Luciano Acosta dominates in 3-1 FC Cincinnati win vs. St. Louis City SC | Replay
If Luciano Acosta has his way, they'll be a healthy debate at the end of the Major League Soccer season about who the league's preeminent Argentinian playmaker is.
Acosta, the reigning Most Valuable Player in MLS, was at his best Saturday against St. Louis City SC as he scored the opening goal of the contest and assisted on two further goals, lifting FC Cincinnati to a 3-1 win in front of 25,513 spectators at TQL Stadium.
The win saw FC Cincinnati win its sixth straight match and move to 9-2-3 in the MLS regular season. Other matches were still in progress at the time of the final whistle in Cincinnati.
Acosta earned a penalty kick and deposited it in the net to open the scoring in the 25th minute. The tally marked his eighth straight contest with a goal contribution, breaking his own club record.
Early in the second half, Acosta served as facilitator for Yuya Kubo, who roofed the ball into the St. Louis net for a 2-0 lead.
The only blight on the night for FC Cincinnati was self-inflicted. An apparent miscommunication between center back and 2023 Defender of the Year, Matt Miazga, and goalkeeper Roman Celentano, led to an empty-net own-goal to make the score 2-1 in the 53rd minute.
St. Louis pressed for an equalizer but Acosta delivered the final blow to St. Louis when he dished across the face of the net for a Sergio Santos tap-in and a 3-1 lead.
Acosta earned his seventh goal of the regular season and moved to nine assists.
The Enquirer will update this report.
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Welcome to Cincinnati.com's live coverage of FC Cincinnati versus St. Louis City SC (7:30 p.m.). Refresh this page throughout the match for live updates and analysis, and follow Enquirer FC Cincinnati beat reporter Pat Brennan on X, formerly Twitter, for further updates (@PBrennanENQ).
Another insurance tally for Cincy (80')
Sergio Santos scored his first league goal of 2024 and his second across all competitions off a feed from Luciano Acosta, who has a goal and two assists (16 goal contributions on the season).
FCC looking to close the game out (75')
FC Cincinnati would certainly welcome another insurance goal but the hour is growing late at TQL Stadium. St. Louis is pushing hard for the equalizer and FCC looks to be laboring to finish this match out.
An own-goal blunder (53')
Matt Miazga was looking for relief and passed the ball back to Roman Celentano. But Celentano wasn't expecting to have the ball returned to him and was directing Miazga to move the ball out to the left wing. With a pace back-pass headed toward the net, Celentano spun his wheels and dove for the ball but it was too far to his left, and it slid straight into the back of FCC's net for 2-1.
An insurance goal for Cincinnati (49')
Luciano Acosta notched his 151st goal contribution when he assisted on Yuya Kubo's fourth goal of the campaign. Kubo roofed ball.
FCC leading at the break
Acosta's goal was the only one of the half. Both clubs fired off six shots but St. Louis' Roman Burki was the busier of the two goalkeepers. Cincinnati has been excellent at closing out one-goal-margin victories. They'll try to do it again in tonight's second half.
An opener for FC Cincinnati (25')
Luciano Acosta was hauled down in the penalty area to earn a penalty-kick, which he took and deposited for a 1-0 lead. Acosta has seven goals and seven assists on the season, 14 goal contributions in total, and he broke his own club record with an eighth consecutive match with a goal and/or an assist.
As of Acosta didn't already own enough FC Cincinnati and MLS history: The goal was Acosta's 150th career regular-season goal contribution, making him the second active player (Kei Kamara) and 15th MLS player all-time to accomplish the feat.
A feeling-out process (23')
We're yet to see a true quality chance as the clubs, both of which are heavily rotated, continue to feel one another out. Some disjointed play is to be expected as St. Louis made seven changes to its starting lineup.
Underway at TQL Stadium (1')
Referee Tim Ford's whistle go the match underway at 7:40 p.m. It's about 80F and a beautiful night for soccer.
FC Cincinnati's, St. Louis' starting lineups
FC Cincinnati starting XI: Roman Celentano (GK), Nick Hagglund, Bret Halsey, Matt Miazga, Ian Murphy, Luca Orellano, Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta (captain), Pavel Bucha, Yuya Kubo, Gerardo Valenzuela.
Cincinnati bench: Alec Kann (GK), Miles Robinson, Kipp Keller, Sergio Santos, Kevin Kelsy, Malik Pinto, Yamil Asad, Isaiah Foster, Stiven Jimenez.
OUT for FC Cincinnati: Aaron Boupendza (jaw), Alvas Powell (hamstring), DeAndre Yedlin (hip). Corey Baird is listed as questionable.
FC Cincy players are wearing white armbands during warmups and during the match vs. STL tonight. The armbands say "IL" in honor of Ilona Löwen, wife of Eduard Löwen, whose wife is battling brain cancer.
— Pat Brennan (@PBrennanENQ) May 18, 2024
St. Louis City SC starting XI: Roman Burki (GK), Joakim Nilsson, Njabulo Boom, Akin Watts, Kyle Hiebert, Nikolas Dyhr, Celio Pompeu, Aziel Jackson, Hosei Kijima, Joao Klauss, Sam Adeniran.
St. Louis bench: Jake Newerski, Tomas Ostrak, Chris Durkin, Eduard Löwen, Indiana Vassilev, Rasmus Alm, Tim Parker, Nokkvi Thorissen, Ben Rundt (GK).
OUT for St. Louis: Anthony Markanich is suspended for the match (red card) and Josh Yaro (hamstring) is out.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Luciano Acosta dominates in 3-1 FC Cincinnati win vs. St. Louis
