FC Cincinnati defeated Toronto FC, 3-0, Wednesday night in front of a sellout crowd of 25,513 at TQL Stadium. With the win, the Orange and Blue became the second team in Major League Soccer history to begin a season 10-0-0 at home (2002 San Jose Earthquakes).
Cincinnati, the MLS Supporters’ Shield leaders, improved to 13-1-4 (43 points) with the win. The Orange and Blue ended the night eight points ahead of Nashville SC (35 points) with a game in hand over NSC. Toronto FC dropped to 3-6-10 (19 points).
Wednesday night’s capacity crowd marked the eighth sellout for FC Cincinnati in 10 regular season home games at TQL Stadium.
Santiago Arias scored his first MLS goal to give the Orange and Blue a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute of play. Arias has now scored in two of the last three across all competitions after the defender scored his first goal for the club against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC in the U.S. Open Cup on June 6.
Álvaro Barreal and Alvas Powell created an initial moment of danger for the Orange and Blue as Powell forced a good reaction save from Greg Ranjitsingh with a headed effort from Barreal’s corner kick. Ranjitsingh went to ground to make the save, but unable to control, Arias pounced on the loose ball to tap home from a couple yards out.
The Orange and Blue would double the lead in the 54th minute as the captain, Luciano Acosta, scored his ninth goal of the season and his eighth in as many league matches. With the goal, Acosta became the second player in club history to score in four-consecutive games (Brandon Vazquez – July 23 – August 13, 2022).
Toronto looked to build out from the back as Ranjitsingh cleared following pressure from Yuya Kubo. The clearance went only as far as Marco Angulo, who attentively picked out Acosta in the center of the box and Cincinnati’s leading goal scorer curled one into the top left corner.
Dominique Badji scored FC Cincinnati’s third of the night to cap off a strong offensive outing for the Orange and Blue. The goal was Badji’s second for Cincinnati, his first at TQL Stadium.
After a quick restart of play in Cincinnati’s defensive end, Acosta played Badji into space as he wrestled off the Toronto defense and slid his shot under Ranjitsingh’s legs for a 3-0 advantage.
FC Cincinnati are back on the road Saturday to face D.C. United at Audi Field on Saturday, June 21. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and the match will stream exclusively, for free, on the Apple TV app. Fans can also listen to the match locally on ESPN 1530.
FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati vs Toronto FC
Date: June 21, 2023
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: TQL Stadium
Attendance: 25,513 (sellout)
Kickoff: 7:39 p.m. ET
Weather: 79 degrees, clear
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-F
CIN: 1-2-3
TOR: 0-0-0
CIN – Santiago Arias 35’, Luciano Acosta (Marco Angulo) 54’, Dominique Badji (Luciano Acosta) 63’
TOR – None
GAME NOTES
• FC Cincinnati became the second team in MLS history to win their first 10 home games to start the season (San Jose Earthquakes – 10-0-0) … the Orange and Blue’s unblemished 13-0-0 record across all competitions to start the year marks the best start in club history.
• Luciano Acosta became the second player in club history to score in four-straight MLS games (Brandon Vazquez: July 23 – August 13, 2022).
• Acosta became the eighth active player in MLS to reach 50 career goals and 50 career assists.
• Acosta’s eight goals since the beginning of May are the second-most in MLS over that span (Nashville SC’s Hany Mukhtar – 10).
• FC Cincinnati have conceded the first goal in MLS play just once this season … every other club in MLS have allowed the first goal at least five times this season (next closest: LAFC and San Jose Earthquakes – 5).
• Three players debuted for FC Cincinnati in MLS competition: Stiven Jimenez, Gerardo Valenzuela and Bret Halsey.
• Jimenez, at 15 years, 362 days, became the youngest player in FC Cincinnati history to appear in a regular season game for FC Cincinnati (previous: Arquimides Ordoñez – 17 yrs., 353 days – 7/24/21 at NSH).
• Halsey, on a short-term loan from FC Cincinnati 2, became the first player signed to FCC 2 to appear in a regular season game for the first team.
• Wednesday marked FC Cincinnati’s first regular season game without Matt Miazga since his debut on August 13, 2022 vs Atlanta United FC … Miazga had started all 27 regular season games since then.
• Miazga and Brandon Vazquez are on international duty with the United States National Team for the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup … Yerson Mosquera additionally missed Wednesday night serving a one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation.
• FC Cincinnati improved to 5-4-0 all-time against Toronto FC … the Orange and Blue have won five of the last six games against the Reds.
• FC Cincinnati’s nine wins since May across all competitions are the most in MLS.
LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, Álvaro Barreal (Bret Halsey 77’), Ray Gaddis, Ian Murphy, Alvas Powell, Santiago Arias, Marco Angulo (Malik Pinto 68’), Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta (C) (Gerardo Valenzuela 89’), Yuya Kubo (Stiven Jimenez 90’), Dominique Badji (Arquimides Ordoñez 68’)
Substitutes not used: Alec Kann, Joey Akpunonu, Isaiah Foster, London Aghedo
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
TOR: Greg Ranjitsingh, Aime Mabika, Kobe Franklin (Cristian Gutierrez 77’), Raoul Petretta (Sigurd Rosted 42’), Mark-Anthony Kaye, Jonathan Osorio (C), Brandon Servania (Kosi Thompson 46’), C.J. Sapong (Deandre Kerr 46’), Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne
Substitutes not used: Luka Gavran, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Ayo Akinola, Shane O’Neill, Jordan Perruzza
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
STATS SUMMARY: CIN/TOR
Shots: 14 / 11
Shots on Goal: 7 / 4
Saves: 4 / 4
Corner Kicks: 6 / 1
Fouls: 21/ 11
Offside: 0 / 2
Possession: 36.2 / 63.8
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
CIN – Obinna Nwobodo (Yellow Card) 19’
TOR – Raoul Petretta (Yellow Card) 25’
TOR – Federico Bernardeschi (Yellow Card) 41’
CIN – Ray Gaddis (Yellow Card) 41’
CIN – Bret Halsey (Yellow Card) 82’
OFFICIALS
Referee: Mark Allatin
Ast. Referees: Nick Uranga, Cladiu Badea
Fourth Official: Matthew Corrigan
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
AVAR: Eric Weisbrod
