FC Cincinnati earned the club’s first win at TQL Stadium Saturday night with a dominant 2-0 win over Toronto FC.
FC Cincinnati improve to 4-10-8 (20 points) for the season. Toronto FC sit at 15 points (3-14-6) and at the bottom of the Eastern Conference Standings.
Brenner’s goal scored in the 39th minute gave the Orange and Blue a 1-0 lead at halftime. Haris Medunjanin found Luciano Acosta down the left flank, who sent in a perfectly weighted cross to Brenner, whose extended foot finished the pass for the Brazilian international’s sixth goal of the season.
Medunjanin then doubled the FCC lead in the 58th minute. Acosta found Alvaro Barreal who slotted a pass to Medunjanin who hit his shot first-time with his left foot, which took a deflection inside the box, past Toronto goalkeeper Quentin Westberg.
Acosta’s seventh and eighth assists of the season extends his club record for most in a career and season for FCC. His eight assists are tied for second-most among MLS players this season.
FC Cincinnati travel Wednesday to take on Atlanta United FC for a mid-week contest. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on WSTR 64, carried on the radio on Fox Sports AM 1360, 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 2, Toronto FC 0
TQL Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio
September 11, 2021
SCORING SUMMARY
CIN – Brenner (Luciano Acosta, Haris Medunjanin) 39’
CIN – Haris Medunjanin (Alvaro Barreal, Luciano Acosta) 58’
FC Cincinnati: Przemysław Tytoń, Nick Hagglund, Geoff Cameron, Gustavo Vallecilla, Ronald Matarrita, Yuya Kubo, Haris Medunjanin (Florian Valot 77’), Luciano Acosta (c) (Calvin Harris 90’), Alvaro Barreal (Edgar Castillo 90’), Isaac Atanga (Zico Bailey 83’), Brenner (Brandon Vázquez 76’)
Bench: Ben Lundt, Allan Cruz, Kamohelo Mokotjo, Arquimides Ordonez
Stats: Shots 10, Shots on Goal 4, Saves 5, Corners 3, Offside 3, Fouls 12, Possession 50.9%, Passes 447 (84.8%)
Toronto FC: Quentin Westberg, Chris Mavinga, Omar Gonzalez, Justin Morrow (Kemar Lawrence 59’), Auro (Nick DeLeon 77’), Dom Dwyer (Jonathan Osorio 59’), Michael Bradley (c), Marky Delgado, Patrick Mullins (Yeferson Soteldo 59’), Ifunanyachi Achara, Tsubasa Endoh (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 77’)
Bench: Eriq Zavaleta, Alex Bono, Richie Laryea, Jacob Shaffelburg
Stats: Shots 13, Shots on Goal 5, Saves 2, Corners 3, Offside 2, Fouls 6, Possession 49.1%, Passes 436 (82.6%)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
TOR – Justin Morrow (caution) 37’
CIN – Haris Medunjanin (caution) 45+3’
CIN – Geoff Cameron (caution) 50’
CIN – Gustavo Vallecilla (caution) 85’
CIN – Florian Valot (caution) 85’
Referee: David Gantar
Ast. Referees: Kyle Atkins, Eric Boria
Fourth official: Nima Saghafi
VAR: Sorin Stoica
AVAR: Benjamin Hall-Volpenhein
Weather: 77 degrees and clear
Attendance: 22,636
GAME NOTES
- Brenner’s sixth goal of the year is one shy of Allan Cruz’s 2019 club record of seven for most in one season.
- Luciano Acosta has assisted more goals (12) in the month of September than in any other month (2nd – August, 8).
- Acosta is the second player in club history with two assists in a match (Emmanuel Ledesma – 7/6/19 vs. HOU).
- Haris Medunjanin made his 125th career MLS start Saturday while Alvaro Barreal earned his 25th career start.
- Medunjanin is the fifth player in club history with at least one goal and one assist in the same match (Brenner – 7/17/21 at MTL; Luciano Acosta – 7/9/21 vs. CLB; Kekuta Manneh – 3/24/19 at NE; Kenny Saief – 3/24/19 at NE).
