FC Cincinnati and Toronto FC ended in a draw, 0-0, Sunday afternoon in the 2024 MLS Regular Season opener. A crowd of 25,513 attended the match, the 27th sellout crowd for an FC Cincinnati match in TQL Stadium history.
In an even possession battle, the Orange and Blue offense kept the box busy with 17 total shots, seven of which were on goal. The reigning MLS MVP, Luciano Acosta, led the team with four total shots and two shots on target. The Orange and Blue defense held Toronto to single-digit shots (7). Â
Roman Celentano recorded his 18th career MLS clean sheet, making two saves.Â
Cincinnati will host Cavelier in the second leg of Round One play in the Concacaf Champions Cup at TQL Stadium on Wednesday, February 28 at 7 p.m. ET.
Tickets for the home leg of the Champions Cup Round One matchup are still available at FCCincinnati.com/Tickets or by calling (513) 977-5425 (KICK).
GAME NOTES
• Sunday was FC Cincinnati's third scoreless draw of the Pat Noonan era (March 4, 2023 at ORL; April 16, 2022 at ATL) … Today marked the first 0-0 result at TQL Stadium since August 18, 2021 vs MTL.
• Per Elias Sports, Sunday marked the fourth time in club history, not including the first game in club history, that four players made their FC Cincinnati Major League Soccer debut in a single Starting XI (Keller, Robinson, Bucha, Orellano).
• Sunday marked the 27th all-time sellout of TQL Stadium for an FC Cincinnati match.
• Sunday marked Luciano ‘Lucho’ Acosta’s 100th match captaining FC Cincinnati … The 2023 MLS MVP has worn the captain’s armband well over half of FCC’s 181 matches since 2019.
• Under Pat Noonan, FC Cincinnati are 11-2-4 all-time when playing a game on two-days rest.
• Sunday marked the first-ever draw between FC Cincinnati and Toronto FC … The Orange and Blue lead the all-time series, 6-4-1.
FC CINCINNATI GAME REPORT
FC Cincinnati vs Toronto FC
Date: February 25, 2024
Competition: MLS Regular Season
Venue: TQL Stadium
Attendance: 25,513 (sellout)
Kickoff: 2:40 p.m. ET
Weather: 55 degrees, clear
SCORING SUMMARY: 1-2-FT
CIN: 0-0-0
TOR: 0-0-0
CIN – None
TOR – None
LINEUPS
CIN: Roman Celentano, Luca Orellano (Alvas Powell 78’), Ian Murphy, Miles Robinson, Kipp Keller, Yuya Kubo (Bret Halsey 90’+3), Obinna Nwobodo, Pavel Bucha (Malik Pinto 90’+3), Luciano Acosta (C), Corey Baird (Gerardo Valenzuela 78’), Sergio Santos (Aaron Boupendza 58’)
Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Arquimides Ordoñez, Isaiah Foster, London Aghedo
Head Coach: Pat Noonan
TOR: Sean Johnson, Kevin Long, Richie Laryea (Kobe Franklin 70'), Shane O'Neill (Sigurd Rosted 81'), Raoul Petretta, Alonso Coello (Kosi Thompson 71'), Deybi Flores, Jonathan Osorio (C), Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 62'), Prince Owusu (Ayo Akinola 62')
Substitutes not used: Aime Mabika, Latif Blessing, Cassius Mailula, Luka Gavran
Head Coach: John Herdman
STATS SUMMARY: CIN/TOR
Shots: 17 / 8
Shots on Goal: 7 / 2
Saves: 2 / 7
Corner Kicks: 8 / 3
Fouls: 14 / 16
Offside: 4 / 2
Possession: 52.9 / 47.1
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
TOR - Jonathan Osorio (Yellow Card) 2'
TOR - Raoul Petretta (Yellow Card) 34'
TOR - Shane O'Neill (Yellow Card) 54'
CIN - Yuya Kubo (Yellow Card) 63'
TOR - Sean Johnson (Yellow Card) 82'
OFFICIALS
Referee: Jonathan Weiner
Ast. Referees: Race Williams, Enrique Ulises Palacios
Fourth Official: Lorant Varga
VAR: Alan Kelly
