After losing all five of their previous matches (D2, L3), FC Cincinnati defeated Orlando City in 2022 with victories over both teams. From 2019 to 2021, Cincinnati’s only three-match winning streak against a single opponent in MLS history was against CF Montreal.
With their 1-0 victory over the Red Bulls on Saturday, Orlando City maintained their unbeaten record in season openers, even though it was only the Lions’ third consecutive victory (D6). Orlando’s only previous start to a season with consecutive victories was in 2017.
The longest streak in FC Cincinnati’s history occurred in 2022, when it went unbeaten (W2 D4) in its final six road games of the regular season. In fact, Cincinnati lost only two of its final 14 regular season road games last year (W5 L7), tied with CF Montreal for the fewest losses in Major League Soccer since that stretch began in mid-April.
From the penalty spot, Orlando’s only goal in Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Red Bulls came from Facundo Torres. This was his fifth regular-season game with a goal since last year. Sacha Kljestan and Yoshimar Yotun’s streak of six games in 2018 was the longest in club history.
D. C. United’s Luciano Acosta scored his only MLS hat trick in 2018 against Orlando City. Since joining FC Cincinnati in 2021, Acosta has assisted on three of the team’s four goals against Orlando, including setting up Brenner for the game’s only goal in June 2022.
