February 26 – It was a miserable evening for the Dominican Republic’s O&M at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati who shipped nine unanswered goals to the MLS side.
FC Cincinnati were rampant and merciless as they took the series 13-nil on aggregate, and now advance to meet Tigres UNAL in the last 16.
Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan made six changes to the starting 11 that won 4-0 in Santiago de los Caballeros last week, resting the standout spine of his team, goalkeeper Roman Celentano, centre back Miles Robinson and Brazilian central midfielder Evander.
They weren’t needed and although O&M had some good periods of possession, they offered little threat to an attack minded Cincinnati team that had 24 shots on goal;
Their first goal came from a right-footed shot from Kenji Mboma Dem in the 18th minute. Gerardo Valenzuela doubled FC Cincinnati’s lead in the 27th minute an six minutes an already difficult night took a turn for the worse with an own goal from Gabriel Castillo.
Tom Barlow, who scored in the first leg added another on 35 minutes to put Cincinnati 4-0 up at the break and 8-0 up on aggregate.
The floodgates opened further in the second half. Ademar Chavez increased the lead to five with a left-footed volley almost immediately after the restart. Mboma Dem scored his second, and Cincy’s sixth in the 58th minute.
Stiven Jimenez added the seventh 10 minutes later with a right-footed shot from the edge of the area. Alvas Powell added his name to the scoresheet in the 78’.
Stefan Chirila scored the final goal of the evening in the 86’ with a left-footed shot in the box.
FC Cincinnati march into Round of 16, O&M return to the drawing board to lick their now deep wounds.
Champions Cup First Round, second leg: FC Cincinnati 9 O&M 0 (13-0 agg)