Since the regular season ended Oct. 6 in Washington D.C., everything surrounding FC Cincinnati has focused on the future.
Earlier this week, the club released information about 2020 season tickets the same day it announced a restructuring to the team’s technical staff.
On the field, roster moves were made three days after the draw with D.C. United, and the players part of FCC’s future have been training at the Mercy Health Training Center.
“Now that we are done with the season, I think this is just to keep building that chemistry, that work rate and that mentality that we want to reach for next season,” captain and center back Kendall Waston said about the training.
Beginning last week and stretching into next week, Cincinnati have three weeks of offseason practices before 2019 play officially concludes.
These aren’t practices to earn starting spots next season. As Waston alluded to, this is about players maintaining their work rate and chemistry to carry into the 2020 preseason.
“That’s impossible,” coach Ron Jans said about bringing late-season momentum into these sessions. “These are just more the physical thing and trying to have nice sessions because not everyone’s here. We’re only with about 15 players and three goalkeepers, so you cannot build on something like the last games or, really, the philosophy of playing for next season.”
What’s worth noting, though, is FC Cincinnati are building.
While the players are on the practice fields, the finishing touches are being made inside the new Mercy Health Training Center, which opens next month. Concrete is pouring at the West End Stadium, too.
Back in September, Jans said this is a “club under construction.” That’s been the case since the MLS announcement in May 2018. But it wasn’t until now when the foundation was laid.
This time last year, FCC were still in the USL Cup playoffs, and the first MLS player signing (Corben Bone) wasn’t until Nov. 19. The club’s current crest wasn’t even released yet.
There might be a roster to reconstruct, but there’s not one to build from scratch. What the Orange and Blue have now are their players for the future – they’re just stuck in the present.
“(Last season) was not the way we wanted it to be or thought it’d be, but we can take it in a learning way,” Waston said. “We know all the errors and mistakes we’ve done, so we can just build from that in a new season and new beginning. We have more to gain than to lose.”
