Cover Photo: FC Cincinnati (FC Cincinnati Communications)
September 23, 2023 (Cincinnati, OH) – A first half brace by Brandon Vazquez and a go-ahead goal by Aaron Boupendza lead FC Cincinnati to a victory, securing the 2023 MLS Supporters’ Shield.
- Date: September 30, 2023
- Competition: MLS Regular Season Matchday 35
- Venue: BMO Field
- Kickoff: 7:39 p.m. ET
- Attendance: 24,658
- Box Score: Toronto FC 2, FC Cincinnati 3.
- Referee: Alex Chilowicz
Starting XI
Toronto FC (3-4-3): 90 Garvan; 6 Mabika, 4 Bradley, 17 Rosted; 81 Antonoglou, 21 Osorio, 52 Coello, 19 Franklin; 11 Blessing, 29 Kerr, 10 Bernardeschi (Head Coach – Terry Dunfield)
FC Cincinnati (3-4-1-2): 18 Celentano; 32 Murphy, 15 Mosquera, 4 Hagglund; 31 Barreal, 93 Moreno, 5 Nwobodo, 13 Arias; 10 Acosta; 9 Boupendza, 19 Vazquez (Head Coach – Pat Noonan)
Scoring Summary
28′ FC Cincinnati – Brandon Vazquez (Assist: Yerson Mosquera, Álvaro Barreal)
35′ FC Cincinnati – Brandon Vazquez
39′ Toronto FC – Jonathan Osorio
44′ Toronto FC – Jonathan Osorio
72′ FC Cincinnati – Aaron Boupendza (Assist: Luciano Acosta, Álvaro Barreal)
STATS: (TOR/CIN)
- Shots: 12/25
- Shots on Goal: 7/13
- Saves: 10/5
- Corners: 2/8
- Fouls: 11/12
- Offside: 2/2
- Passing Accuracy (%): 75.5/81.9
- Possession (%): 44.7/55.3
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 9′ – IN: Hugo Mbongue OUT: Deandre Kerr (TOR)
- 60′ – IN: Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty OUT: Latif Blessing (TOR)
- 69′ – IN: Franco Ibarra OUT: Alonso Coello (TOR)
- 77′ – IN: Prince Owusu, Victor Vazquez, Cristian Gutierrez OUT: Hugo Mbongue, Michael Bradley, Themi Antonoglou (TOR)
- 82′ – IN: Dominique Badji OUT: Aaron Boupendza (CIN)
- 85′ – IN: Raymon Gaddis OUT: Álvaro Barreal (CIN)
- 89′ – IN: Yuya Kubo OUT: Junior Moreno (CIN)
MISCONDUCT
- 74′ Yellow Card – Themi Antonoglou (TOR)
- 86′ Yellow Card – Prince Owusu (TOR)
BY THE NUMBERS
1: FC Cincinnati are number one! The Orange and Blue have clinched the Supporters’ Shield, securing the best record in all of MLS for the 2023 season. The team will have a ceremony after Wednesday’s match at TQL Stadium vs New York Red Bulls (and Frankie Amaya).
5: BOUP. THERE. IT. IS. Aaron Boupendza scored his 5th goal in 8 appearances for the Orange and Blue since arriving midseason from Saudi side Al-Shabab.
28: Luciano Acosta now has 28 goal contributions on the season (15 G, 13 A). His best season in MLS, 2022, was a 30 goal contribution season – and he’ll have three more matches to tie that mark.
The SHIELD
FC Cincinnati clinched the Supporters’ Shield on Saturday. The Orange and Blue have completed arguably the most impressive turnaround in MLS history, from three consecutive wooden spoons (2019-2021) to Supporters’ Shield Winner.
“I can’t wait” Pat Noonan stated on celebrating the Supporters’ Shield on Wednesday with the fans. “It’s going to be neat moment and environment. All of us sharing in that joy together is something I’m really looking forward to.”
TACTICS
One of the most impressive things I’ve witnessed throughout the course of the season was the ability for Pat Noonan to make smart half time adjustments. Going into Saturday’s match against an already eliminated Toronto FC side, Noonan stated that the uncertainty in what Toronto would try against Cincinnati made it difficult to plan against.
Toronto FC, who have played most of the season in their traditional 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, came out against Cincinnati in a 3-4-3.
“In the build, there was some certain things that we were looking to do, but they moved Michael (Bradley) into the middle. So, it was trying to find our wingbacks as quickly as we could, because they had a lot of time and space.” Noonan stated about adjusting the focus while possessing the ball in the defensive half.
“We needed to get a little bit more pressure into the midfield so they couldn’t find, specifically (Federico Bernardeschi, but, players to be able to run at our backline” Noonan states about the first half defensive effort. “I thought we could shave been a little bit more aggressive in how we were defending forward.”
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