1: Doing Enough

Saturday's 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union might have felt like a throw back to any number of wins last year.

The first half wasn't great. The Orange and Blue have struggled against press happy teams like Philadelphia, and even with Pavel Bucha and Sami Gidi providing some passing in midfield, breaking down a compact, aggressive Philadelphia defense without Evander was always going to be a challenge.

After the game, manager Pat Noonan said, "Philly just does a really good job of defending compact and step into the ball collectively. You don't get a lot of gaps in space, and when you do, you have to technically be clean." He continued, "You have to have ideas on one touch, two touch to break pressure, more creativity to break pressure to then open up space and open up the game, and we didn't do that very well in the first half."

Too often in the first half, FCC just didn't have the answers - or the ability - to pry open the Union's defensive structure with the ball. Add in some turnovers in dangerous positions trying to play through Philly's pressure and the Orange and Blue were more or less hanging on. At the break, according to Fotmob data, FCC had conceded 10 shots worth a total of 0.69 expected goals while generating just two shots with a value of 0.06 xG.

The second half was a slightly different story. With Evander replacing Gidi at halftime, the Orange and Blue looked more fluid. FCC did a better job limiting the Union's chances, surrendering just five shots after the break, with a combined xG of 0.39, while creating - and capitalizing on - the biggest chance of the afternoon, leading to the game's only goal.

So even if the scoreline (and relatively ugly nature of the game) felt familiar, FCC's defensive effort was solid. It was buoyed by some timely shot stopping from Roman Celentano (more on him later), but for the most part, the Orange and Blue did a good job limiting Philadelphia's opportunities. That just wasn't really the case for much of last season. Sometimes soccer teams have to win ugly, and Saturday afternoon's result was one of those.

2: Playoff Bound

With the win, the Orange and Blue clinched a return to the playoffs for the fifth straight season. For a team that had just about the worst start to MLS existence that a team can have, it's worth taking a moment to enjoy just how successful the last handful of seasons have been. As a watcher of a variety of Cincinnati-based sports teams, a team that consistently reaches the postseason is worth enjoying and celebrating.

Noonan said, "while it might not have been where we would have liked to start the year, it's still very important and a great accomplishment for these players, for this club and fans."

I've been on the record as a being skeptical about how successful this roster building and general tactical approach can and will be over the long term. And there's room for nuance, something acknowledged by Noonan after the game.

He said, "I would love it to be special with us being the top team in the league, but that's not the reality. The reality is we've clinched for five straight years, and that was the goal from the beginning. And in a lot of ways, we've achieved things that we want to, but we know that we're trying to achieve more."

There will be plenty of time to debate the team's approach in the offseason. But the team has a chance to make some noise in the playoffs. If you want to earn a star over the crest, the first step is getting to the playoffs and the Orange and Blue have given themselves another chance.

3: Roman Steps Up

Saturday afternoon was also a vintage Roman Celentano shot stopping day, something we haven't seen a ton of to this point in 2026. Playing goal keeper against the Union isn't an easy task. Celentano was tested on set pieces and his excellent reflex save at the far post to deny Nathan Harriel kept the score level in the first half in a big spot.

I wrote about Celentano's pretty rough start to the season in August, but there might be hope he's trending in the right direction at a time when the games are most important.

There's a caveat here: the clean sheets help a lot and how exactly you apportion credit for those between the defense and goal keeper matters. But there's no denying that on Saturday, Celentano stepped up in a couple of big moments to keep the Union off the scoreboard.

If that improvement continues, or even just stays consistent, FC Cincinnati will be a much tougher out of the playoffs than they looked to be even just a couple of weeks ago.