After what seems like an eternity, it's finally an FC Cincinnati matchday once again. Sure, it's just a preseason match. But it's a real-life gathering of FCC players squaring off against a group of players from another team, so I -- and I imagine most of you, too -- will take it.
After two weeks of preseason training sessions in wintery Cincinnati, Alan Koch's newly assembled squad made their way over the weekend to their familiar Spring roosting grounds at IMG Academy in sunny Bradenton, Florida. And today's 3:30pm kickoff serves as the first time a nearly completely remade FC Cincinnati side will face outside opposition in 2018.
The opponents set to face the Orange & Blue in what will be a non-televised and non-streamed friendly: Major League Soccer's New England Revolution. It's the first time the two sides have ever faced one another, but don't expect either to be particularly concerned with the result, with preseason preparations and decisions likely to be each's primary focus.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
With this being the first test of the preseason, don't go into this match expecting to learn much about who will feature in the starting XI in Charleston on March 17th.
Head coach Alan Koch stressed as much, too. "The game [against New England] is a chance to get to know each other," said the manager heading into his second season in charge of the Orange & Blue. He continued, "[We] also want to see how player relationships develop."
With only nine players returning from the 2017 squad, Koch and his coaching staff will be tasked with seeing how to best fit together all of the new puzzle pieces available to them. However, this year, Koch enters having had a full offseason to layout his preseason plans -- a luxury not at his disposal last season after taking the head coaching reigns the day before the team departed for Bradenton.
As for the New England Revolution, today's tilt is their third and final match at IMG before heading to Arizona to play four matches in the Mobile Mini Sun Cup.
It's also a time of change for New England, who are in the midst of their first preseason under the leadership of new head coach Brad Friedel. The former goalkeeping standout might have starred for the US men's national team and English Premier League sides like Tottenham and Liverpool, but this is his first head coaching job with full-time professionals. And with the Revs having missed the playoffs in the last two seasons, Friedel is also facing some pressure to perform.
WHAT TO EXPECT
In a practice he also utilized this time last year in Florida, FC Cincinnati head coach Koch anticipated fielding completely different teams in each half against the Revolution today in an effort feel out his team.
Considering there are two more matches in Bradenton to come after this afternoon's fixture, he'll have plenty of time to see what players work where and with whom. "We have a long preseason," Koch said, "and we will go step-by-step through this process."
Don't be surprised if he ends up mixing projected starters with reserves in each match, and there's the possibility that we could see them arranged in multiple shapes, too.
Meanwhile, the Revolution were last in action on Saturday, falling 1-0 to Swedish power Malmö FF after conceding after a giveaway in the 57th minute. Their only other preseason match coming just three days before when they rallied to a 4-3 victory over fellow MLS original New York Red Bulls.
It's expected that -- with the Revs being a bit closer to their regular season and nursing a few injuries to key players -- we'll see a team that will mostly go the full 90 minutes against the Orange & Blue.
