MLS

FC Cincinnati, Toronto FC prepare for BMO Field showdown, the first of back-to-back games

Published

4 weeks ago

April 29, 2022

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A new Major League Soccer season has given renewed strength to Toronto FC, which seems closer to its MLS Cup-winning form of 2017 than it does its 2021 flirtation with last place in the league.

FC Cincinnati took advantage of Toronto’s 2021 dip, winning twice in three matches against the Canadian side.

NoW, FCC will have to grapple twice in a five-day stretch with a TFC on the rebound.

The first of those matches arrives Saturday afternoon in Toronto at BMO Field for a 3 p.m. kickoff as TFC (3-3-2) hosts FC Cincinnati (2-5-1).

More:Obinna Nwobodo could make his FC Cincinnati debut this weekend

More:Beckham Sunderland, FC Cincinnati’s homegrown talent, is making strides here and abroad

More:U.S. Open Cup: FC Cincinnati set to face New England Revolution in Round of 32

The clubs then meet Wednesday at TQL Stadium (7:30 p.m.) in a match that was rescheduled.

By Thursday morning, the clubs will have concluded their season series, and rest assured in knowing FC Cincinnati will have done battle with a higher-caliber of club than the TFC it faced last year.

Under Bob Bradley, one of the best-traveled and successful American managers in history, Toronto appears to be revitalized.

From 2019:LAFC’s Bob Bradley credits FC Cincinnati supporters

“It’s different managers, it’s different ideas and styles in certain ways,” FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said. “So, I’m not comparing anything from last year to Saturday, just because of how much has changed with both groups. I think we’ll see a lot of similarities, just in ideas from our most recent opponent (LAFC), where Bob had a big impact in some of the ideas that he’s transitioning into his (Toronto) group.

“I think we’ll have some ways that we prepare that might be similar to the previous week. And, again, it’ll be a challenge based on a group that you can see is continuing to improve each week. And we’re on the road and in a tough environment, we need to find ways to now get results in in these tough moments.”

Toronto’s most recent outing was a thriller by any MLS standard – a nine-goal, 5-4 loss to defending MLS Cup champion New York City FC. Jesús Jiménez, the league’s joint-leading scorer with six goals, tallied twice against NYCFC.

Bob Bradley’s son, Toronto and USMNT veteran Michael Bradley, also bagged his first goal of the year.

Prior to that, on April 16, Toronto dealt then-league leading Philadelphia Union its first loss of the season. Jiménez and Spanish midfielder Alejandro Pozuelo provided the offense that day.

“You can see our opponent continues to improve each week. Maybe not with the result in their most recent match but with their ideas with and without the ball, they continue to grow and improve,” Noonan said. “We’re prepared for a team that can get after the ball defensively in ways that can make you uncomfortable. So, how do we find solutions to being able to deal with the pressure moments? And then with the ball, a team that has the quality to move the ball quickly. They can beat you through the middle, they can beat you in wider areas if they’re playing with the wing backs. It presents a good test for us. And we know when we step on the field that it’s going to be an intense game, and we need to be prepared to match that intensity, but also have some quality with certain areas of our game to be able to get a result.”

The back-to-back matches with Toronto begins a string of five matches in a two-week span for FC Cincinnati.

As if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, FCC is injury-plagued. Two starters (Ray Gaddis, Ronald Matarrita) have been ruled out for Saturday’s game.

An additional five players that could all be considered regular starters and contributors – Tyler Blackett, Allan Cruz, Alec Kann, Yuya Kubo and Brandon Vazquez – are listed as questionable due to various ailments.

It’s also unclear which, if any, players will be ruled out from the match due to COVID-19 restrictions at the U.S.-Canada border.

More:FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium to host USMNT vs. Morocco friendly ahead of 2022 World Cup

More:US Open Cup: Alvaro Barreal scores twice, leads FC Cincinnati past Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

“Yes, we’re thin with numbers,” Noonan conceded during a Thursday interview. “But we’ve had a constant theme of having guys ready when they’re called upon. And we’ve gotten that in the form of Roman (Celentano), of Ian (Murphy), of Calvin (Harris). That part I’m pleased with and that helps us to continue to build the trust of the guys that maybe haven’t been getting the minutes to step up and do a job. So we’ll continue to take that approach.”

The Game

Kickoff: 3 p.m. ET on Saturday | BMO Field; Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Radio/stream: WSTR Star 64 / ESPN1530 / fccincinnati.com (local), ESPN+

Series info: Toronto FC leads the all-time series with FC Cincinnati with four wins and two losses (4-2-0). FC Cincinnati won last season’s three-match series by taking two out of three matches (2-1-0).

Cincinnati.com prediction: Toronto FC 2, FC Cincinnati 1.

FC Cincinnati

2022 record: 2-5-1, seven points; tied for 14th place in Eastern Conference; (3-5-1 all competitions)

Goals for: Nine

Goals against: 16

Coach: Pat Noonan – first season at FC Cincinnati

Projected starting lineup:

Roman Celentano (GK)

John Nelson, left back

Ian Murphy, center back

Nick Hagglund, center back

Alvas Powell, right back

Calvin Harris, midfielder

Luciano Acosta, midfielder

Junior Moreno, midfielder

Alvaro Barreal, midfielder

Brenner Souza da Silva, forward

Dominque Badji, forward

Toronto FC

2022 record: 3-3-2; 11 points, tied for fourth place in Eastern Conference.

