​FC Cincinnati (6-5-6) returns to competition on Saturday, July 30, facing off against the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-4) at TQL Stadium. The competition gives FCC a chance to bounce back from a tough and controversial loss at the Columbus Crew a week prior. However, the club will be tested against an Earthquake team that is tied for the most points in the Western Conference.During the week of practice leading up to Saturday’s contest, much of the conversation at Cincinnati’s Mercy Health Training Center was still surrounding what happened at Columbus. But the team is also ready to move forward onto San Jose, the beginning of a four-game home stretch that goes until Aug. 15.FC Cincinnati MLS All-Star contest Evander breaks MLS All-Star record, ties Thomas Müller in contestValenzuela gets additional suspension, fine after red cardMidfielder Gerardo Valenzuela already received a red card for “violent conduct” against Columbus, as he first tackled Crew midfielder Taha Habroune to the ground before engaging in a verbal altercation between both Crew and FCC team members. But on Thursday, July, 30, FCC head coach Pat Noonan revealed that Valenzuela would be suspended an additional MLS game (he was already suspended for the San Jose contest) and receive fines.FCC forward Ayoub Jabbari, assistant coach Kenny Arena, and several Columbus Crew players were also fined.Defender Matt Miazga, who received his fifth yellow card of the season at Columbus, will be suspended against San Jose as well. Both he and Valenzuela are regular starters, leaving Noonan to switch up his first 11 for Saturday.”Our depth allows us to feel confident about not having extreme situations, to have a couple guys ready to fill in,” Noonan said of his lineup situation. “You don’t want to lose two pieces like we did, but we’ve dealt with this quite a few times. But we’ve got guys that are ready, you could sense that even in the last couple of days, there’s a lot of guys we could slot into the 11 and feel good about.”Valenzuela also spoke to The Enquirer on Wednesday about his red card, publicly addressing it for the first time since he received it. He admitted that his emotions got the best of him and agreed with the call. He says the referee was initially going to give a yellow card, but upgraded it to a red following the altercation.Dado Valenzuela on the red card he received at Columbus: “It was just frustration, I went in for a reckless challenge”“He was gonna give a yellow, and then I’m sure because everybody came over and started a fight, maybe the VAR changed it to a red.” pic.twitter.com/phiJvPxgye— Yanyan Li (@yyanyanli1) July 29, 2026Noonan was more blunt: He said the emotional outburst from his team toward the end of the Columbus game was immaturity that shouldn’t be excused because of the nature of a rivalry game. He also said that the team addressed the disciplinary issues following the match, something it does not do super often.”We’ve addressed it in a way where