The Orange and Blue, which finished third in the Eastern Conference last year, open the 2017 campaign Saturday at Charleston, the same team that beat them in their opener last year and in the first round of the playoffs. Here’s a look at five things to know about FCC heading into the season:
1. Results will come
FC Cincinnati’s second preseason wasn’t as impressive on paper as its first, but new head coach Alan Koch — who stepped in two days before the first preseason match — used the games to focus on seeing different lineups, formations and player combinations.
FC Cincinnati opened 0-2 but went on to finish the preseason 2-2-2. Koch acknowledges he does feel a little behind, so it could be a slow start to the season, but that was the case last year too, even after a particularly successful preseason that didn’t include one loss.
“Everyone analyzes the preseason to death, but it’s a time to try different players, different systems of play,” Koch said. “We are definitely doing that, but obviously in this transition we’re a little bit behind in terms of where we need to be but we’re trying everybody.”
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2. Koch ready to lead
FC Cincinnati hired the former Vancouver Whitecaps 2 manager as an assistant coach and director of scouting and analytics in December, and he had only been actually working with the players for a few weeks before the sudden firing of Harkes on Feb. 17. Koch was immediately promoted to replace him.
“Thankfully, I’ve been a head coach for almost 15 years now, so I have a great body of work I can rely on to get the ship going in the right direction,” Koch said shortly after his promotion.
Koch was hired as the Whitecaps 2 manager just weeks before the 2015 season — the club’s inaugural campaign — and guided the club to its first playoff wins last year before it fell in the Western Conference final to USL Cup finalist Swope Park. Koch’s other head coaching experience included stints at Simon Fraser University, an NCAA Division II school in Canada, where he compiled a record of 126-21-7 in seven seasons, and Baker University in Kansas.
His preferred playing style is similar to what FC Cincinnati did last year — attacking with a focus on possession.
3. More goals please
FC Cincinnati president and general manager Jeff Berding said during the offseason he would like to see the team score 62 goals this season, which is one more than USL champion New York Red Bulls II tallied.
Koch is confident this team is capable of finishing more chances, especially with 6-foot-2 veteran Djiby Fall as the favorite to replace Okoli up top.
FC Cincinnati, which also should benefit from a wider field at Nippert Stadium this season, could have scored a lot more goals than the 41 it netted last year, but the club failed to finish on several created opportunities. What’s even more stunning is nine of Okoli’s league-leading 16 goals came off penalty kicks.
“I think we’ve shown we can score,” Koch said. “I would still like to see us create more opportunities, but we know if we get those options our players can take their chances.”
4. Sound defense needed
Koch would like to see a stingier defense as the season gets underway.
FC Cincinnati gave up eight goals in six preseason games, including allowing three goals in the first two, which was a bit surprising given five starters on the back line returned, as well as Hildebrandt. Koch said it’s hard to expect too much from the preseason even with the defense, but it does need to be better.
“Any time there is a transition, one of the hardest parts to the organization is to be defensively sound, so we’ve definitely got some work to do with that and hopefully we can address that,” Koch said.
5. League improving
The 30-team USL, now considered a Division II league, continues to get better every year, and Koch said the Eastern Conference should be especially challenging this season with the addition of former North American Soccer League clubs Tampa Bay Rowdies and Ottawa Fury.
New York Red Bulls II return to defend their title, and Louisville City – which finished second in the Eastern Conference ahead of FC Cincinnati — will continue to test the Orange and Blue as one of their biggest rivals.
“The challenge in this league is it’s very competitive and it’s getting better and better every year, so it’s not going to be easy, but we have a lot of talent and hopefully we can squeeze every drop out of every player,” Koch said.
FC Cincinnati plays its home opener April 15 against St. Louis FC, which moved from the Western Conference, and the first meeting in the battle for the River Cities Cup with Louisville City takes place April 22 at Nippert. Both games should be a good environment considering more than 11,000 season tickets have been sold for a club now aiming for 20,000 fans a game after topping 17,000 on average last year.
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