Pat Noonan has lived through some heated MLS rivalries across two decades as a player and coach, from the I-95 tussles of the league’s early days to Cascadia Cup clashes with Seattle Sounders FC and the cross-Jersey enmity of Philadelphia vs. Red Bulls as a member of the Union’s technical staff.

He believes none of them surpass the heart and heat of Hell is Real, the cross-Ohio showdown between his FC Cincinnati and the Columbus Crew , set to venture into the uncharted territory of a Round One Best-of-3 Series in the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs starting Monday night (6:45 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV ; FS1, FOX Deportes).

“This is the best for me,” Noonan told MLSsoccer.com in a one-on-one conversation on Thursday. “It's the success of the clubs, it's the energy of the fa

See Full Page