CINCINNATI — FC Cincinnati’s season is not in trouble yet, but its road form is getting harder to ignore.
The Orange and Blue fell 3-1 at CF Montréal on Saturday, dropping to 8-9-9 overall and 1-7-6 away from TQL Stadium. That road record stands in sharp contrast to the past two seasons, when Cincinnati was one of Major League Soccer’s most dependable teams away from home.
The problem is not limited to one bad night. Cincinnati was hammered 4-0 at Nashville on Aug. 29, lost 5-0 at Philadelphia on Sept. 9, drew 2-2 at Houston after needing a stoppage-time penalty to rescue a point, and then lost to a Montréal side that entered the weekend near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
That pattern is problematic because the remaining schedule offers very little margin for error. Cincinnati still has road matches at Atlanta United on Oct. 10, D.C. United on Oct. 24, and Inter Miami on Oct. 28, along with home matches against New England, Columbus, Philadelphia, and Nashville.
The encouraging part is that FCC has shown it can respond when matches start badly. Kévin Denkey has repeatedly delivered in late moments, Evander remains the most dangerous creator in the attack, and the club has already rescued points from seemingly lost positions more than once this season.
But those late rallies can only cover so much.
Pat Noonan has talked openly about Cincinnati’s lack of consistency on the road, and that may be the biggest question facing the club entering October. The Orange and Blue do not need to dominate every away match, but they do need to stop putting themselves in situations where a comeback becomes necessary just to leave with a point.
At home, aside from a few hiccups, Cincinnati has generally looked like a playoff team. Away from home, it has not.
With the postseason race tightening, that difference is becoming far more important.
