Union advance to Leagues Cup quarterfinals with wild 4-2 win at FC Cincinnati

The Union won 4-2 at FC Cincinnati on Tuesday in the Leagues Cup’s round of 16, in a wild game where all six goals came in the second half.

Mikael Uhre’s eighth tally of the year opened the scoring in the 51st minute, then Tai Baribo doubled the lead in the 61st with his 10th goal in just 15 games in 2024.

Pawel Bucha and DeAndre Yedlin rallied Cincinnati back to 2-2 with goals in the 66th and 80th minutes, and it seemed like the home team would go on to win the game. But late substitute Quinn Sullivan sparked the Union to victory, assisting Baribo’s game-winner in the 82nd and scoring the capper himself in the 84th.

The win was just the Union’s second over Cincinnati in eight games over the last three years. The only other one was in the 2022 playoffs at Subaru Park.

The Union thus advanced to the quarterfinals, where they’ll host Mexico’s Mazatlán at Subaru Park on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). Mazatlán upended Cruz Azul in a penalty-kick shootout after a 2-2 tie, and after Cruz Azul came back late from 2-0 down to tie the score.

The other quarterfinal in the eastern half of the bracket will see the Columbus Crew host New York City FC, after Columbus ousted Inter Miami — surely to the frustration of MLS’s finance department — and NYCFC upset Mexico’s Tigres.

» READ MORE: The Union and FC Cincinnati don’t like each other, no matter how nice they are about it

Uhre put the ball in the net in the fourth minute on a breakaway off a terrific setup pass from Alejandro Bedoya. Unfortunately, he was narrowly offside.

The play was initially a goal, then was overturned after a long video review. Viewers at home initially only saw replays from bad angles for judging the matter. Thankfully, at a stoppage soon afterward, the broadcast helped a bit more, showing a freeze-frame with a virtual offside line like what’s been used at major competitions around the world.

This Leagues Cup is the first time MLS is using any kind of virtual offside technology in games. Previously, replay officials had to be able to look at footage with their own eyes and make a judgment call — which isn’t a bad principle, but gets difficult when there’s no good camera angle to use.

At least from what was shown with that virtual line, the call was correct. But even with that, the camera angle used for the freeze-frame was so far ahead of the play that it made the picture awkward.

Union right back Olivier Mbaizo had to depart in the 38th minute with what looked like a muscle injury in his left leg. He walked off under his own power, and Nathan Harriel replaced him. We’ll have to await the status of the injury.

Other than that, the first half was quite entertaining for being scoreless. There were 17 combined shots (10-7 in Cincinnati’s favor) and 416 completed passes (216-200 in the Union’s favor), all delivered at a breakneck pace.

Cincinnati came closest to scoring when Yuya Kubo hit the post from close range in the 35th minute, set up by former Union forward Sergio Santos. The Union’s best moment other than the offside play came in the 40th, when Bedoya squared for Baribo’s shot into Yedlin’s chest. Jack McGlynn and Harriel got follow-up opportunities, with Harriel shooting just wide left.

» READ MORE: Jack McGlynn and Nathan Harriel bring lessons from the Olympics back to the Union

Cincinnati manager Pat Noonan subbed in playmaker Luciano Acosta at halftime, but the Union scored twice before the reigning MLS MVP could impact one.

Uhre opened the scoring with a pretty finish, and a difficult one. Dániel Gazdag sprung him with an outside-of-the-right-foot pass that spun around Chidozie Awaziem as Uhre sprinted between him and Miles Robinson. Uhre latched on to the ball and pinged a first-time shot low past Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano at the near post.

Gazdag played provider on Baribo’s goal, too, after driving up the middle of the field. When Baribo received the ball, he cut right on Miles Robinson — yes, the longtime U.S. national team centerback — and ripped a 20-yard thunderbolt into the net.

» READ MORE: Union fans voted against the Leagues Cup in their last game, so Tai Baribo brought his own energy to score against Montréal

Acosta finally had his say after that, dribbling around Jack Elliott then forcing a shot that Andre Blake saved. The rebound went back into the fray, and Bucha shot through McGlynn’s legs to get Cincinnati on the board.

Then it was Blake’s turn to shine, with a superb diving stop on Kubo in the 73rd.

Curtin made a double-substitution in the 75th, and surprisingly both entrants were attacking players: Quinn Sullivan for Bedoya and Sam Adeniran for Uhre. The lack of defensive reinforcement seemed to bite when Acosta’s outstanding dribbling once again produced a goal, with Yedlin coming up from right wingback to a striker’s spot near the 6-yard box to cash in.

But Sullivan delivered at the other end in two huge moments after the equalizer. He assisted Baribo’s 18-yard zinger for the lead — a play that had his brother Cavan Sullivan celebrating on the bench — then slammed in the fourth on a second-chance shot after Celentano saved his first.

Curtin finally sent in a defensive reinforcement after that, Leon Flach for McGlynn.

“This has gone off the rails,” Apple’s play-by-play voice Steve Cangialosi said after Sullivan’s tally. Whether you like the Leagues Cup or not, it was hard to disagree.

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