The promise of tomorrow for upwardly mobile Futbol Club Cincinnati is vast and exciting. Major League Soccer awaits.

It's the getting to tomorrow that's been complicated, albeit temporarily, by Saturday's upset loss in the USL Cup Eastern Conference semifinals.

On a dreary evening at Nippert Stadium before a crowd of 16,617, 24-matches-unbeaten and No. 1-seeded FC Cincinnati was dispatched from the USL Cup playoffs, 1-0, by No. 5-seeded New York Red Bulls II.

FC Cincinnati gave a flat performance against an attacking New York side that needled and frustrated the hosts in what was ultimately one of Cincinnati's worst, most-disjointed performances of a memorable and convincing 2018 campaign.

"Playoff soccer is very, very unpredictable, as tonight showed," FC Cincinnati head coach Alan Koch said. "A long, quality streak obviously ends tonight, unfortunately."

The high-pressing Red Bulls went ahead in the 12th minute as Cincinnati was caught on a counterattacking movement that ended with a cool finish by Amando Moreno.

That moment ultimately decided the match.

"The game is about managing moments, of course," Koch said. "We've done a fantastic job this year of managing moments. We were obviously on the wrong end of managing one individual moment tonight."

From there, FC Cincinnati's potent attack – an attack that was the highest-scoring in the United Soccer League in 2018 – was stymied. It produced just three on-target shots, all of which were dealt with by New York goalkeeper Evan Louro.

"First 45 minutes, I thought they did a very good job of managing the game," Koch said. "Manipulating the game, getting under our skin, caressing certain situations. That's a professional performance, which set them up for success in the opening 45 minutes. I thought we were better in the second half. We took it to them."

Forward Fanendo Adi, who will join FC Cincinnati next year in MLS, said Cincinnati simply didn't play well enough against New York.

"I don’t think it was hard to break them down, we didn’t play a very good game," Adi said. "We approached the game… we kept the ball, I think we won all the possessions and everything, but the ball [didn’t] go into the net. It’s one of those games, We couldn’t find a goal today, but I think they got one chance and they had so many chances they could bury, but they were lucky to bury the first chance. We kept pressing, but we couldn’t get a goal.”

It wasn't just being eliminated from the playoffs that made the defeat sting. The subtext to the night's match was that it brought down the curtain on FC Cincinnati's three-year run as one of the most intriguing soccer clubs in the country.

FC Cincinnati leaves behind a short history of tremendous accomplishments teams will be hard-pressed to duplicate at the USL level going forward.

Attendance records, a U.S. Open Cup semifinal run that catalyzed the club's MLS expansion push and a convincing 2018 regular season that saw the club avoid losing from late May until Saturday night – all major components of the club's legacy in USL.

In the immediate aftermath, fans will mourn that this FC Cincinnati group – the highest-paid in the USL collectively, the regular-season champions, and the class of the league – couldn’t finish the job in the postseason.

"You really have to look at the positives. This has been a historic season, and I know people use the word 'historic' quite casually in speech, but we've broken records, this undefeated streak, the consecutive victories, the ability to bring a trophy to our city and the club... For us to do that in our third year by winning the league championship - we're incredibly proud of that. It doesn't feel that way right now, to be honest, but when we actually get time to reflect, there's a lot of positives to be taken out of this season and how we've continued to build this club.

Big picture, the club will never look the same after Saturday’s loss.

The roster will soon undergo what many expect will be a comprehensive overhaul. The new club crest will soon be revealed. And they’ll be a Major League Soccer club.

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Welcome to The Enquirer's and Cincinnati.com's live coverage of the USL Cup Eastern Conference semifinal between No. 1-seed Futbol Club Cincinnati and No. 5-seed New York Red Bulls II (4 p.m.). Refresh this page throughout the match for updates and analysis.

IN-MATCH UPDATES

FINAL: FC Cincinnati 0, New York Red Bulls II 1.

HALFTIME: FC Cincinnati 0, New York Red Bulls II 1.

12th minute – GOAL, New York Red Bulls II (0-1): Amando Moreno.

PREGAME

•FC Cincinnati starting XI:

GK: Spencer Richey.

D: Blake Smith (LB), Forrest Lasso (CB), Paddy Barrett (captain, CB), Justin Hoyte (RB).

M: Fatai Alashe, Tyler Gibson.

M: Corben Bone, Nazmi Albadawi

F: Emmanuel Ledesma, Fanendo Adi.

BENCH: Dekel Keinan, Jimmy McLaughlin, Evan Newton (GK), Richie Ryan, Emery Welshman, Kenney Walker.

• New York Red Bulls II starting XI:

GK: Evan Louro.

D: Allen Yanes, Kevin Politz, Ethan Kutler, Hassan Ndam.

M: Christopher Lema, Jared Stroud, Andrew Tinari, Jose Aguinaga, Amando Moreno.

F: Tom Barlow.

BENCH: Jordan Scarlett, Steven Echeverria, Lucas Stauffer, Scott Levene, Anatole Bertrand-Abang, Niko De Vera, Andrew Lombard.