FC Cincinnati had a new offensive hero for the second game in a row and won its third-straight Major League Soccer game Saturday night.
One week after Sergio Santos scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over New England, Gerardo “Dado” Valenzuela scored his first of the season in the first half. Then, the Orange and Blue held off a flurry of chances in the second half to shut out DC United 1-0 at Audi Field.
The Orange and Blue, 5-2-1 overall, end the night with 16 points and temporarily tied for first in points in the Eastern Conference with Charlotte before Columbus (15 pts) and Miami (14) have road games on Sunday. Charlotte has the goal-differential tiebreaker by five over FC Cincy.
DCU lost its fourth straight, falling to 1-4-3 (6 points).
Valenzuela, the 20-year old homegrown player from Florida, scored his first goal of the season and second as a member of FC Cincinnati.
In the 28th minute, after Kévin Denkey forced a turnover at midfield, he got the ball to Valenzuela in transition. Valenzuela dribbled past two DC United players before meeting two defenders in the middle of the goal box.
Valenzuela took a quick pivot to his right, getting the ball away from the two defenders and firing a laser past DC United keeper Luis Barraza.
He was making his first start of the season as the Orange and Blue were missing four regular starters, including playmakers Evander and Yuya Kubo up front.
"I’m happy that he got the goal because that was important for him and for the team," said FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan. "He got a plus rating because he scores the goal and he does some other things well that I hadn’t seen enough of prior. And he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities so hopefully he can build on this."
DCU came into the match allowing 17 goals in seven games, three more than any other MLS team. That included 12 conceded in the previous three losses, six last weekend against San Jose.
In response, the home team swapped out four starters from the San Jose loss. One of the new starters was the keeper Barraza, making his first start since August 2023, which was also against FC Cincinnati when he played for New York City FC.
The changes didn’t help early, as the Orange and Blue had a couple of dangerous chances and twice a DCU backliner nearly passed the ball back into his own goal.
The second time, about 14 minutes in, Barraza had to scramble to kick the ball away just before it crossed the goal line.
Early in the game, Valenzuela found Lukas Engel in transition, with Engel forcing Barraza into a tough save.
