Cover Image via FC Cincinnati
By Kyra Campbell
FC Cincinnati (19-4-8) have won the Supporters’ Shield following their 3-2 victory over Toronto FC (4-17-10).
The Orange and Blue clinched their first ever MLS trophy with 65 points and three games left in the regular season.
FCC’s starting XI was the strongest they’ve been able to field in a long time.
Roman Celentano started in goal with Ian Murphy, Matt Miazga, and Yerson Mosquera making up the backline. Alvaro Barreal and Santiago Arias started at wingback.
The midfield consisted of Luciano Acosta, Junior Moreno, and Obinna Nwodobo. Brandon Vazquez and Aaron Boupendza were the starting strikers.
Cincinnati got ahead 1-0 in the 28th minute when Vazquez slotted home his seventh league goal.
In the 35th minute, Vazquez got himself a brace and put FCC up 2-0. It seemed Cincinnati was well on their way to clinching the Shield.
Then, in the 39th minute, Toronto’s Jonathan Osorio pulled one back for the home side, making the score 2-1.
In the 44th minute, Osorio scored another for a brace of his own, tying the match, putting FCC’s dreams of claiming the Shield the easy way in jeopardy.
Later on, in the 72nd minute Boupendza scored, assisted by Lucho, to put FCC back in the lead at 3-2.
Looking to see out the victory, Cincinnati made a trio of substitutions to see out the match: Dominique Badji for Boupendza in the 82nd minute, Ray Gaddis for Barreal in the 85th, and Yuya Kubo for Moreno in the 89th.
After seven long minutes of added time, FCC would indeed see the match out at the 3-2 scoreline, securing their first piece of MLS hardware.
FC Cincinnati are back at home on Wednesday to take on the New York Red Bulls (8-13-10) in the clubs’ third meeting of the year. Both previous meetings occurred at Red Bull Arena, both resulting in victories for FCC.
A celebration of the 2023 Supporters’ Shield will follow the conclusion of the match.
The match is at 7:30 p.m. and, as always, fans can tune on the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.