Determined Cincinnati Defender Gidi: 'There's No Time to Take a Step Back'

FC Cincinnati defender Samuel Gidi says the team has entered a critical stretch in the push to secure a play-off place, delivering a clear message: "There's no time to take a step back now."

Cincinnati, locked in the Eastern Conference play-off race, sit eighth, level on points with seventh-placed Orlando City. Pat Noonan's side drew 2-2 with Inter Miami in midweek, failing to hold on for the win despite going 2-1 up through Gidi's first goal for the club in the 86th minute.

Cincinnati, who host Philadelphia Union on Saturday, have dropped points in three of their last five matches (2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats). Even so, they remain four points clear of 10th-placed New York Red Bulls, and Gidi has called on his team-mates to pull together in pursuit of the play-off target.

Speaking after the Miami game, Gidi said: "It was a good game, but we're also disappointed because we could have taken all three points. Still, we got a point and we have to keep going. We're a good team. Results haven't gone the way we wanted in recent matches, but we can't take a step back; we have to keep our heads up. We have two games left and six points to play for, and we have to get them."

Philadelphia Union, meanwhile, clinched their play-off place with a goalless draw against Supporters' Shield winners Nashville SC, and can still finish fourth in the conference if they win their two remaining regular-season matches.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

FC Cincinnati – Evander: Evander provided two assists against Miami, taking his tally for the season to 17 and holding on to top spot in the league. The experienced playmaker, who recorded 18 assists for Portland in 2024, became the third player in league history, after Lucho Acosta and Steve Ralston, to reach 17 or more assists in a single season with two different teams.

Philadelphia Union – Bruno Damiani: Damiani has scored 5 goals in 3 career appearances against Cincinnati, finding the net in every one of those games. No other player in league history has scored against Cincinnati in four consecutive regular-season matches.

FORM AND HEAD-TO-HEAD

Cincinnati's draw with Miami was the 20th match this regular season in which at least four goals were scored in their games. The only team in league history to reach a higher figure in a single regular season was the 1997 San Jose Earthquakes (21 matches).

The Union, for their part, became the third team in league history, and the first since the 1999 Miami Fusion, to reach the play-offs despite collecting 10 points or fewer from their first 15 matches of a season.

Over the last three meetings between the two sides, Philadelphia hold a combined 10-1 advantage over their opponents.