FC Cincinnati has six games left to peak before the MLS Cup playoffs. Is that enough time?

Postseason objective No. 1 for FC Cincinnati was to qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs, which FCC achieved Saturday with its tie against Columbus Crew .

FC Cincinnati's next objective is a little more nebulous, and won't be determined by point totals in the standings.

FC Cincinnati has six regular-season matches remaining to "get hot at the right time," as the cliche goes. But peaking at the most opportune moment in a season that lasts 10 months isn't easy to do, and wins alone don't point to achieving it.

As of now, Cincinnati isn't positioned well enough, head coach Pat Noonan indicated during a Monday news conference.

"I've been a part of teams (as a player) where you had was consistency with who was playing (during) the stretch run into the playoffs," Noonan said. "That rhythm helped our group with the relationships and the understanding and knowing how to win together. There were also moments where you had injuries at a crucial time and you have unexpected players that step up in big moments.

"For this group, we're trying to find our rhythm having so many challenges, I would say − good challenges − to finding consistency. It just hasn't happened for a variety of reasons. I don't think that's a recipe for success over the next couple months so we have to find consistency in our personnel and guys need to be playing their best right now if we want to have a good run at it."

How FC Cincinnati learned the value of peaking at the right time

In 2022, FC Cincinnati was considered a success just for reaching the MLS Cup playoffs. Perhaps because it played absent the weight of expectation, it took Philadelphia Union down to the wire in the second round of the playoffs. The club's run ended there but, with a first-round playoff win under its belt, the season's final outcome was considered an overwhelming success.

Then, the club naturally pushed for more. In 2023, FC Cincinnati coasted into the No. 1 seed and the Supporters' Shield title, much like Inter Miami CF seems to be this year. FCC might have been burdened by expectations, but it didn't show in the results until it reached the Eastern Conference final and lost to a Columbus Crew side that many agreed were deserving of eventually winning MLS Cup.

The playoff exit against a bitter rival made for a painful end to the season. But even combining that with the angst over multiple off-field issues during the run made for a controversial playoff run, FC Cincinnati raised the bar in 2023 and was mere minutes away from reaching and hosting MLS Cup.

In 2024, FC Cincinnati will attempt to raise the bar again, but it does so knowing full well the value of that sometimes-indescribable postseason lightning in a bottle. FCC was zapped by it in the conference final against a Columbus side that finished 12 points behind Cincinnati in the regular season standings.

Six matches remain to find the best version of FC Cincinnati

In some ways, FC Cincinnati is beginning the process of finding the best version now, in mid-September.

Sure, there's a large body of work from which the coaches and General Manager Chris Albright can draw upon to inform their decisions. The 28 league matches weren't for naught.

At the same time, the club today is as healthy and free of suspensions as it has been in months. That that would be the case at the tail end of a season in which major injuries were piled on top of significant offseason roster turnover to coming into 2024 has left room for big questions that need answering.

Some of those questions also relate to the relatively recent additions of Nicholas Gioacchini and Teenage Hadebe. The club is still onboarding new players in the closing weeks of the campaign.

The occasional suspensions, mostly due to yellow card accumulation, complicated Noonan's and the coaching staff's efforts toward developing a consistent and reliable starting lineup. And again, that's on top of feeling out the club's personnel and tinkering with players like Luca Orellano as a starting point back in February.

Following Saturday's scoreless tie with Columbus Crew, Noonan suggested the roster of available players for the upcoming two-match week might be the strongest personnel group he would have to choose from all season. That comment came after the club made solid work of playing without Miles Robinson and Ian Murphy, two of the club's preferred center backs who were unavailable due to suspensions for yellow-card accumulation.

The only injury concern coming out of the Crew match was a laceration for Gioacchini, who impressed in the contest, and Noonan downplayed the seriousness of that injury in his post-match remarks.

Health is only part of the equation, though. Suspensions are another, as captain Luciano Acosta noted after Saturday's game.

"Obviously, we've missed a lot of players this season for injuries, for suspensions. It's something we need to improve, myself as well," Luciano Acosta said Saturday when the question was put to him. "I don't want to miss anymore games this season. As far as up top, we need to continue to improve, continue to work on that. We've got 'Niko' who arrived very recently and is still getting accustomed (to the team)."

Other ingredients are equally important. Is there enough time for FC Cincinnati to pull off finding its best self in time for the postseason?

Adding silverware to club's trophy case this year depends on it.

So, how does the club pull off the sometimes-indescribable feat of achieving the best version of itself − a version that's alsl good enough to defeat all comers − at the perfect time?

"We shouldn't feel desperation," Noonan said. "We should just recognize that results at this stage and finding your form is gonna be so important going into the playoffs because the reality is, if we don't win games, we know we're (still) a playoff team. But winning games to be confident, winning games to have a higher seed, to be playing at home. These things are important."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati has six games left to peak before the MLS Cup playoffs. Is that enough time?