FC Cincinnati lost to Toronto FC for the first time in six meetings at TQL Stadium, falling 1-0 March 8 in Major League Soccer action.
Both teams are 1-2 for the 2026 season. Cincinnati has lost two straight, both by 1-0 shutouts.
Daniel Salloi slipped behind the Cincinnati defense unnoticed in the 85th minute, received a well-timed diagonal pass from Richie Lareya from the midfield stripe, then beat Cincy keeper Roman Celentano one-on-one to the far post. Salloi, a 29-year old from Hungary, scored his 60th career MLS goal. He had spent the previous nine years with Sporting Kansas City.
It was the first goal Toronto has scored in six games at TQL Stadium. Cincy had gone 4-0-1 all-time in previous meetings, outscoring the Canadian side, 9-0.
Head coach Pat Noonan was frustrated after the game and spoke for only two minutes.
“Yeah, another underwhelming performance,” he said. “The team’s not good enough right now, and that’s on me. “A lot (is not coming together). You can’t pinpoint one thing: how we progress the ball, how creative we are in one-v-one moments, decision-making in and around goal. It’s all of it. You can see it. You can feel it. There are not a lot of ideas and confidence when we have the ball. So again, that’s on me, because we got to find solutions.”
Salloi’s goal broke a defensive stalemate in which neither team generated much offense. Toronto had seven shots on goal to only two for Cincinnati. Both teams had 0.9 expected goals.
Toronto had allowed three goals in each of its first two games. Tonight, they blocked numerous attempts and only allowed two shots on goal. They also had several occasions where they made a panicked clearance over the end line for a corner kick or out to the side when a defender had time to control the ball and send it forward.
“A lot of things that we saw from (Toronto’s) first couple of games were pretty similar tonight,” Noonan said. “Different personnel, but they defended the ball well. And it’s hard to discredit what they’re doing and say that wasn’t a factor, because despite how poor we were, they defended better than we had.”
Tom Barlow said it was disappointing to be shut out at home but it’s early in the season.
““The plan was to come out strong tonight and put on a good performance, especially at home in front of our fans,” he said. “The ideas were not there and we lacked a little bit of creativity in the final third. For us, it’s getting back to training and getting some of those things down, working together and gelling a little bit more.”
Barlow, a new player in the attack this year but an eight-year MLS veteran, said the team will keep working and figuring out the offense.
“It takes a little bit of time,” he said. “Obviously, some of these guys have been playing together for a little bit. It’s the first few games for me, but it starts on the training pitch and building that chemistry. The idea is to create ideas that translate to the game. Today, it didn’t work, but I’m confident we’ll get there.”
Right wingback Ender Echenique also said it’s early in the season and he has confidence in his team.
“Frustrated to not have goals, but I think this is a team that’s going to continue to get better week by week,” he said through an interpreter. “We have really good players in the locker room who want to get better and want to solve those problems.”
Below are updates from the match as it progressed.
78th minute: Evander returns to the pitch in a scoreless game
Evander made his return to the lineup in the 73rd minute, replacing Ender Echenique. Cincy has 10 shots tonight, but only two on goal. And the expected-goal number is still 0.7 for the game to 0.5 for Toronto, who has three shots on goal.
65th minute: No score yet
Ayoub Jabbari has replaced Tom Barlow, and Sami Gidi replaces Gerardo Valenzuela. No Evander on the pitch yet. Looks like both Pavel Bucha and Obi Nwobodo are playing further up to support the offense, with Gidi staying back. Pat Noonan experimented with three non-Evander central mids on the field at the same time in the preseason, and is using that combo now. .
Halftime: FC Cincinnati 0, Toronto FC 0
Both teams had great chances in the closing minutes. Miles Robinson made a tough play to clear the ball out of the 18, leading to a corner kick, which was cleared out of bounds to end the half.
Both teams had five shots in the half. Cincy had four corners to five for Toronto. Cincy has an expected-goal number of 0.7 to 0.6 for the Canadian side.
Ender Echenique has had a great game making things happen from the right side on offense.
30′ – 0-0 as Toronto gets two quality shots
Toronto had two great shots moments ago. Emilio Aristizabal forced a diving save by Celentano on a hard shot from the side. Djordje Mihailovic, who set up the play, got the ball on the rebound and fired a shot just wide from about 20 yards.
15′ – No score
Ender Echenique just got a big reaction from the crowd with an impressive sequence in which he nutmegged a defender near the flag and went around him to get the ball, drawing big cheers. He was tripped near the 18 but no foul was called, then moments later, Echenique got up, got the ball back and was called for a foul in that action, which drew loud boos.
Travis Steele pulls the sword
Travis Steele, head coach of the 31-0 Miami RedHawks men’s basketball team, pulled the sword in pregame ceremonies, with members of the team and his family there.
Starting lineups
Cincinnati starts Kevin Denkey and Tom Barlow up front. Dado Valenzuela takes Evander’s spot again at No. 10, but Evander is available off the bench. Obi Nwobodo and Pavel Bucha are in central midfield. Bryan Ramirez and Ender Echenique are on the wings. Gilberto Flores, Miles Robinson and Nick Hagglund are on defense with Roman Celentano in goal.
A look at the matchup between FC Cincinnati and Toronto FC
Here is our preview of the match. Note that Cincy star center back Matt Miazga is in Philadelphia this afternoon making his 2026 debut with FC Cincinnati 2, so will not be in uniform tonight. Evander has been training with the club and he was pictured in social media posts promoting tonight’s game, so there are signs that he could be in the starting lineup against Toronto.
Will Josh Sargent make his MLS debut for Toronto?
Toronto signee Josh Sargent was officially welcomed to the team as the club’s newest Designated Player after a league-high fee paid to Norwich City FC of the EFL Championship in England. Sargent, 26, is a forward who started for the U.S. Men’s National Team in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He scored 56 total goals for Norwich City and has been training with Toronto this week.
Toronto is 0-2 this season. They might want to hold Sargent for their home opener March 14 and debut him for the home fans. But since they’re already 0-2 for the season, there is urgency to send him out there at TQL to get a result.
FC Cincinnati celebrates women on International Women’s Day
Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day. FC Cincinnati commemorated the occasion by sharing a video clip of head coach Pat Noonan talking about the influential women in his life, and a video of Evander doing the same with his family. Nick Hagglund shared a personal post on his Instagram account about his wife, children and rest of his family.
How to watch FC Cincinnati vs. Toronto FC
Watch: Apple TV (English and Spanish)
English Local Radio: iHeart Media ESPN 1530
Spanish Local Radio: La Mega 101.5 FM
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati loses to Toronto FC in MLS play | Replay
Reporting by James Weber, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
