Due to injuries, suspensions, and other absences, FC Cincinnati manager Pat Noonan has relied on the youth of the roster over the last month or so to plug holes, and it's given Dado Valenzuela an opportunity - one that he's taken advantage of.

Valenzuela entered the 2026 season as a player without a clear path to consistent starting minutes. He's been an attacking player throughout his time with FCC and that's where he figured to contribute this year, too.

I think it's useful to remember how General Manager Chris Albright talked about Valenzuela's 2025, and looked ahead to 2026 at his end of season press conference:

"Dado is a 10, and that's a credit to Dado, there's not a lot of young American 10s that can produce goals and assists like he can produce. Earlier in the year, we looked at, we played a lot with two 10s and that probably got him on the field a bit more. But when we when we talk about evolving and smothering teams at home and having the level of production that I or our ownership expects, the two 10 system wasn't giving us that and wasn't complimenting maybe Evander and Kévin and so we'll continue to find ways for him to get on the field. Credit to Dado in our end of the year meeting. He said, will, you know, will you consider me late in the games to play wing back so I can get on the field? And so that's the sign of a kid that's hungry and is going to continue to develop."

It's hard to argue with his on-field production in 2026. When Valenzuela is on the field, he tends to find the ball in dangerous spots. In 1,000 minutes last year, he scored five goals and assisted another. His advanced creation numbers were solid, too. Valenezuela's 0.49 non-penalty expected goals plus expected assists (NPxG+xA) per 96 minutes ranked fourth on the team in 2025, trailing only Brenner, Kévin Denkey, and Evander. Pretty good company, right?

However, Valenzuela doesn't really do the other stuff FCC needs its primary attacking midfielder to do on a regular basis. Valenzuela hasn't yet been a consistent engine to move the ball forward into dangerous positions. He's also not especially ball dominant, another trait needed to make the Orange and Blue's style of play hum given the team's formational and roster preferences. It's this lack of production doing the non-shot generating stuff that lead me to posit Valenzuela might be most effective playing next to Denkey up top as a striker in 2026.

In 2026, it's been as a deeper lying midfielder, not at wing back closing games or striker, where Valenzuela has emerged lately as a very real option for the Orange and Blue.

American Soccer Analysis' net Goals Added absolutely adores Valenzuela's performance so far this season, ranking him second in MLS among central midfielders who have played at least 500 minutes, trailing only Inter Miami's Rodrigo de Paul. Some of that is likely due to a misclassification of his positioning early in the season but still, by the more advanced numbers, Valenzuela has had some monstrous games playing as a deeper lying midfielder.

Let's start with the star of the show, which, to be honest, was totally surprising to me: Valenzuela's defensive value.

Defensively Good, But...

Across the four games Valenzuela has started in a more reserved midfield role, the Orange and Blue conceded eight goals.

You can see it show up during the game, too. Valenzuela is playing much more as a box-to-box midfielder, joining Evander forward in midfield to press opponents in certain situations, but dropping deeper in possession. He's an energetic and willing presser, harrying opponents in their defensive third and pushing them into making bad decisions or winning the ball outright.

Valenzuela's defensive ability in his own box has been a positive, as well. It'd certainly be better if there was less work to do in that part of the field, but he's come up with some important clearances and blocks when needed.

His defensive effort clearly hasn't led to the team conceding fewer goals, with the exception to FCC's 2-0 clean sheet effort against the Red Bulls. Still, Valenzuela has been in position to make important defensive interventions. It'd be great if there were fewer interventions to make, but he's been surprisingly valuable to the team as a midfielder with more defensive responsibilities over the past month.

A New Element

The numbers behind Valenzuela's offensive contributions are a little less pronounced, but there are plenty of positives that he's brought to the midfield, and his presence has had positive knock on effects elsewhere on the field.

Playing further from goal, Valenzuela remains a midfielder who doesn't really push the ball forward, even when starting deeper on the field. Twelve progressive actions in more than 300 minutes certainly isn't great.

It's Valenzuela's non-progressive actions that only show up as a completed pass or carry that make the Orange and Blue more fluid with the ball. When partnered with Samuel Gidi as a double pivot in possession, FCC has two players comfortable playing in tight spaces and on the half-turn. Valenzuela isn't a ball stopper. He can receive a pass in midfield from a center back and not have to play it back that way when pressure arrives. Even if he isn't splitting lines all that often, he's moving the ball to unbalance opposing defenses.

That lack of progression matters less with Pavel Bucha's deputizing at right wing back. The Gidi-Valenzuela sometimes double pivot in central midfield probably doesn't work quite as well if it didn't coincide without that change.

Bucha doesn't have nearly the dynamism on the ball that Ender Echenique does, but he's a much better passer. And FCC has lacked passing options consistently for years. Even if he's not able to get to the end line like Echenique, Bucha's ability to find teammates in the right half space has helped FCC's attacking play.

Echenique can be an incredibly dangerous attacker, but Bucha is clearly the better passer. For a team that has struggled with that seemingly very simple, yet incredibly difficult, soccer skill, getting just one more solid passer on the field has paid dividends.

Playing Valenzuela deeper in midfield hasn't answered the still outstanding questions about where he's best on the field, either. Also, this isn't to say that the Orange and Blue's issues in possession are suddenly solved, but Valenzuela's comfort on the ball gives the Orange and Blue a vital dimension with the ball both in possession and in the final third. And his defensive resiliency, both in his own box and pressing, at least raises the question if Dado Valenzuela's long-term fit in Orange and Blue will be further from the opposing goal.