, Chicago Fire 3 on March 18 − Man, would it have been easy for FC Cincinnati to just write this game off, burn the tape and forget it ever happened. FCC trailed, 3-1, at Soldier Field on a night when temps were well-below freezing, snow squalls were passing through the area and the wind was howling off of Lake Michigan. Not to mention, Luciano Acosta was hurt. But Acosta came on late and sparked the club to two late goals to steal a 3-3 draw. There couldn't have been more than 8,000 fans in the stadium and it was far from a glamorous MLS occasion. For the few paying attention, this game was an early indicator of the kind of fight Cincinnati would bring to practically every game in 2023.
The worst loss: Columbus Crew 3, FC Cincinnati 2 on Saturday − Well, that's an obvious one, isn't it?
The second-worst loss: FC Cincinnati 1, St. Louis City SC 5 − This was one of just a couple nights in 2023 when FC Cincinnati was non-competitive from the opening whistle. Making it worse was that the game carried on into the late night hours due to a weather delay that featured a tornado warning in the immediate area of the stadium. Bad night.
The best goal: Alvaro Barreal vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds − Puskas Award nominee? Yes please. Watch it again here. With all due respect to Lucho Acosta's MLS Goal of the Year versus Charlotte FC, of course.
The most clutch goal: Aaron Boupendza vs. Toronto FC on Sept. 30 −The Supporters' Shield clincher.
The Enquirer’s final verdict on the 2023 season
The Enquirer spoke with FC Cincinnati General Manager Chris Albright on Clearwater Beach in February for the annual season preview, which published Feb. 24 and was titled: "FC Cincinnati 2023 MLS preview: 'Getting back to the playoffs' would signal FCC's arrival."
The club certainly arrived. It made the playoffs with almost two months to spare in the regular season, and clinched the Supporters' Shield with weeks still to play. And suffice it to say that parties on both ends of that beachside interview in February sold short what ultimately proved to be possible for FCC in 2023.
Albright, perhaps in an effort to frame and manage expectations, said the following of the season to come: "I think to show we’ve arrived, so to speak, there’s got to be some consistency, some sustainability, and you do that by getting back to the playoffs." FCC cleared that bar comfortably.
As for The Enquirer's preseason take on 2023, we had some loftier goals in mind and called for:
A fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference (FC Cincinnati won the Supporters' Shield as the top regular-season club in the entire league)
The U.S. Open Cup semifinal (check)
Progressing out of the group stage of Leagues Cup (check)
And ultimately, a loss to Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference final (not quite how it played out but elements of that were in the ballpark)
Prior to the season, many fans would have settled for another playoff berth. Or perhaps one step further in the postseason. Certainly, most fans would have cashed out if the Shield was offered to them.
Obviously, there was a great deal more on the table in the end and everyone got a little greedy. And to be clear, that's fine. FC Cincinnati made those opportunities for itself through hard-won results, seizing on a lot of that opportunity and positioning itself for more with moves like the transfer acquisition of Aaron Boupendza, which proved to be effective
No Shield tells us Cincy succeeded in 2023 while the Cup semifinals suggest the club isn't ready for the big stage. But all of this − the entire regular season and the deep cup runs − was uncharted territory for FC Cincinnati. From likely playoff contender to sudden treble hopeful? No club can realistically brace itself for such a rapid ascent and the heightened expectations on-the-fly.
The lack of experience on the big stages showed at times. It was most evident in the cup semifinal losses where FC Cincinnati blew two 2-0 leads. And yet, FC Cincinnati was right on the cusp in both contests. Also, FCC did close out the Shield, which is a different kind of close-out mentality that it pretty much mastered on the first try.
So, look at what FC Cincinnati still accomplished, even without the wealth of experience − experience in building a team deep enough to compete for three trophies, experience in managing the high-leverage, in-game moments all cup competitions produce, and experience in the players of knowing how to close out the biggest games.
To lose two cup semifinals, especially when one of them was the final match of 2023, felt like the end of something great. But on the contrary, it should be the start of something great. Big picture, 2023 was FC Cincinnati just beginning to push its championship window open. They'll be expected to kick the window all the way in next year and in 2025. That won't come easy, but FCC is so much closer to the summit today than it was a year ago.
From a team that in summer 2015 was essentially a "mom and pop" startup to being in position to reach the MLS mountaintop in 2024 is remarkable. For so much of that progress to have happened over the last two seasons is also impressive, as well as indicative the current championship window is still open.
FC Cincinnati isn't going anywhere, and 2023 was the opening statement after peeking its collective head through that championship window. Even factoring for the cup losses, FC Cincinnati improved in 2023 and was therefore a success. Add in the club's first major trophy? It was a great success.
Not only was FC Cincinnati restored to respectability beyond any doubt, casting aside the cloud of three consecutive last place finishes once and for all, but FCC is now a truly elite club in the MLS ranks.
This is what Jeff Berding, Carl Lindner III, Dan McNally and Jeff Smith dreamed FC Cincinnati could be.
The table is set for for 2024. Please, FCC community, take your seats.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati season review: Was 2023 a success?
