MLS 2024: FC Cincinnati opens league play at TQL Stadium vs. Toronto
FC Cincinnati took its opportunity to jumpstart 2024 via the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Now, FCC will look to parlay its first victory of 2024 into Major League Soccer regular season success.
FC Cincinnati hosts Toronto FC Sunday at TQL following Thursday's 2-0 win against Cavalier FC in Kingston, Jamaica. The contest was the first competitive, non-preseason friendly match of the year for FCC.
Cincinnati dominated the proceedings in Kingston and while it might not have had all the goals to show for its work, the club maintained nearly 80% possession throughout the match, out-shot the hosts by a wide margin and found two valuable away-goals. FCC will take a sound lead into Wednesday's decisive second game in the series with Cavalier at TQL Stadium.
The only downside to Thursday's victory was the quick turnaround for Sunday. The Champions Cup figures to complicate next week, and possibly beyond, too.
"We got through Cavalier in a good way," FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said during a Saturday news conference. "Physically, certain players had higher numbers than others based on how the game played out, so you look at those guys a little more closely. And then, for a lot of guys, it wasn't as taxing as you might expect based on how the game played out. That was positive in terms of turning things around (for Sunday) but when you factor in how we traveled back, a later training session (Friday), and now going into (Saturday), it's things that we have to look at and talk about but all the (physical) assessments came back in a strong way. No new injuries."
Fresh off its first win of 2024, FC Cincinnati had two positive developments revealed on Friday. One could directly impact proceedings with Toronto.
MLS announced Matt Miazga had the balance on his suspension from the 2023 MLS Cup playoffs reduced from two games to one. While Miazga remained available to help FC Cincinnati open its CONCACAF Champions Cup campaign Thursday as it's a separate competition, he'll now be available in league play after he serves the final game of his suspension Sunday against Toronto FC.
More relevant to Sunday's game at TQL Stadium, FC Cincinnati also officially announced the acquisition of Luca Orellano, the left wing back who will replace the departing Alvaro Barreal. Orellano was formally introduced to local media Saturday at the club's Mercy Health Training Center.
"I've seen Cincinnati. It's a great club. They had a lot of success last year," Orellano said via a team interpreter. "Obviously, I've watched a lot of games. Lucho (Acosta) and Alvaro (Barreal), having played here last year, they had a great year and they're a great team with a great coach. Looking at that and the opportunity to come here, it was exciting for me because I think we could have another great year, perhaps even better than we were last year."
Aaron Boupendza, FC Cincinnati's designated-player goal-scorer who torched preseason opponents, will be available for the Toronto game after he didn't make the trip to Jamaica due to his visa status. Traveling to the Champions Cup match would have jeopardized his availability for Sunday and beyond.
About Toronto FC
The 2023 season was a low-point in the proud history of the Toronto franchise as the club won just four matches and finished last in all of MLS.
Former Canada senior men's national team manager John Herdman was hired to help course-correct on the franchise's trajectory, and Sunday will be his first league test.
Toronto made some important personnel moves this offseason, including noteworthy additions from big clubs in England such as center back Kevin Long, formerly of Birmingham City. Herdman has reportedly called for more reinforcements and he might get them − MLS clubs can continue to add personnel into April. But Toronto still has firepower in the form of former Italian national team stars Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi.
For now, Herdman himself seems to be much of the story for "TFC" at the outset of 2024, and was perhaps the club's most important offseason acquisition.
Herdman soared on the international stage with Canada in the 2022 Qatar World Cup cycle, making waves in CONCACAF and finishing top of the eight-nation "octagonal" in leading the Canadians to Qatar.
Herdman's a proven head coach, and who better for him to start life in MLS against than 2023 MLS Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year, Pat Noonan of FC Cincinnati.
"I anticipate a motivated group. You look at (Toronto's) preseason, a lot of differences from, I would say, what we saw toward the end of last year when we faced off," Noonan said. "Defensively, it's looked like an organized group. They do a good job of getting pressure to the ball. Look to play quicker in transition from what we've seen and look to move together with speed. I would say just from observing those preseason matches, maybe similar to us at times, lacking quality in the final product but the chance creation's been there.
"Some of the inter-changing and ideas of how to break teams down has been different from last year, so we won't use anything from previously to prepare ourselves. It's a focus on a couple preseason games and the uncertainty of a new opponent and a new coach."
League-wide storylines
While many around MLS are content to focus on Inter Miami CF as a would-be MLS Cup favorite in Argentine FIFA World Cup winner Lionel Messi's first full season in the league, there's a lot more going on beneath the surface.
MLS will go go through at last the first weekend of its 2024 season with replacement referees during an on-going and public labor dispute between the Professional Referees' Organization (PRO), the referees' employer, and the Professional Soccer Referees' Association (PRSA), the referees' union.
MLS kicked off its 2024 slate of regular-season games on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as Miami bested Real Salt Lake. As far as the refereeing went, the replacements didn't factor much in the contest. Some think its inevitable that will happen but PRO officials have maintained there's sufficient experience and training for the 70-some replacement referees.
PRO and PRSA are scheduled to return to the bargaining table next week after both sides spent this past week posturing.
"I haven't put a whole lot of thought into it," Noonan said of the replacement referees. "It's the circumstances and everybody's gonna deal with the same thing. For me, let's give it a chance to see how the performances are before we assess the good, the bad, how we feel... It's go and play the game and control what you can control. Give them a chance to perform."
Another developing storyline for the 2024 season is the fate of the U.S. Open Cup, a tournament staged by the U.S. Soccer Federation and one that's existed since 1914. MLS Commissioner Don Garber has stated publicly he thinks MLS clubs bear too much of the burden among competing teams annually as it appears the tournament could go forward but with fewer MLS participants.
While some would view lessened MLS participation as a degradation of the Open Cup, which FC Cincinnati has contributed to significantly over the last decade, it that might be viewed as a positive development that MLS first-teams could be involved at all. The league in December announced it intended to enter each club's reserve side from the MLS Next PRO development league into the competition rather than the fully-professional first-team outfits.
The game
Kickoff: 2:30 p.m., Sunday | TQL Stadium, Cincinnati
Broadcast: Apple TV
All-time series: FC Cincinnati leads the all-time series against Toronto FC with a 6-4-0 record, as well as four straight wins.
Cincinnati.com prediction: FC Cincinnati 3, Toronto FC 1.
FC Cincinnati
Preseason record: 3-1-0
2023 record: 20-5-9, 69 points; Supporters' Shield winners.
Head coach: Pat Noonan - third season as head coach
Projected starting XI: Roman Celentano (GK), Luca Orellano, Ian Murphy, Miles Robinson, Kipp Keller, Yuya Kubo, Obinna Nwobodo, Pavel Bucha, Luciano Acosta, Corey Baird, Aaron Boupendza.
Toronto FC
2023 record: 4-20-10, 22 points; 15th in Eastern Conference.
Head coach: John Herdman - first season as head coach
Projected starting XI: Sean Johnson (GK), Sigurd Rosted, Kevin Long, Shane O’Neill, Raoul Petretta, Deybi Flores, Jonathan Osorio, Kobe Franklin, Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Bernardeschi, Kerr