Goals for: 10

Goals against: 11

Coach: Bob Bradley – first season at Toronto

Projected starting lineup:

Alex Bono, goalkeeper

Chris Mavinga, left back

Carlos Salcedo, center back

Shane O’Neill, right back

Jacob Shaffelburg, left wing back

Kosi Thompson, right wing back

Michael Bradley, midfielder

Jonathan Osorio, midfielder

Luca Petrasso, forward/winger

Alejandro Pozuelo, forward/winger

Jesús Jiménez, forward

Player to watch: Obinna Nwobodo, FC Cincinnati midfielder – After the FCC designated player’s acquisition was recently confirmed by Cincinnati, it’s possible he makes his debut for the club at Toronto. That would be a lot of international travel and soccer paperwork to get across the finish line in a relatively short span since his acquisition from Turkish club Göztepe, but Nwobodo will be available for selection, Noonan confirmed on Thursday.

Noteworthy: The visit to Toronto will be FC Cincinnati’s second-ever match against a Bob Bradley-managed MLS side. The legendary former Chicago Fire, U.S. men’s national team, Egyptian men’s national team and Los Angeles FC head coach last faced FC Cincinnati as LAFC’s boss in April 2019.

Also noteworthy: Following the FC Cincinnati-Toronto FC match at BMO Field, FC Cincinnati 2 (1-3-0) will take to the same field and face Toronto FC II (2-2-0) for the second time in the current MLS Next Pro season. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. The sides last met April 3 at Northern Kentucky University. FCC won the match, 2-1.

Of particular interest regarding FCC2-TFCII is how the MLS and MLS Next Pro roster rules will impact player availability with both clubs’ squads playing back-to-back on Saturday at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

FCC2 head coach Tyrone Marshall said during a Wednesday interview that the club was in contact with league officials to determine the availability of players that might be eligible to dress or play in both games.

“Look, we didn’t schedule the games and having some of the first-team guys who might potentially might be rostered – having them available for our game,” Marshall said. “Ultimately, the league, that’s what it’s about: Developing the young players, so there’s gonna be some conflicts at times. I think if we can maneuver through the conflicts in a situation like this coming weekend, how can we have a guy that’s rostered on the first team to still be available to play with us on the second team? And it’s not our fault where we’re playing right after them.

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MLS

Loons vs. NYCFC preview: Rematch at long last

Published

33 mins ago

May 28, 2022

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7 p.m. vs. New York City FC · BSN, 1500-AM

Preview: These two teams meet for the first time since April 2019, when the Loons opened new $250 million Allianz Field. Ozzie Alonso scored the stadium’s first goal in a 3-3 draw. This will be only the fourth time they have played competitively and the second at Allianz; each team is 1-1-1. … Wednesday’s 2-1 U.S. Open Cup loss to third-division Union Omaha knocked the Loons out of the all-comers tournament in the round of 16. Their last MLS game was Sunday’s 2-1 victory at FC Dallas. … NYCFC’s Open Cup victory over New England makes them 10 games undefeated in all competitions. Its last loss was in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinal against Seattle. Its last league loss was against Toronto in early April. … The Loons will play without yellow card-suspended Kervin Arriaga and Michael Boxall.

Injuries: The Loons’ Hassani Dotson and Patrick Weah are out for the season; goalkeeper Tyler Miller (abdominal) and defender Romain Metanire (thigh) are out, too. Leading scorer Robin Lod (thigh) is listed as questionable, as are midfielder Wil Trapp (ribs) and strikers Luis Amarilla (foot) and Abu Danladi (thigh). NYCFC lists Anton Tinnerholm (Achilles tendon) and Kevin O’Toole (head) as out and Chris Gloster, Tayvon Gray, Maxi Moralez and Malte Amundsen as questionable, all because of “lower body” injuries.

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MLS

Alex Roldán turned down call-up to El Salvador

Published

2 hours ago

May 27, 2022

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Alex Roldán was conspicuously left off El Salvador’s roster for some upcoming Concacaf Nations League matches. On Friday, El Salvador coach Hugo Perez explained why.

“To close this chapter I want to say that Roldán is not coming because he is not happy with what happened before the game against Canada,” he said in Spanish. “He prefers to take some more time to digest that. But that is the reason, there is no other. Those are things that don’t have to happen, but they did. But we can’t do anything anymore, we have to turn the page and move on.”

The incident in question happened in February, when the El Salvador players released a statement saying that they intended not to play a World Cup qualifier due to a dispute over bonuses. Although they eventually relented, some hard feelings apparently persisted.

The 2-0 loss to Canada effectively eliminated El Salvador from World Cup contention and Roldán was not part of the team during the final qualifying window, nor a friendly in April.

Although Roldán only made his El Salvador debut during last summer’s Gold Cup, he’s already made 15 appearances and established himself as a team captain.

In a Twitter post, Roldán didn’t offer a ton of elaboration but did say that he “didn’t want to come back with bad thoughts and ruin relationships” and left the door open for a return in the future.

El Salvador’s loss is the Sounders’ gain, however, as Roldán will now be available for the team’s June 14 match against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

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MLS

João Paulo undergoes ‘successful’ ACL surgery

Published

3 hours ago

May 27, 2022

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João Paulo underwent “successful” ACL surgery on Wednesday, the Seattle Sounders announced. The surgery was performed by Dr. Bert Mandelbaum in Santa Monica, Calif., the same doctor who did both of Jordan Morris’ ACL procedures. The injury occurred during the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League final on May 4.

Generally speaking, the recovery timeline for ACL surgeries is 6-9 months, which means the earliest João Paulo could return is sometime early next year, most likely in February or March. If the Club World Cup takes place in 2023, the thinking seems to be that it would likely happen in mid-February. The MLS regular season usually starts in late February or early March.

It took Morris about eight months to return from his most recent ACL surgery, but he was about five years younger than João Paulo is now. Jordy Delem needed almost a full year to recover from his ACL injury.

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