'We need to win' – Noonan wants no excuses against D.C. United

Pat Noonan labelled FC Cincinnati's clash with D.C. United as a must-win after their loss to the Columbus Crew.

Columbus clinched a 2-0 derby victory last time out, leaving Cincinnati in ninth place in MLS' Eastern Conference.

Cincinnati are one of seven teams separated by just six points, with D.C. also not out of the run-in for qualifying for the playoffs.

And Noonan is not looking for any excuses from his team ahead of Wednesday's contest.

"We have D.C. next, and that's the focus," he said after the loss to the Crew.

"How do we position ourselves for a better result?

"Right now, we can talk about stats all we want. We need to win. That's it. We need to win, however that looks, however that feels, we need to win games."

Cincinnati have won just one of their last nine league games.

D.C., on the other hand, have won only one in six.

"We don't need new ideas and strategies," Noonan added. "But if you look at how the games are being played right now structurally, chance creation, we still concede in almost every big moment that we concede or give up.

"I wouldn't say a lot drastically needs to change, other than winning the boxes. That's something that we haven't done.

"You still want to play the game the way we're playing it, but have a little bit more, I would say, game understanding of when you're playing with the league, when you're trailing, when I say urgency of how do we make the most out of specific moments in the game to change an outcome?

"Because there were enough there to finish off some plays, but as a game progresses and you're down, or you've been losing games and things aren't going your way, how do you approach that mentally to either cave or keep pushing."

Players to watch

FC Cincinnati – Evander

Evander has 13 goals and 10 assists in MLS this term.

The Brazilian playmaker ranks joint-sixth for MLS goal involvements in 2026, while his 78 chances created rank second in the competition, behind Carles Gil (81).

D.C. United – Tai Baribo

Baribo, who scored D.C.'s lone goal in their defeat to Orlando City SC on Saturday, has scored in 13 different matches this season, including each of the last two.

The only D.C. players to score in more matches in a single season since 2010 are Christian Benteke (15) in 2024 and Ola Kamara (14) in 2021.

Cincinnati start as favourites

Cincinnati go into the game as favourites.

However, they have conceded 70 goals in MLS this term. It is the third time they have done so (75 in 2019, 74 in 2021), making them the only team in MLS history to have three seasons in which they have shipped at least 70 goals.

D.C. are winless in seven straight away matches (D4 L3). United have won just five of 32 away matches in all competitions since the start of the 2025 season, including two of 15 this year.

United recorded a 2-1 win last May in their last road match against Cincinnati.

In fact, they have just one loss in eight visits to Cincinnati (W4 D3). D.C.'s 1.88 points per match at Cincinnati is their highest points-per-match average on the road against any MLS opponent.