Meanwhile Lorenzo Insigne produced one of the top performances of his Toronto career to date. The Italian creator found Flores with a corner-kick delivery for TFC’s opener, instigated the Ian Murphy own goal that leveled the match at 2-2, equalized again from the penalty spot at 3-3 and clanged a screamer off the top corner of the woodwork from 35 yards out before seeing another clutch late leveler scotched by an offside flag.
Perhaps most strikingly, the well-compensated Designated Player – whose commitment was angrily questioned by segments of the Reds support during an injury-plagued, overall miserable 2023 – was palpably, emotionally invested throughout, diligently tracking back to defend and looking distraught to the point of tears after the final whistle.
“He’s going to rise to those occasions, 100%,” said Herdman. “Lorenzo, he’s had a rough ride. It’s not been easy. You’ve got to understand, the lad came here with high expectations to do big things. He’s a winner. He wants to win everything. But he’s had injuries, and now it’s the first time really in his career, it is just one after another.
“So tonight, to see him going 99 minutes, 100 minutes was a big step, I think, for the team, for the fans. But even just his commitment in those minutes, I think if he played another 10, he could have scored another two goals. He was just loving it. That shot against the crossbar, maybe only Messi could do something like that in this league. I mean, that was magic.”
Also impressive, and perhaps sobering for their counterparts across the East: Both these teams remain well short of their maximum potential considering their missing contributors and limited time together thus far.
TFC were missing their other Italian star, Fede Bernardeschi, due to a cautions-accumulation suspension and expect to soon welcome Richie Laryea, Jonathan Osorio and Kevin Long back from injury. Cincinnati have made significant changes to the lineup that won the Supporters’ Shield last year yet have stayed on course, perhaps even improved, picking up results while integrating new pieces.
“Defensively I think we’ve been pretty solid for a majority of the year – obviously tonight may be a little bit of an outlier, but I just think that the relationships are improving, the understanding of some of the roles and just specifics within it are improving for the guys,” said Noonan. “So I hate saying things take time, but in terms of this particular group meshing and improving, we’re what, 15 games in and I think you’ve really seen improvements over the last two or three weeks that we were really struggling with in certain areas to start the season. So I’m really pleased with where the group’s at, and I think they all know, and our staff knows, that there’s there’s plenty to improve, which is a good thing, considering where we’re at.”
