FC Cincinnati defender Kyle Smith has urged his team-mates to "keep TQL Stadium" a fortress when they welcome Orlando City on Saturday.

Cincinnati have won 10 points from their first six home games of the season, and a win over Orlando would see them have the fourth-best home record in the Eastern Conference.

However, Cincinnati are winless in three games (D2 L1), leaving them ninth in the East, one place and three points above Orlando.

In what is their final game ahead of the World Cup, Smith, who spent seven seasons with Orlando, wants to enter the break on a positive note.

"We need to keep TQL Stadium a fortress and win at home," Kyle Smith continued.

"The fans will help us with that as well. Being loud, they always bring the intensity. But we're not going to let any team come in here and have an easy game."

Head coach Pat Noonan added: "I don't know if it's fully set in that after this game there'll be such a long break, but we've just tried to focus on getting to the break in the best way possible.

"We'll try to go into this game the best way possible, and then go into the break on a little bit of a high."

Orlando, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to three games (W2 D1) with a U.S. Open Cup quarter-final win over Atlanta United.

A first-half rout saw Orlando claim a 4-1 victory at home, with the Columbus Crew awaiting in the semi-finals.

Orlando interim head coach Martin Perelman said: "I'm happy, of course, with the result but also with the performance.

"More than anything, I'm happy for our group of players because they put in a huge effort every day. Not just now, from the very beginning, they have been fighting, and I'm glad they were able to deliver a performance like this. 

"I'm happy to move forward in this competition and to put the team in the semi-finals, which is important for us and for the club. I'm happy for our fans because they deserve it."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

FC Cincinnati – Evander

Evander provided a pair of assists for Cincinnati in their road draw at San Diego FC last weekend, his sixth career game with multiple assists since joining MLS in 2023.

Only Lionel Messi (nine) and Cristian Espinoza (eight) have more multi-assist games in that time.

Orlando City – Martin Ojeda

With an assist last weekend, Martin Ojeda brought his career totals to 35 goals and 35 assists in the regular season since 2023.

He joins Hany Mukhtar, Evander and Messi as one of four players to record 35+ goals and 35+ assists during that time.

MATCH PREDICTION – FC CINCINNATI WIN

Cincinnati and Orlando City played out a draw and one-goal game in 2025. Only three of the previous 13 meetings have been decided by multiple goals, with two of those meetings coming in their first three matches in the series.

However, there could be plenty of goals this time around.

Cincinnati have scored multiple goals in seven straight matches. Only Los Angeles FC in 2025 (nine games) and the Portland Timbers in 2023 and 2024 (eight each) have had longer streaks within a single season this decade.

Orlando have scored 15 goals in their last six matches after scoring six in their first eight games of the season. Despite the form, the Lions have struggled on the road, scoring seven goals in seven games, with four coming at Inter Miami and just three coming in their other six road matches.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

FC Cincinnati – 57.4%

Draw – 20.5%

Orlando City – 22.1%