- Nick Hagglund surpassed 10,000 career MLS minutes played.
- FC Cincinnati won despite being outshot for the first time since July 22, 2020 (2-0 win over New York Red Bulls at MLS Is Back Tournament).
AS IT HAPPENED
- 8’ – FC Cincinnati Near Chance | Luciano Acosta corrals a header from Brenner, turns a floats a shot which skims off the post past Toronto goalkeeper Quentin Westberg.
- 30’ – FC Cincinnati Near Chance | Haris Medunjanin’s left footed strike outside the 18-yard box requires a diving save from Westberg, which skips out for an FCC corner kick.
- 39’ – FC CINCINNATI GOAL | Haris Medunjanin feeds Luciano Acosta who sends in a weighted cross to where only Brenner’s extended foot puts home his sixth goal of the season.
- 58’ – FC CINCINNATI GOAL | Haris Medunjanin’s left-footed shot directly from Alvaro Barreal’s pass takes a deflection inside the box to get past Westberg for FCC’s second goal of the night.
- 64’ – Toronto FC Near Chance | Michael Bradley’s free kick from just outside the 18-yd box is finished, but the Toronto attack is deemed offside with FC Cincinnati’s trap.
- 71’ – Toronto FC Near Chance | Kemar Lawrence’s header on target is saved by Przemysław Tytoń, and Yeferson Soteldo cannot capitalize on the rebound.
- 82’ – FC Cincinnati Near Chance | Nick Hagglund’s header off a corner kick nails the post but cannot be converted for the third goal of the night for FCC.
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Head Coach Jaap Stam
On finishing the game strong with a win:
“Yeah, we speak about it a lot that we've had the lead in several games, and we gave it away at the end of the day. We speak a lot about the defensive shape that we need to take on and staying patient at times as well, but still also being aggressive and stepping up at times and not always waiting because you want to defend the lead.”
“I can understand when you go ahead, and you don't win too many games that the team, the players, are thinking we need to defend this lead, but then you're going to be dropping deeper and deeper and deeper, and the opposition gets more time to play and find the spaces in between lines.”
“So now we spoke a lot about stepping up in the second half, also defending very aggressively even sometimes when they've got the ball and you need to take initiative. If you're waiting also and you're defending then you need to take initiative in stepping up and approaching your teammate, which is what we have done better today and we made a couple of subs as well and that helped us out a lot I think as well.”
On experiencing the first win in front of a full crowd:
“Yeah, that's nice, you know the fans they turn up at every game, and they are always positive, so that's a good thing. We are very happy about that, and that's how it needs to be, especially when you've taken the lead, you go towards the end of the game. You could feel the tension growing in them as well; they got even louder and louder towards the end as well, because they feel as well that the win is going to be there.”
“So that gives us a great feeling, it's great to see the fans involved like this, that's what we all want.”
FC Cincinnati forward Alvaro Barreal
Translated from Spanish
On the win
“I’m just very happy to have experiences this, and it means even more with the fans being there. I always try to go around and applaud the fans, no matter if it was a win, lose or draw. I wish this would have happened earlier, but I hope we can keep playing the way we did.”
On the strategy around the match
“I think we organized ourselves well and played together. After we got the second goal, we wanted to make sure we got the result we wanted, we stayed in our shape and played together. That I think is the most important thing that we need to remember to keep seeing these results.
FC Cincinnati defender Ronald Matarrita
Translated from Spanish
On the win
“This is a massive result for us, something we needed for a long time and it's just the first step we are going to keep going forward and build from this and move on to the next one.
On the reaction to the win
"We had to celebrate with the fans first, they were there through all the results, so getting the win for them we had to celebrate with them, getting back in the locker room it was really positive and we are going to use this experience to go forward and to build because of what happened tonight out on the pitch.
On returning from international duty
“I'm always going to give 100% on the pitch weather I’m tired or not I’m out there giving my all for the fans and the team, whatever is needed of me every time I’m out there, I’m ready to give 90 minutes and do my best to help the team and that's what I did tonight.”
