After a bleak August (three losses), FC Cincinnati has bounced back with wins against Nashville SC and the Los Angeles Galaxy to put themselves back in contention for the top spot in the Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield race.

Cincinnati (18-9-4, 58 points) is in second place in the Eastern Conference, trailing Philadelphia by two points entering the weekend. Philadelphia is also in the lead for the Supporters’ Shield.

Sunday, Cincinnati will host Orlando City in a matchup between two Eastern Conference teams currently in the MLS Cup Playoffs if the season ended today. There’s also a strong possibility this could be a first-round matchup in the Playoffs.

In their first trip to play the Galaxy in Los Angeles last Saturday, FC Cincinnati got out to a quick 2-0 lead and hung on for a 3-2 win after a late Galaxy rally.

With the win, Cincinnati now has back-to-back seasons of double-digit road wins. They won Saturday despite not having starting goalkeeper Roman Celentano.

“Roman’s making good progress,” FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said. “I’m not sure if we’ll use him this week just based on, you know, where he’s at, where we’re at, we want to make sure that he’s 100 percent in everything that he does so there’s no hesitation.”

Orlando City (14-7-9, 51 points) are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, one of eight teams with 50 or more points in the conference. They’re coming off a fourth-place finish in the Leagues Cup, and their most recent MLS regular-season game was a 3-2 home win over Nashville SC last Saturday.

“It was a huge team win,” forward Duncan McGuire said. “We’ve thought about it this week, that basically each game is a playoff game.”

This is Orlando’s sixth season in MLS, and it has qualified for the Playoffs in each of its first five.

Sunday’s matchup will feature two of Major League Soccer’s best scorers: Orlando midfielder Martin Ojeda (16 goals) and Cincinnati midfielder Evander (17 goals).

Cincinnati beat Orlando 2-1 in a road match on June 28.

–Field Level Media