Following a bye week, the two FC Cincinnati Academy teams return to the field this weekend with a pair of matches in as many days.
On Saturday, both the Under-15 and Under-17 Teams will play the Chicago Fire Academy in Bridgeview, Ill. Those matches, similar to the ones against Minnesota United FC Academy earlier this month, will be part of the Development Academy Cup. Consider it a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for academy teams.
On Sunday, the FCC Academy teams play their first league matches as part of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. Those matches will be against the Indiana Fire in Westfield, Ind.
“Coming into the doubleheader, that will be a challenge for us,” said Larry Sunderland, the FCC Director of Player Development. “Not having played many games, I think it’ll be a physical challenge for us to play back-to-back games on the road.
“Playing against the Chicago Fire, that’s a really well-established academy with a lot of very good players and their teams will be very strong,” Sunderland added. “The next day, we’ll have to play a fresh team in the Indiana Fire.”
Sunderland returns to Youth National Team Duty
One member of the FCC Academy staff who will not be around this weekend is Larry Sunderland, who is currently with the U.S. Under-16 Boys Youth National Team for camp in Chula Vista, Cal.
Before joining the FC Cincinnati Academy, Sunderland served as the head coach of the U.S. U-16 Youth National Team in May and helped guide the team to win the 2019 UEFA Development Tournament in Prague, Czech Republic.
In addition to his role leading the FC Cincinnati Academy and the club’s player development, he’s continues to remain active with the youth national team program. It’s a move that sees Sunderland coach some of the best young players in this country, in addition to doing the same in the Greater Cincinnati region.
U15 HC Neff continues international education
FCC’s U-15 Head Coach Joshua Neff is still in France following a week of instruction at the French Football Federation’s headquarters in Clairfontaine.
He was one of 20 MLS academy coaches studying at the FFF to learn new coaching methodology that he can bring back to FC Cincinnati and incorporate into the club’s philosophy. The trip is part of a year-long program through MLS’ partnership with the FFF.
The second part of the program, which Neff is partaking in this week, will take him to Strasbourg at the Ligue 1 club. While there, he will study how that academy operates and produces talent.
Perhaps the most famous player from the Strasbourg academy is Morgan Schneiderlin, who plays for Everton in the English Premier League. After playing in the youth academy and for the Strasbourg first team, Schneiderlin joined Southampton, then Manchester United in England.
