Inter Miami was unable to maintain the streak. Coming off five consecutive MLS victories, the squad was halted cold in a 3–0 defeat against FC Cincinnati. Messi and Suárez hardly made an impact. The spotlight quickly switched and it belonged to Evander. The Brazilian scored twice and drew near to the pinnacle of Cincinnati all-time lists.
The win leaves Cincinnati at 45 points and second in the Eastern Conference. It also extends their own, they've now beaten Inter Miami at home for four straight seasons. Miami is fourth at 38 points with three games in hand, but this one will sting.
Evander keeps on climbing with goal-scoring that matters
What Evander's doing now doesn't occur by happenstance. With the two goals in this game, he's now scored in five consecutive games — something no one else has ever achieved in Cincinnati history. He's got 17 goals on the year, 15 league, and is now only a few away from shattering the club's single-season records.
He's also on a rare short list of five multi-objective game players in a season, matching what Brenner did in 2022. The numbers are the narrative, but so is the timing. When Messi was silent, Evander filled the gap and took over quietly.
Cincinnati took advantage and shut it out
The breakthrough was achieved on 16 minutes. Orellano ran on down the left, beat Weigandt and played it through to Valenzuela, who found the net easily at the back post. It was his fifth of the season.
Evander doubled the lead early in the second half, on a pass from Bucha within the box. All it took was one move to clear out some space to shoot. Later, in the 70th minute, he put home a rebound after Orellano's shot was blocked, securing the third.
It was not a question of scoring. Cincinnati was not giving Miami much to work with. This was their seventh shutout of the season, and it came against the team that had the best scoring average since May. That says a lot about how well they were prepared.