After a dominant performance on Saturday at home, FC Cincinnati continue their grueling early road schedule by travelling to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to face off with Toronto FC in a midweek match up. The trip to Toronto starts a three-game road trip that takes The Orange and Blue to Columbus and Atlanta as part of a busy, seven game May.
For FC Cincinnati, the return to midweek and double-match weeks is a routine thing after starting the season on a frenetic pace with Champions Cup action intertwining with league play. So while some clubs may be experiencing this busy schedule for the first time in 2025, FCC have plenty of experience in knowing how to move on from game-to-game quickly.
“The previous experiences can help us, but it's how you utilize it in the moment,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said Monday at a pre match press conference. “I think when you go Saturday, Wednesday, there's enough time in between that to be fresh, to get recovered – if you're putting out the same lineup. The most challenging part is on the back end of the two games, when you have a two day turnaround to play the third game, that's where I think it becomes challenging for any team.”
With a winning streak spoiled two-weeks ago, and potentially a new one started three-days ago, FC Cincinnati is looking to continue its strong form away from home to keep the momentum going. FC Cincinnati have won in six of their last seven games, they have also earned a tie for league high three wins away from home. In order to continue that trend, Noonan says they are looking to improve on a strong performance last time out but also learn from the concerning aspects of their game.
“I thought it was in many ways a strong performance and chance creation was better. I think our transition, movement and opportunities were pretty good. Obviously, we can be a little bit more, I would say, efficient in the final product,” Noonan explained. “I think where we got challenged most was having to defend crosses. I think we could have done a better job of shifting out and eliminating those. But overall…I was pleased with how we responded from a poor start to the second half to get the second goal and win a game.”
Since Pat Noonan took charge as Head Coach FC Cincinnati have not lost to Toronto FC, winning six of seven matches with the Canadian club. With the match coming in the midweek and a rivalry matchup with Columbus Crew in Hell is Real looms this weekend, there is an obvious inclination to look past 13th place Toronto. So while Noonan has addresses the busy upcoming schedule in terms of matches and fitness with the squad, he says they are not overlooking any opponent.
“We haven't addressed the weekend. We know our opponent is Toronto on Wednesday,” Noonan explained firmly on Monday. “We've already gone over the schedule, just to help guys understand what this week would look like, and you know what's at the tail end of it, but we'll turn our focus to the weekend after Wednesday. But if anybody's thinking about that, then Wednesday is going to be very challenging for us. So I don't think that's the case.
FC CINCINNATI vs Toronto FC – Wednesday, May 14, 2025 – 7:30 p.m. ET – BMO Field
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Against TFC
Since joining Major League Soccer in 2019, FC Cincinnati have defeated Toronto FC more than any other opponent in MLS play. FC Cincinnati hold an all-time 8-4-1 record against TFC, the club’s most wins against any club in regular season play.
That’s despite the Reds winning each of the first three all-time meetings between the clubs in 2019 and 2020. Under Head Coach Pat Noonan, Cincinnati are unbeaten against Toronto FC: 6-0-1.
FC CINCINNATI NOTES
In the clutch – FC Cincinnati are 35-9 (.796) in MLS matches decided by one goal since the start of the 2023 season. Only the New England Revolution (20-16, .557) and Austin FC (20-20, .500) have as many as 20 one-goal wins over that span. The turnaround is massive from pre-2023. In 2022, the club was 6-6 (.500) in such games, and in 2021 the club was 2-12 (.143).
Wednesday Winning – Wednesday marks the first midweek matchday of the MLS season, FC Cincinnati’s third match on Hump Day in 2025 including Champions Cup play. Under Pat Noonan, FC Cincinnati have fared well on Wednesday. Under Noonan since 2022, across all competitions, FCC are 15-5-6 in 26 matches falling on a Wednesday (1-0-1 this season).
Return to Toronto – FC Cincinnati defender Nick Hagglund has been impressive in 2025 after returning from season-ending ankle ligament surgery last summer. He has started all eight of his appearances since debuting this season on March 22 - going the full 90 minutes in five of those games. Hagglund played five seasons with Toronto (2014-18) and made 88 MLS regular-season appearances, 10 MLS Cup Playoff appearances, and was part of the club’s 2017 MLS Cup title.
Welcome Kei! – On Monday, FC Cincinnati signed veteran forward Kei Kamara to a contract through 2025 with an option for 2026. Kamara has scored 147 career MLS Regular Season goals – second most in league history behind Chris Wondolowski (171). He has appeared in the fourth-most MLS matches (445) in league history and FC Cincinnati will mark his MLS-record 12th different club.
SCOUTING Toronto FC (2-6-2, 10 Points, 13th in Eastern Conference)
Toronto FC host FC Cincinnati coming off of their second win of the season and are hoping to build on that result after a challenging start to the 2025 season.
With only two wins this season, Toronto FC have struggled not only to earn results but put in performances as along with their inseason challenges The Reds bowed out of the Canadian Championship at their earliest stage in club history. With a 2-0 result against D.C. United thought this weekend, and Italian star Lorenzo Insigne scoring in the effort, perhaps Toronto have found some form that can help carry over to the next week.
“Their shapes changed in recent games, obviously coming off of better results,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said of the upcoming opponent at his pre match press conference on Monday. “Their first half against DC, I think, was as strong as we've seen from them. I don't know how they assess some of the other halves or performances, but they could have scored a lot of goals. So that was noticeable.”
Much of the story to do with Toronto FC this season has been the availability of star forward Lorenzo Insigne, who at the start of 2025, was questionable to return to the club. The star attacker has returned to the mix after missing the first meeting with FCC and impacted the clubs offensive capability. He, along with Federico Bernardeschi, have made up a third of the total offensive output for the team with a combined three goals. Only Bernardeschi and Deandre Kerr (who has not appeared since March 29) have scored multiple goals for Toronto.
In the match with D.C. United Head Coach Robin Frasier deployed a 3-5-2 formation with Berardeshi and Raoul Petretta playing as wingbacks. Irish center back Kevin Long started in the middle of the defensive back three, with Canadian forward Theo Corbineau alongside Norwegian loan signing Ola Brynhildsen at the top of the formation.
In net for Toronto is USMNT goalkeeper Sean Johnson, who has manned the metal for TFC since joining the club at the start of the 2024 season. Johnson, 35, has registered the 4th most clean sheets in MLS history with 104 in his 15 seasons in MLS. Prior to joining The Reds Johnson started for Chicago Fire FC and NYCFC while making 11 appearances for his national team. While he never appeared in the tournament, Johnson was selected to the USMNT for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
