Cincinnati, OH – FC Cincinnati doesn’t train until Wednesday (edit: Thursday!) of this week as they crashed out of the Leagues Cup Round of 32 against “rivals” Nashville SC in penalties. Now what? What’s next?
FC Cincinnati still has three trophies that are within reach. The Orange and Blue have already made it to the semifinal round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament, the very tournament that put the Cincinnati soccer scene on national headlines 6 years ago. FC Cincinnati’s longest run in the Open Cup tournament back in 2017 ended at home, at the University of Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium, against MLS side New York Red Bulls.
They went up 2-0 at home before giving up 3 goals in what could only be described as a painful defeat. FC Cincinnati were oh so close to going all the way as a USL Championship side in just their second season as a club. Now, they have a chance to make it to that final match – but the biggest roadblock in the history of US Soccer stands in their way. Lionel. Messi. We’ll have a preview for that match when we get closer to it, but it’s obviously one of the biggest matchups of the season for both sides.
Before that match kicks off, FC Cincinnati will travel up I-71 for roughly two hours to play at Lower.com field in another edition of the Hell is Real derby, a rivalry established in that infamous 2017 US Open Cup run. FC Cincinnati got the better of their in-state rivals in the home fixture this season, a 3-2 win with the winning goal coming from a rather unlikely source – defensive midfielder Junior Moreno.
But a lot has changed since that May 20th matchup this season. Columbus parted ways with some notable players on their roster: GK Eloy Room, CB Milos Degenek, and of course, Armenian midfielder Lucas Zelarayan. Zelarayan joined Columbus in December of 2019, and since then played 97 regular season matches with the Crew, recording 38 goals and 30 assists during that tenure. Zelarayan was THE key player for the Crew in their 2020 MLS Cup winning season, leading to him earning the MLS Cup MVP honors for that year. Lucas Zelarayan’s transfer to Saudi Pro League side Al Fateh marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new Crew.
Columbus quickly filled the vacant DP slot Lucas Zelarayan left by signing former LAFC midfielder Diego Rossi from Turkish Super Lig side Fenerbahce. Rossi was the youngest player in MLS history to win the Golden Boot back in 2020, and recorded 48 goals and 21 assists in 104 regular season matches during his time in Los Angeles. He’s also joined by some other new faces for Columbus: former CF Montreal defender Rudy Camacho and former Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Julian Gressel.
Of course, FC Cincinnati made some moves of their own since the two sides last met. Brazilian forward Brenner got his move to Europe finalized at the start of the secondary transfer window, moving to Italy and Serie A side Udinese ahead of their 2023-24 campaign. In his place, FC Cincinnati signed a DP striker in Aaron Boupendza, a Gabon international forward who earned the Golden Boot honors back in 2020/21 in the Turkish Super Lig. We’ve seen Boupendza’s play with FC Cincinnati during Open Cup play, as he’s scored 1 goal and assisted another in his 5 matches with the club.
So, what to expect? Well, I’m not truly sure. Columbus and FC Cincinnati both lost in PKs in the Round of 32 of the Leagues Cup (on the same night), so both teams have the same prep time for this derby match. Of course, Pat Noonan and Co. will have the Open Cup match between FC Cincinnati and Inter Miami to prepare for as well, and given the amount of time between now and Sunday, August 20th… I would expect Noonan to prep for both matches to a certain extent.
The turnaround time between Hell is Real on Sunday and the Open Cup semifinal on Wednesday is just not enough time unless you prepare for both matches over the next two weeks. I mean, look at the schedule FC Cincinnati has ahead of them once MLS matches start rolling.
- August 20 – Hell is Real Derby
- August 21 – Recovery
- August 22 – Matchday -1 Training
- August 23 – US Open Cup Semifinal vs Inter Miami CF
- August 24 – Recovery
- August 25 – Matchday -1 Training
- August 26 – FC Cincinnati vs New York City FC
That’s 3 matches in 7 calendar days. 2 days in between matches. The only real thing going for FC Cincinnati during this stretch is that all three matches are either in Columbus or Cincinnati. Travel isn’t bad at all. But it doesn’t get much better after that stretch.
