MLS Regular Season | Match #15
Toronto FC vs FC Cincinnati
Saturday, May 25 | 7:30 p.m. ET
BMO Field | Toronto, Ontario
TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
English (Apple TV): Callum Williams (Play-by-Play) and Calen Carr (Analyst)
English (Local Feed): Gareth Wheeler
Spanish (Apple TV): Adrian Garcia Marquez (Play-by-Play) and Francisco Pinto (Analyst)
Toronto FC (7-6-1, 22 pts) host 2023 Supporters’ Shield winners FC Cincinnati (9-2-3, 30 pts) at BMO Field for their for their 15th match of the 2024 MLS regular season on Saturday evening. The Matchday 16 encounter kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET and can be viewed globally on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.
Both Eastern Conference clubs enter Saturday’s match in rich vein of form, with the Reds winning seven of their last nine matches across all competitions and the visitors winning six MLS matches on the bounce since April 20. TFC earned a road point in their 2024 MLS season opener against FC Cincinnati on February 25 and currently hold a 4W-6L-1T record through their first 11 meetings with the Orange and Blue across six seasons.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Toronto FC welcome 2019 MLS expansion club FC Cincinnati to BMO Field for their eighth MLS home match of the 2024 season on Saturday evening. After recording their fifth home win of the season last weekend against CF Montréal, TFC hold a 120W-84L-77T all-time record (437 points) in MLS regular season matches played on home soil.
AN ODE TO THE PAST
Toronto FC host 2023 Supporters’ Shield winners FC Cincinnati for the 12th regular season meeting in the all-time series between the two clubs. Historically, TFC hold a 4W-6L-1T record through their first 11 meetings with the Orange and Blue. The two clubs have previously faced off at BMO Field on four separate occasions, with each side winning a pair of matches apiece. TFC enter Saturday’s match looking for their first home victory against Cincinnati since recording a 3-2 win, courtesy of goals from Jacob Shaffelburg, Mark Delgado and Ifunanyachi Achara, at BMO Field on September 29, 2021. Earlier this season, the two Eastern Conference clubs played out a tightly contested goalless draw in their 2024 MLS season opener on February 25, a performance that marked TFC’s first result at TQL Stadium in club history.
BATTLE OF THE NORTH
Toronto FC booked a spot in the 2024 Canadian Championship semi-finals on Tuesday night, after defeating CS Saint-Laurent 11-1 on aggregate over two legs. Carrying a three-goal lead into the second leg, the Reds put on a dominant performance against the Ligue1 Québec side and scored eight goals in a single match for the first time in club history to win 8-1 at BMO Field. Canadian forward Deandre Kerr scored his first hat-trick for Toronto FC and made club history by becoming the first player to score four goals in a single match for the club. Haitian winger Derrick Etienne Jr. opened his account for his new club, scoring his first goal and registering his first assist for the Reds. A trio of current Toronto FC II players earned call-ups for Tuesday’s fixture, with Antony Curic starting his first match for TFC, Nate Edwards making his First Team debut and Andrei Dumitru starting his first match and registering his first assist for the Reds.
THE CLIMB CONTINUES
The Reds enter Saturday’s match on the back of two successive victories in league and domestic cup action. Prior to Tuesday’s Canadian Championship victory, Toronto FC recorded an emphatic 5-1 victory against rivals CF Montréal in the 401 Derby at BMO Field last Saturday. The Reds got off to an electric start and scored three goals in the first 20 minutes of a match for the first time in club history with goals from Matty Longstaff, Federico Bernardeschi and Prince Owusu. Italian Federico Bernardeschi scored his first hat-trick for TFC, with his second and third goals setting a club record for the two fastest goals scored by one player (108 seconds) in club history. TFC’s four-goal victory also marked the largest margin of victory the Reds have recorded against Canadian rivals CF Montréal in Major League Soccer history.
FANTASTIC FEDE
TFC’s Federico Bernardeschi was named MLS Player of the Matchday for Matchday 15 after scoring his first career MLS hat-trick and leading the Reds to a historic 5-1 rivalry victory against CF Montréal on Saturday. Bernardeschi’s hat-trick, the club’s first since July 2020, moved him into seventh on the club’s all-time goalscoring charts with 20 goals. The Italian has now registered six goals and three assists across the Reds’ last four MLS matches since April 27. The MLS Player of the Matchday honour, a career first for Bernardeschi, marks the first TFC player to earn the honour since Michael Bradley in July 2022 and the first Italian to win the award since former TFC forward Sebastian Giovinco in August 2017.
TEAM OF THE MATCHDAY
Federico Bernardeschi was also named to the MLS Team of the Matchday 15, alongside teammate Deybi Flores, earlier in the week. Named as a starter, the honour marks Bernardeschi’s ninth career Team of the Matchday selection and his fourth of the 2024 MLS campaign. Deybi Flores earned his place, as a substitute, for his second Team of the Matchday selection of the season. Flores picked up his first MLS assist for TFC with a defence-splitting pass to set up Bernardeschi in the 12th minute against CF Montréal. The Honduran midfielder led TFC in passes (73) and successful passes (63), while also ranking second amongst the Reds’ in distance covered (10.69 km), ball actions (82) and high-speed runs (45) on the night. In total, Toronto FC have now earned 14 MLS Team of the Matchday honours during the 2024 MLS regular season – Federico Bernardeschi (4), Sean Johnson (3), Lorenzo Insigne (2), Deybi Flores (2), Kevin Long (1), Prince Owusu (1) and Tyrese Spicer (1).
ONCE A RED
The Reds and their faithful will welcome a familiar face in FC Cincinnati’s Nick Hagglund on Saturday. The Ohio native was selected 10th overall by Toronto FC in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft and made 115 appearances across five seasons (2014 – 2018) for TFC, helping the club win the domestic treble in 2017 with the MLS Cup, Supporters’ Shield and Canadian Championship. The defender joined his hometown club, FC Cincinnati, via trade in January 2019 and is the club’s all-time leader in minutes, games played and games started. Hagglund is the only player to have been rostered in all six of FC Cincinnati’s MLS seasons and has made six appearances for the Orange and Blue during the 2024 MLS season.
