C Cincinnati lost, 3-2, Wednesday night to Toronto FC at BMO Field. The Orange and Blue led 1-0 at half, but three goals for the hosts in the opening 20 minutes of the second half sunk FCC in the club’s first match under interim head coach Tyrone Marshall.
With the loss, FCC dropped to 4-14-8 (20 points). TFC sits at 22 points with a 5-15-7 record.
Rónald Matarrita’s second goal of the season in the 38th minute opened scoring. After connecting several passes consecutively, it was Luciano Acosta who recorded his club record ninth assist on the tally.
Toronto FC scored in the 48th (Jacob Shaffelburg), 55th (Marky Delgado) and 65th minutes, with Ifunanyachi Achara netting the third and final goal of the match, the game-winner.
The aforementioned Luciano Acosta scored an unassisted goal in the 72nd minute. Brenner’s pass to Acosta was deflected by a TFC defender, but still fell to the FC Cincinnati captain who took a right footed shot just inside the 18-yard box which beat Toronto goalkeeper Alex Bono.
FC Cincinnati return home Saturday to host New York Red Bulls at TQL Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on WSTR 64, carried on the radio on ESPN 1530, streamed regionally on fccincinnati.com/stream, out of market on ESPN+, while an audio stream will be available via the iHeartRadio app.
For up-to-the-minute information about FC Cincinnati, visit the team’s official website at fccincinnati.com, or follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FCCincinnati. Additionally, fans are encouraged to download the team’s official mobile app on the Apple App Store or Google Play for instant access to mobile tickets, team content and match notifications.
Information about seating options at the club’s state-of-the-art TQL Stadium is now available at TQLstadium.com. For more information about 2022 Season Ticket Deposits and Renewals, which are coming soon, visit TQLstadium.com or the stadium’s social properties on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at @TQLStadium, or by calling the team’s sales and service staff at 513-977-5425.
FC CINCINNATI MATCH REPORT
FC Cincinnati at Toronto FC
Date: September 29, 2021
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: BMO Field – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 5,110
Kickoff: 7 p.m. ET
Weather: 62 degrees, clear
TORONTO FC 3, FC CINCINNATI 2
CIN – Rónald Matarrita (Luciano Acosta) 38’, Luciano Acosta (unassisted) 72’
TOR – Jacob Shaffelburg (Yeferson Soteldo, Marky Delgado) 48’, Marky Delgado (Yeferson Soteldo, Richie Laryea) 55’, Ifunanyachi Achara (Jacob Shaffelburg, Yeferson Soteldo) 65’
Lineups:
CIN: Przemysław Tytoń, Edgar Castillo, Geoff Cameron (Tyler Blackett 71’), Gustavo Vallecilla, Rónald Matarrita, Allan Cruz (Caleb Stanko 71’), Florian Valot (Haris Medunjanin 61’), Álvaro Barreal (Brandon Vázquez 84’), Luciano Acosta (c), Yuya Kubo (Calvin Harris 61’), Brenner
Substitutes not used: Kenneth Vermeer, Zico Bailey, Kamohelo Mokotjo, Arquimides Ordonez
Interim Head Coach: Tyrone Marshall
TOR: Alex Bono, Michael Bradley (c), Omar Gonzalez, Kemar Lawrence, Auro, Jacob Shaffelburg (Justin Morrow 83’), Marky Delgado, Richie Laryea, Yeferson Soteldo (Patrick Mullins 90+2’), Ifunanyachi Achara (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 66’), Jonathan Osorio
Substitutes not used: Quentin Westberg, Nick DeLeon, Julian Dunn-Johnson, Noble Okello, Jayden Nelson, Luke Singh
Head coach: Javier Pérez
Stats Summary: CIN / TOR
Shots: 9 / 16
Shots on Goal: 4 / 6
Saves: 3 / 2
Corner Kicks: 2 / 4
Fouls: 11 / 13
Offside: 1 / 3
Possession: 53.7 / 46.3
Misconduct Summary:
CIN – Florian Valot (caution) 32’, Edgar Castillo (caution) 41’, Gustavo Vallecilla (caution) 59’, Caleb Stanko 74’
TOR – Ifunanyachi Achara 59’, Yeferson Soteldo 76’, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (caution) 90’
Officials
Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Ast. Referees: Jeffrey Greeson, Claudiu Badea
Fourth official: Marcos de Oliveira
VAR: Geoff Gamble
AVAR: Robert Schaap
GAME NOTES
- Luciano Acosta scored goals in consecutive games since May 29 and June 1 2019 with D.C. United vs. Chicago and San Jose.
- Acosta recorded his second game of the year with a goal and assist (July 9 vs. Columbus Crew).
- With his ninth assist of the season, Acosta extended his club record for assists in a career and season … he is tied for 5th most in MLS this season.
