This time last year, DeAndre Yedlin was jetting around the Middle East and Asia with Inter Miami CF as the preseason world tour took the club to various global destinations for friendlies and training alike.
Yedlin and the club hopped around from El Salvador to Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan before returning stateside for a final tune-up in Florida. Thousands of miles traveled, and seven matches played on four continents. Then, three games into the season, Yedlin was traded to FC Cincinnati in exchange for General Allocation Money.
A coup for FCC as Inter Miami needed to shed cap space and FCC was happy to welcome an excellent player and leader to the fold for (what amounted to be) a bargin in discretionary funds. Yedlin ended up playing 28 matches for The Orange and Blue in 2024 MLS play, wore the captain's armband on multiple occasions, tallied three assists and played a vital role as both a Right Wing Back and a Center Back when asked too.
In 2025, he starts the year on solid ground with FC Cincinnati. At preseason in one locale, and the stability of having just one preseason home and a full camp to work with teammates and coaches without the hustle and bustle of an international tour, makes it easier to focus on the things that matter.
"It's nice, at the end of the day, the Soccer is the same. But I think as far as keeping in touch with family and being able to FaceTime, my daughter, son and wife while we're in the same time zone, that's been pretty nice," Yedlin said after a training session last week. "We're on the same schedule and that just makes everything – the soccer, the family, the work – a little easier."
Yedlin's arrival in Cincinnati solved a positional problem for FC Cincinnati as the team, prior to his arrival and after the exit of Santiago Arias at the end of the previous season, had no natural right back or Right Wing Back defender to fill that role at the level Yedlin or Arias has/had. Yuya Kubo had filled in admirably, but with his positional sights set on forward (where he scored an MLS career-high 11 goals in 2024), a more natural fit made sense.
But even still, after Yedlin had long arrived and had been with FCC for a few months, he admitted that the switch from a more traditional right-back role (one that he had played to great success his entire career, including appearances in the FIFA World Cup) in a four at the back defensive line, to the Right Wing Back role FCC was asking him to play in their five at the back formation, was a nuanced change he was still getting used to and was learning to play the position.
Now, though, after a full year of learning on the fly, the position feels more natural. So, with a full preseason with the team to continue his Right Wing Back education, he is more prepared to excel rather than just play catch up.
"I definitely have a better handle on it," Yedlin said. "(Being in preseason) just gives you more and more time training, more time on the pitch, more time to ask questions. You can do a lot here, and Right Wing Back here could be a lot different than Right Wing Back at like, Montreal or wherever. So, yeah, I definitely think I have a much better picture of what they're expecting, what they want from me, what my responsibilities are, and you know how I can help the team, which is always nice, just to be kind of comfortable in the position."
"You learn from games and getting game experience, sure. But at the end of the day, I think this is a time where it's important to get that time with your team, and to do it in an environment where you're able to ask questions and make mistakes, and then you learn from them."
Yedlin is now an important part of FC Cincinnati from both a soccer and locker-room leadership standpoint. While only with the club for a short period in the grander perspective, he has quickly made a mark as a veteran presence, and of course, his time as captain while at Inter Miami CF before the arrival of Lionel Messi proves without a shadow of a doubt his credentials as a locker room leader. But in your first preseason with the club, it would be easy to imagine a small transition for the player, at least while he gets his bearings on how FCC operates in Clearwater.
But no transition period was needed or felt.
"It doesn't feel that different, to be honest," Yedin reflected. "I think, you know, that's one of the things I truly admire about this team and club. Incoming players, at least for me, from my experience, really do feel welcomed. They're brought in really quickly and made it feel part of the group, so that doesn't really feel that different.
"It's kind of nice to be honest, going into it having not known everybody, and knowing how things work. It's hard to come in as a new player, you don't know what to expect but at the end of the day, here, everything's just normal."
FC Cincinnati continues preseason in Clearwater, Florida, for the next 3 weeks before heading to Honduras to kick off the Concacaf Champions Cup. They will return to TQL Stadium for the 2025 MLS Season Opener on February 22 against the New York Red Bulls.