TORONTO – For the first time ever, the visitors' locker room at BMO Field was the one with the celebratory music turned all the way up at the conclusion of an FC Cincinnati-Toronto FC match.
FC Cincinnati on Saturday won at BMO Field for the first time, defeating Toronto, 2-1, before a crowd of 23,591.
The win saw FC Cincinnati improve to 3-5-1 on the season, and vault itself out of last place in the Eastern Conference.
"I think it was an important three points considering recent games and not finding a way to get a point or three," FCC head coach Pat Noonan said. "You know, the LAFC game. Good point in Atlanta but prior to that, the loss at home to Montreal, was the one previous from that, so it's important to get back in the win column. I was really pleased up until their goal (in the 65th minute) just how we played and managed moments of the game to have some quality going forward. To have some confidence in playing with the ball on the ground and, defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job of getting a team that knows how to move the ball well and has some quality centrally to be able to cause some problems.
"I was really pleased with how we positioned ourselves to get three points."
FC Cincinnati received goals on either side of halftime from Ian Murphy and Luciano Acosta in the 44th and 52nd minutes, respectively.
Murphy coolly settled the ball and lashed home the opening goal of the contest. The ball fell to him in the latter phases of a corner kick that was initially played short.
For the rookie and Duke University product, the goal was the first of his Major League Soccer career.
"It's nice to see us being able to score in different ways," Noonan said. "Tonight, it was Ian on the set piece. I thought it was set up nicely in how we got it to that point. Nick (Hagglund) does a good job to knock it down. That was something these guys had worked on during the week, which is also nice."
Murphy smiled at a mention of his goal post-match.
"I don't know, you saw my reaction," Murphy said, laughing. "Just kind of running back. Kind of didn't expect it obviously but after last week against LAFC when we scored a late goal at the end of the (first) half, I was kind of more focused on closing out the game and celebrating everything later.
Acosta doubled FCC's lead on the club's second set-piece goal of the match, tapping home off an Alvas Powell throw-in.
Cincinnati looked like it was going to cruise to the three points but the game took an unexpected twist in the final half hour as FCC's shape buckled and, at times, collapsed.
Toronto took advantage of Cincinnati's sagging defense and pressed for a goal, and they found one. Jesús Jiménez scored his MLS-leading seventh goal to halve TFC's deficit in the 65th minute.
Cincinnati looked like it might relinquish the lead altogether.
"I thought once we conceded the goal, it certainly rattled us because I think we stopped playing a little bit," Noonan said. "Didn't have the moment to play out of pressure because they did a good job of starting to throw numbers forward and put us under pressure, and we just didn't handle those moments with a whole lot of quality."
But moments after the Jiménez goal, the debut introduction of recently-signed defensive midfielder Obinna Nwobodo, along with Brandon Vazquez, were brought into the match.
Nwobodo and Vazquez were two of the four substitutes Noonan introduced after Jiménez's goal, and it helped injury-plagued FCC get the win across the finish line.
"We wanted some fresh legs," Noonan said. "Legs on the field that could still get pressure to the ball.
Nwobodo, a ball-hawking midfielder from first-division Turkish side Göztepe SK, was as good as advertised in his first game for Cincinnati. He played 23 minutes, had three successful tackles and produced quality passing in the critical, waning moments of the contest.
"It will go up from here. (Obi's) coming from a real league on a team that he's matched up against some very good players in some great atmospheres, so this isn't a shock to his system," Noonan said. "I think you could see that with how he's closing (on) the ball, how he's brave in those moments not just to win the ball but pick his head up and find a pass that breaks a pressure. He wasn't rattled by this being his first minutes with a new team. You could see that, so I was very pleased with the minutes he gave us."
Rookie FC Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano, who started for the second game in a row, gathered a feed into his penalty area late in second-half added time to effectively kill the game.
Celentano ended the day with two saves.
Cincinnati took round one of the back-to-back matches with Toronto but the clubs will battle Wednesday at TQL Stadium (7:30 p.m.).
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TORONTO – Welcome to Cincinnati.com's live coverage of FC Cincinnati (2-5-1) versus Toronto FC (3-3-2) at BMO Field. Refresh this page throughout the match for live updates and analysis, and follow Enquirer FC Cincinnati beat reporter Pat Brennan on Twitter (@PBrennanENQ) for further analysis.
In-match:
• FINAL: FC Cincinnati 2, Toronto FC 1.
• 65th minute – GOAL, Toronto FC (1-2): Jesús Jiménez.
• 52nd minute – GOAL, FC Cincinnati (0-2): Luciano Acosta slotted home from close range to double FCC's advantage. The goal was his second in two matches, and third on the ye
• Halftime: FC Cincinnati 1, Toronto FC 0.
• 43rd minute – GOAL, FC Cincinnati (0-1): Ian Murphy scored the first goal of his MLS career in the latter stages of a corner-kick restart.
• Game underway at 3:08 p.m.
Pre-match:
• FC Cincinnati starting XI: Roman Celentano (GK), John Nelson, Ian Murphy, Nick Hagglund, Alvas Powell, Haris Medunjanin, Junior Moreno, Alvaro Barreal, Luciano Acosta, Dominique Badji, Brenner Souza da Silva.
• FCC bench: Isaac Atanga, Zico Bailey, Nick Markanich, Obi Nwobodo, Quimi Ordonez, Harrison Robledo, Brandon Vazquez, Kenneth Vermeer (GK).
• Notes: FC Cincinnati leading scorer Brandon Vazquez is back in the fold after missing last week's match against LAFC through injury.
