Yerson Mosquera scored his first MLS goal on a header late in the first half and FC Cincinnati protected the lead while recording a 1-0 victory over visiting Inter Miami on Saturday night.
Roman Celentano made three saves while recording his fourth shutout of the season for FC Cincinnati (4-0-2, 14 points). The Orange and Blue moved into first place and are the lone undefeated team in the Eastern Conference.
Inter Miami have lost four straight games and been shut out in three of the matches. Drake Callender made three saves for Miami (2-4-0, 6 points).
FC Cincinnati are 9-1-9 in their last 19 matches dating back to last season.
Mosquera’s goal came in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time.
Alvaro Barreal took the corner kick and sent a left-footed cross toward the net. Mosquera was right there on the doorstep to head the ball, which deflected off the left hand of Callender en route to finding the net.
Miami had an opportunity to tie the score in the 65th minute but Franco Negri’s long left-footed missile smacked the crossbar and went over the net.
Cincinnati had a chance to make it 2-0 in the 79th minute but star Brandon Vazquez bounced a header wide to the left. Vazquez has five career goals in seven matches against Miami.
In the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, Cincinnati again came up empty as Dominique Badji got the ball right in front of the net but sent it over the crossbar.
Cincinnati had an 11-10 edge in shots and put four on target to Miami’s three.
In the first half, Cincinnati’s Brenner had a strong chance in the 33rd minute, but his right-footed blast was knocked over the top of the net by Callender.
Five minutes later, Rodolfo Pizarro was taken down by Cincinnati’s Marco Angulo and Miami was awarded a penalty kick.
But a video review of the play displayed that the contact came from just outside the box and the penalty kick was nullified.
–Field Level Media
