Cover Photo Credit: FC Cincinnati
February 27, 2024 (CINCINNATI, OH) – Another update post: Recap Sunday’s MLS Regular Season Opener against Toronto FC, Preview the Second Leg of the First Round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
FC Cincinnati 0, Toronto FC 0
- MLS Regular Season Matchday 1
- TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
- February 25, 2024 – 2:30 pm EST
- Attendance: 25,513
- MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+
Lineups
FC Cincinnati (3-4-1-2): Celentano; Murphy, Robinson, Keller; Orellano (Powell 78′), Nwobodo, Bucha (Pinto 90’+4′), Kubo (Halsey 90’+4′); Acosta; Baird (Valenzuela 80′), Santos (Boupendza 58′)
Toronto FC (3-4-2-1); Johnson; Petretta, Long, O’Neill (Rosted 80′); Laryea (Franklin 71′), Coello (Thompson 71′), Flores, Bernardeschi; Insigne (Marshall-Rutty 62′), Osorio; Owusu (Akinola 62′)
Scoring Summary
N/A
Discipline
2′ Yellow Card – Jonathan Osorio (TOR)
34′ Yellow Card – Raoul Petretta (TOR)
54′ Yellow Card – Shane O’Neill (TOR)
63′ Yellow Card – Yuya Kubo (CIN)
82′ Yellow Card – Sean Johnson (TOR)
Headlines
Kipp Keller, Miles Robinson, Pavel Bucha, Luca Orellano all make their FC Cincinnati MLS debuts, the latter half making their full MLS debut.
FC Cincinnati’s 2023 Supporters’ Shield “banner” revealed prematch. Will we ever see a USL Supporters’ Shield banner?
Luca Orellano, signed to a loan deal on Friday afternoon, started at LWB for FC Cincinnati for their MLS Regular Season opener just two days later.
Aaron Boupendza available, limited with a minutes restriction due to hamstring injury. Alec Kane (hand), Nick Hagglund (hamstring), and Matt Miazga (suspension) were all unavailable for Cincinnati, Nickseon Gomis (head), Deandre Kerr (left calf), and Jordan Perruzza (right groin) all unavailable for Toronto.
First scoreless draw for FC Cincinnati since March 4, 2023 at Orlando. First at TQL Stadium since August 18, 2021 against Montreal.
100th match captaining FC Cincinnati for the reigning MLS MVP Luciano Acosta. Acosta has worn the armband for 100 of 181 matches for the Orange and Blue since joining MLS in 2019.
1/1 on sellouts at TQL Stadium to start the season, 25,513 in attendance.
Summary
An early yellow card and penalty, reversed with VAR, saw the first five minutes of the match filled with exciting action… and then it settled down really quick. Both showstoppers, Roman Celentano and Sean Johnson dealt with shots taken against them, as the teams ended their season sharing a point a piece in the West End of Cincinnati, OH.
FC Cincinnati saw two changes to their Starting XI from their CONCACAF Champions Cup match midweek, with newly signed Luca Orellano starting at LWB and Kipp Keller starting as the right CB with 2023 MLS Defender of the Year Matt Miazga suspended. USMNT CB Miles Robinson slotted in to the central CB position from the right.
For Toronto, Richie Laryea returned to Toronto after spending time in Vancouver the previous year. Laryea made the move from Toronto to English Premier League side Nottingham Forest in the winter of 2022, but spent the entirety of the 2022/23 Premier League season on loan… in Toronto. Laryea was then loaned to Vancouver in August of 2023 for the remainder of the calendar year, before, you guessed it, Toronto FC bought back Lareya this winter.
The Italian winger Federico Bernardeschi found himself in a new position to start the 2024 campaign, at right wingback in John Herdman’s 3-4-2-1 system. Bernardeschi didn’t really produce any incredible numbers on the defensive end, 1 interception and 4 recoveries – so maybe best to consider him a wide midfielder than a wingback. Nonetheless, Bernardeschi was the most effective player in the attack for Toronto on Sunday, recording 5 shots, 2 on target and 3 blocked, while also creating a great chance – an xA over the match of 0.32. You may say 0.32 isn’t much, but it’s a lot when the team only managed 0.44 xG as a whole across the 90 minutes.
The man of the match, Sean Johnson for Toronto FC, recorded 5 saves in the scoreless draw. The biggest, a quick reaction to an overhead kick from Cincinnati forward Corey Baird from just outside the six yard box. FotMob certainly agrees with my choice on MOTM, an 8.1 rating for Johnson makes him the highest rated player on the pitch.
FC Cincinnati vs Cavalier FC
- CONCACAF Champions Cup – Round 1
- TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
- February 28, 2024 – 7:00 pm EST
- Tubi, ViX
First Leg
Cavalier SC 0, FC Cincinnati 2 (Santos 45’+5′, Pinto 87′)
Scenarios…
FC Cincinnati likely need to concede 3+ goals to fear being eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Wednesday. That said, Cavalier FC will likely play a bit more aggressively than they did in the first leg to chase those goals.
For Cincinnati and Pat Noonan, the two biggest tests will be how to handle that press and attack of Cavalier, a team with nothing to lose and looking solely to score goals to bring themselves into contention… all while trying to balance minutes effectively during a stretch of 4 matches across 10 days. Tired legs can lead to an increased chance of injury, something that would be so detrimental to any team this early on in a season. What does rotation look like?