'They've really turned it around.' FC Cincinnati prepping for a contending Toronto FC

As it turned out, Toronto FC's season-opening draw at TQL Stadium on Feb. 25 was no fluke.

Toronto visited FC Cincinnati that day to commence the 2024 Major League Soccer season. After finishing last in MLS in 2023, TFC frustrated Cincinnati and held the defending Supporters' Shield winners to a scoreless tie.

At the time, the result was viewed as a poor one for FC Cincinnati, but it's aged well as Toronto worked its way into the playoff picture and stayed there.

Under the management of former Canadian national team head coach John Herdman, Toronto is enjoying unexpected success in what was thought to be an all-out rebuilding year. After winning four matches in all of 2023, the club already has seven victories (7-6-1, 22 points) and is holding down the No. 5 playoff position in the Eastern Conference with the halfway point of the 2024 campaign nearing.

Maybe that Feb. 25 draw wasn't such a bad draw for FC Cincinnati after all.

"I think they've really turned it around," FCC center back Ian Murphy said during a Thursday news conference. "Obviously, I thought they were a really tough challenge when we played them opening week. Obviously, it's the first week of the season but last week, their 5-1 win . . . It's a lot of new pieces and I feel like they're playing well."

Murphy referenced Toronto's 5-1 thrashing of rival CF Montreal last Saturday, which grabbed headlines across MLS. Federico Bernardeschi, TFC's highly-paid, joint-leading scorer in 2023, notched a hat-trick against Montreal to give him six goals on the season.

Berardeschi was named the league's Player of the Match Day for his hat-trick, however he will be suspended for Saturday's FC Cincinnati tilt due to a suspension for accumulating five yellow cards.

Prince Owusu also has six goals for Toronto this year, and the club has six multi-goal scorers.

Parallel to Toronto's MLS success, the club this week advanced to the semifinal round of the Canadian Championship − Canada's open-championship tournament − with an 8-1 beatdown of CS Saint-Laurent, a semi-professional side competing in Quebec's Ligue 1. Toronto won the two-game series, 11-1.

"I think of a team that's certainly improved, and have a better idea of each other," FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan said of Toronto. " I think they're in good form. They had a good week with advancing in the (Canadian Championship), and then the result against Montreal, so a good week for them. I think the biggest piece is they lose Bernardeschi, so that's disappointing because he's an excellent player and it would have been certainly nice to see him on the field . . . We look at a little bit of the first matchup (Feb. 25) just because there's some similarities, but typically we don't go back that far. Having said that, I think there might be a couple things that we can take from that first matchup that might come into play this weekend."

FC Cincinnati separating from pack with winning streak

FC Cincinnati heads to Toronto on a six-match winning streak, which matches a club record from 2023. Another victory would be to club history, and where better to achieve that than in the same venue where Cincinnati last season clinched its Supporters' Shield?

On the strength of captain Luciano Acosta's dominance − his eight-match streak of contributing at least one goal or assist is a team record − FC Cincinnati hasn't lost since a 2-1 defeat at Montreal on April 13.

On 30 points in the standings and a 9-2-3 record, Cincinnati has almost chased down league-leading Inter Miami CF (31 points) and could be starting to pull away from the pack in the east.

In 2023, FC Cincinnati used a run of strong performances similar to the current winning streak that helped distance itself from other Shield challengers in MLS. Entering last year's June international break, FCC was eight points ahead in the Shield race, and it never looked back.

With two matches to go before this season's international break (FCC won't play from May 29 to June 15), the club will definitely be in a tighter race for the Shield. As of now, it could be trailing going into the midseason pause for international matches.

For now, Noonan said, FCC is sticking to the same one-game-at-a-time mentality that allowed it to reach last year's trophy.

"I think the difference from where we are this year to last year is we've now won a Supporters' Shield," Noonan said. "So, the expectations are that we can go and do it. Internally, last year, we just didn't talk about it. We were consistent in getting results and bringing about that conversation. This year, the only difference is we're coming off of a Supporters' Shield, so I think the guys know that they can do it and they expect to do it, we just won't be discussing it with where we're at. There's just too much that's going to happen with our group, with other teams. You know, you're going into a transfer window where a lot can change across the board. The teams that are strong right now are trying to maintain it, there are teams that will go on a run, that's inevitable. What we can control is how we prepare for Toronto and trying to go and get a result.

"If we kind of maintain what's allowed us to be successful and not thinking too far ahead, I think we can stay in a position where when it actually matters at the end of the year as the year progresses, then we can talk about FCC being a part of a Supporters' Shield race."

Cincinnati could be noticeably hampered on the injury front this week. Yuya Kubo, the team's second-leading scorer with four goals, is expected to be unavailable for an unspecified period due to a hamstring injury. Right back Alvas Powell and Corey Baird are also day-to-day, Noonan said during his Friday news conference.

The absence of the versatile Kubo and potentially Baird, too, Noonan will have some important decisions to make in the attack. He could opt to start Gerardo Valenzuela and Kevin Kelsy, both 19 years old, alongside one another. Sergio Santos, who scored his second goal of 2024 across all competitions in Saturday's win against St. Louis City SC, will be another candidate to start.

DeAndre Yedlin, who missed multiple games due to a hip-pointer injury, trained with his teammates from Wednesday through Friday this week − a strong indication he'll be available to return to his right-back position at some point on Saturday.

The game

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. | BMO Field, Toronto

Broadcast: Apple TV MLS Season Pass, ESPN 1530 (radio)

All-time series: FC Cincinnati leads the all-time series against Toronto FC with a 6-4-1 record. FCC has won three consecutive matches at Toronto's BMO Field.

Cincinnati.com prediction: FC Cincinnati 2, Toronto 1

FC Cincinnati

Record (MLS): 9-2-3, 30 points; Second place in Eastern Conference

Goals for: 18 (Tied for No. 6 in east)

Goals against: 11 (No. 1 in MLS)

Head coach: Pat Noonan, third season as head coach.

Projected starting XI: Roman Celentano goalkeeper; Luca Orellano, left wing back; Ian Murphy, center back; Matt Miazga, center back; Miles Robinson, center back; DeAndre Yedlin, right wing back; Obinna Nwobodo, midfielder; Pavel Bucha, midfielder; Luciano Acosta, midfielder; Kevin Kelsey, forward; Gerardo Valenzuela, forward.

Toronto FC

Record: 7-6-1, 22 points; fifth in MLS Western Conference

Goals for: 21 (Tied for No. 5 in west)

Goals against: 20 (Tied for No. 6 in west)

Head coach: John Herdman, first season as Toronto head coach

Projected starting XI: Sean Johnson (GK), Sigurd Rosted, center back; Nicksoen Gomis, center back; Raoul Petretta, center back; Kobe Franklin, right back/winger, Tyrese Spicer, left back/winger; Deiby Flores, midfielder; Matty Longstaff, forward; Lorenzo Insigne, forward; Prince Owusu, forward.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Against Toronto FC, FC Cincinnati seeking club-record winning streak