- Acosta made his 150th career MLS appearance Wednesday night.
- FC Cincinnati is now 2-2-3 when scoring first … previously the club was 2-1-1 on the road when scoring first, the other loss coming also in Canada in a 5-4 loss at CF Montréal.
- Brandon Vázquez made the 75th appearance of his MLS career … Caleb Stanko made the 50th appearance of his MLS career … Edgar Castillo has now surpassed 5,000 career minutes played in MLS.
AS IT HAPPENED
- 33’ – FC CINCINNATI GOAL | Florian Valot finds Yuya Kubo in the central midfield who lays it off to Luciano Acosta, who sets up Rónald Matarrita to take a touch and send a left footed strike into the back of the net.
- 48’ – TORONTO FC GOAL | On a counter attack, Yeferson Soteldo finds Jacob Shaffelburg who buries a shot through the legs of Przemysław Tytoń to level.
- 55’ – TORONTO FC GOAL | Jacob Shaffelburg swings in a cross from the left side across the box, which finds Marky Delgado all alone to finish the go-ahead goal.
- 65’ – TORONTO FC GOAL | Ifunanyachi Achara finishes a cross from the left side across the box, off another counter attack.
- 72’ – FC CINCINNATI GOAL | Luciano Acosta finds Brenner at the top of the 18-yard box in a crowded area, who passes it back to Acosta whose right footed strike just inside the box hits the back of the net.
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Interim Head Coach Tyrone Marshall
On the match
“Never easy to take a loss. That’s a tough one, I’m one of those guys, I like to win in whatever I do. Under the circumstances, everything that is going on, I thought the attitude of everyone these past two, three days has been fantastic. My message to the boys was to keep your head up, we’re going to get through this. We’re going to fight, we’re going to keep working, knowing that when we get home, it has to be better. We have to come with more energy and more discipline. More intelligence in terms of our playing and defending in those transition moments, but again, you have to be positive for these guys. I know they’ve been going through a lot, so I’m going to try to keep it as positive as possible.”
On his objective as interim head coach
“[I’m] going to try to see if I can change the attitude of the boys in the locker room. Try to see if we can bring back some more energy, the fun in playing football again. And see if we can translate that on the pitch and give our fans at home something to cheer for, because I’ve watched some games at home and seeing the Cincinnati fan base, we need to energize those fans. For me, that is my main objective. To get the energy back in the locker room, to get the guys in a good state of mind so that we can translate that on the pitch at home and get the fans into the stands for us.”
On the attitude of the team
“I don’t think we played 90 minutes worth of football, but I loved the attitude in terms of the last two days, three days, what they were trying to do. I know the heads were down when I was just in the locker room but I went around to each of them and said look, ‘There are still games to play, we can still do this, just be positive. Take away the positives from tonight and see if we can be build on it, and then the negative moments, see if we can correct those.’ If we can correct those negative moments and build on the positives, why not, why can’t we get some positive results in our favor as well? We now have to go home and build on our home crowd and see if we can get three points.”
FC Cincinnati midfielder and captain Luciano Acosta_
Translated from Spanish
On the match
“A difficult game, against a good team. We’re frustrated because we went from winning 1-0 to losing 3-1. Then, we reacted a bit late, but now, we think about the next match.”
On Toronto’s quick start to the second half
“They began with a quick reaction [in the second half]. We came out sleeping, and the same thing happened that’s been happening, we conceded goals very quickly. We put our heads down. We move forward, we have eight matches left. We need to keep fighting and finish the season in the best way.”
On the mentality with the short turnaround
“It was surprising for us all. It was something that hurt all of us, especially me. The truth is I cared a lot about the coaching staff. It was tough, it’s a tough blow. We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare ourselves [for Toronto]. We already had played Toronto, we knew how to play them and how we wanted to play against them. It wasn’t a very long time for the new coach to prepare, obviously he did the best he could. But now we continue to look forward. We give all our time to the next match and to winning the next match, at home. The fans need it.”
“You don’t always have to react with new situations. You don’t have to change a lot of the players either, I think. The truth is we needed to change our mentality very quickly, and now we need to look forward. We need to look forward, leave the past in the past, and thank the people who have been here. And we need to get ready for Saturday, which is a massive match at home. As I said, it’s a big home match and the fans need a victory.”
FC Cincinnati defender Edgar Castillo
On changes made and short time to prepare
“I mean it’s hard when people lose their jobs. Another coach comes in and you got to look forward. I’ve been through this many times but it is what it is. We just have to keep going and we have eight games left and we got to make the best of them.”
On the difference in the game and disappointment after dropping in the standings
“No one wants to be in this situation. We just have to look forward. It’s tough coming in the second half, I just think we came out too relaxed and they came out with more energy, and they turned the game around and beat us 3-2.”
