Pat Noonan believes his FC Cincinnati side will be "a tough team to play against" in MLS during the second half of the season.

Cincinnati returned from the World Cup break in style, defeating the Western Conference leaders, the Vancouver Whitecaps, 4-3 on Wednesday.

The victory saw Cincinnati, who are unbeaten in their last three MLS games (W2 D1), move up to fifth in the East ahead of their upcoming clash with their Ohio rivals, the Columbus Crew.

While Noonan was delighted with Cincinnati's win over Vancouver, he insisted there is no time to dwell on the victory ahead of Sunday's trip to Columbus.

"It's a quick turnaround, so we don't have a lot of time to feel great about ourselves," said Noonan.

"But winning's better than losing, and you always want to be in control, but that's not always going to be how it plays out.

"So the result is certainly important, and winning against good teams is important. But how we go about it, understanding we're a good attacking side, and when we do the things that we're supposed to do, I think we'll be a tough team to play against.

"We still have to understand the importance of the collective and the discipline in how we defend.

"I think that can take our group to another level. So, hopefully, we can continue to work to get there."

Columbus, meanwhile, returned to MLS action with a 2-1 defeat against New York City on Wednesday.

The loss left the Crew 11th in the East, three points off the play-off spots.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Columbus Crew – Daniel Gazdag

Gazdag scored the Crew’s lone goal in their defeat to NYCFC on Wednesday from the penalty spot.

Gazdag is 26-for-27 (96.3%) on regular-season penalties, the highest conversion rate of any MLS player to take 20 or more career penalties.

FC Cincinnati – Evander

With a goal and an assist on Wednesday, Evander has recorded multiple goal contributions in three straight regular-season matches.

He is the only Cincinnati player to achieve the feat (also once in 2025), and the only player with a longer streak over the last two seasons is Lionel Messi (five straight twice).

MATCH PREDICTION – COLUMBUS CREW WIN

Columbus have lost only one of eight all-time home matches against Cincinnati in all competitions (W5 D2), including a 4–0 win in last year’s playoffs.

Cincinnati have, however, avoided defeat on each of their last two regular-season visits to Columbus, recording a 2–1 win in 2024 and a 1–1 draw in 2025.

Cincinnati’s 4–3 win over Vancouver was their sixth match this season which featured seven or more goals, breaking the MLS single-season record they set themselves in 2022 (five). Cincinnati have won three of those six games (D1 L2) after winning just one of the five in 2022.

Columbus suffered their ninth loss in 16 matches this regular season last time out. The Crew have not lost 10 or more times in a single regular season since suffering 13 defeats in the 2021 campaign.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Columbus Crew – 53.4%

Draw – 21.6%

FC Cincinnati – 25%