- August 27 – Recovery
- August 28 – Matchday -2 Training
- August 29 – Matchday -1 Training
- August 30 – Atlanta United vs FC Cincinnati (TURF)
- August 31 – Recovery
- September 1 – Matchday -1 Training
- September 2 – FC Cincinnati vs Orlando City SC
Finally, FC Cincinnati gets a breather, as they don’t play until 8 days later on a Sunday in Miami against Messi and co. But that’s still 5 matches across 14 days. That’s a lot.
FC Cincinnati currently holds a decent lead in both the Supporter’s Shield and Eastern Conference tables. But with the sheer amount of matches left, how congested the schedule is, AND with the US Open Cup holding valuable prize money and the coveted CONCACAF Champions League qualification, maybe FC Cincinnati getting a break right now isn’t that bad after all.
Obviously, losing isn’t fun. It’s not what the club wants, it’s not what the coaches want, it’s not what the players want. Between Pat Noonan, Brandon Vazquez, and Lucho Acosta after Friday’s defeat, they were all very consistent on how upsetting it was to lose. And that’s good.
Pat Noonan when asked if dealing with the loss is easier in Leagues Cup:
“No, we lost, and losing is never enjoyable. So whether it’s cup play, leagues play, playoffs, you never have good feeling when you’ve come up a little short, which we did tonight. So there’s disappointment because we feel like we could have gone far in this tournament and position ourselves to win a trophy, but you know, it wasn’t meant to be. So like I said, we’ll try to use this as a good learning experience of what it looks like in a knockout competition, you know, we have obviously the league play resuming but shortly after we go into the semis of the Open Cup and then that’s what the playoffs look like as well. So hopefully we position ourselves to be playing in this building and have an idea of what it feels like when you don’t win a game. I think these guys will come back in a strong way, but they don’t feel good about the loss. Neither do I.”
Brandon Vazquez on the loss:
“It’s frustrating. I know we have the team to win everything and like I said, if we played better tonight I think we could have beaten any team we faced the rest of the tournament. I think this gives us a wake-up call and we have to put our full attention to Open Cup and winning the Supporters Shield now.”
But, on the flip side, the players need the rest. Both physically and mentally. Luciano Acosta, FC Cincinnati and MLS All-Star captain has logged 1784 minutes in MLS regular season play so far. That’s not including US Open Cup play, not including the MLS All-Star game in Washington D.C., and not including the most recent Leagues Cup.
The last match where the MVP front-runner played under 85+ minutes (outside of the MLS All-Star Game) was on JUNE 10TH, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia. JUNE. Luciano Acosta has played 90 minutes in SEVEN of the last NINE FC Cincinnati matches – and in the two matches where he didn’t go the full 90, he went 89. He admitted to cramping during the Nashville match, and he said that was part of the reason behind Brandon Vazquez taking the PK in the 85th minute on Friday.
During this break, FC Cincinnati will see Santiago Arias return back to Cincinnati and begin training with the team again and will hope to see Dom Badji, Sergio Santos, and Dado Valenzuela make strides in their recovery towards being match ready.
I, for one, have been a fan of the 2023 Leagues Cup. MLS and Liga MX soccer have been on basically every night on my screens and that’s been a nice change from the twice-a-week schedule during the MLS Regular Season. Seeing top MLS sides go up against top Liga MX sides has created some incredible matchups. But, it wasn’t meant to be for FC Cincinnati – and they’ll need to refocus their attention towards finishing out the US Open Cup run and MLS Regular Season strong in hopes of adding to the trophy cabinet in the Mercy Health Training Center lobby this year.
If you’re truly missing soccer action in person – don’t sweat. FC Cincinnati 2 will play at Scudamore Field (NKU) on Thursday, August 10th. 7 pm ET kickoff, free parking and it is not a ticketed event. Free of charge! We’ll probably see a lot of first-team players get minutes for FC Cincinnati 2 that match. Some names that I wouldn’t be surprised to see: Evan Louro, Paul Walters, Joey Akpunonu, London Aghedo, Ian Murphy, Dado Valenzuela, Malik Pinto, Bret Halsey, Isaiah Foster, Ben Stitz, Arquimides Ordonez.
And a friendly reminder that the following FC Cincinnati 2 home match vs New York City FC II on Sunday, August 27th IS TICKETED. Tickets are on sale on SeatGeek – that match will be played at TQL Stadium, not Scudamore Field.
Photo Credits: FC Cincinnati, Columbus Crew, Inter Miami CF
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