Philadelphia 5–0 Cincinnati: Damiani’s hat trick after an early red card

Philadelphia beat Cincinnati 5–0 at Subaru Park on September 9 after the visitors went down to 10 men in the 16th minute. Bruno Damiani scored his first MLS hat trick, with 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan assisting all three goals.

VAR upgraded the opening yellow to red

Cincinnati Soccer Talk described Obinna Nwobodo’s studs-up challenge on Frankie Westfield. Joe Dickerson initially showed yellow, then changed the decision to a straight red after review for a challenge endangering the opponent. Cincinnati faced more than 70 minutes short-handed.

Philadelphia still had to wait for the breakthrough

Quinn Sullivan won a penalty when Evander fouled him near the edge of the area, then converted in the 43rd minute. Three minutes later, Damiani met Cavan Sullivan’s pass inside the box with a first-time close-range finish.

Two more Damiani goals, then Iloski’s penalty

AP placed Damiani’s second goal in the 49th minute and his third in the 61st, a powerful finish into the top corner past Roman Celentano. Cavan supplied both, taking his reported goal-contribution streak to six matches. Milan Iloski completed the scoring with another penalty in the 89th minute, his team-leading 12th goal of the season.

Read the 18–1 shot count alongside the red card

Cincinnati had one attempt to Philadelphia’s 18, and Andre Blake did not need a save for the Union’s fifth clean sheet. That large gap cannot be treated as a measure of the teams’ strength at equal numbers: Cincinnati played most of the match with 10.

Philadelphia’s recovery continues

The Union extended their post-World Cup unbeaten run to nine games, seven wins and two draws, and moved above New York City FC into eighth in the East. Cincinnati remained seventh with the report listing 31 points, but conceded at least four for a second consecutive match. The original’s season record lines use inconsistent win–draw–loss ordering, so those lines should be checked separately from the result.

Sources and scope

FC Cincinnati — official report and statistics · AP via Yahoo Sports — match report · yourNEWS — goal-by-goal report · Cincinnati Soccer Talk — red-card context

This analysis uses the cited reports and published facts. It does not use tracking data or independently calculated xG. Any illustration summarizes the argument rather than player coordinates.