Photos: FC Cincinnati Celebrates Its First-Ever Season-Opening Win

There's nothing like starting a new season with a bang – especially in a sold-out venue.

On Feb. 25, FC Cincinnati beat Houston Dynamo FC 2-1 during Cincy's first-ever season opener at home. More than 25,500 fans packed into TQL Stadium for the occasion, watching the team nab its very first season-opening victory. It was the ninth sell-out at TQL Stadium. Scroll down for photos of all the action.

FC Cincinnati saw goals in the 19th minute from forward Sergio Santos and in the 48th from midfielder Obinna Nwobodo, the first goals on the club for both. Overall, players were in early-season form and still finding their footing – something head coach Pat Noonan acknowledged afterwards.

"The positive is that we won, so credit to the group for figuring out a way to walk off the field with three points because it was certainly not our best performance," Noonan said. "And we need to give credit to Houston – they were good today."

"Probably the strongest part of our game tonight was winning balls and in the attacking half and turning that into some chance creation. We'll take the win and try to improve certainly leading into next weekend," the coach added.

Next, FC Cincinnati will head to Exploria Stadium to battle Orlando City SC on March 4 before returning to Cincinnati to take on Seattle Sounders FC on March 11. See FC Cincinnati's full 2023 schedule.

Photos by Ron Valle.