Since his re-appointment as interim head coach two weeks ago, Yoann Damet has continuously mentioned that FC Cincinnati will continue to stick to their plan. We’ll see what that plan entails this afternoon.
The Orange and Blue begin their 2020 MLS regular season on Sunday afternoon when they face the New York Red Bulls inside Red Bull Arena.
Here’s the matchday squad Cincinnati will use in the curtain raiser:
Six FCC players could make their club debuts at RBNY
Yuya Kubo, Haris Medunjanin, Adrien Regattin and Brandon Vazquez will all start in their Cincinnati debuts this afternoon. Jürgen Locadia and Tom Pettersson could also make their debut Sunday if Damet uses the two Europeans off the bench.
This will be Vazquez’s first competitive match with another MLS club after three seasons with Atlanta United FC, while Medunjanin joins FCC after three seasons with the Philadelphia Union.
As for Kubo and Regattin, the season opener is their first match in MLS.
FCC using a familiar back five
GM Gerard Nijkamp jokes that goalkeepers shouldn’t be forgotten when people talk about formations. With that in mind, the club’s back five are all returners from last season.
Mathieu Deplagne and Kendall Waston are the only players who’ve started both MLS season openers for Cincinnati, after playing in the club’s inaugural MLS game at Seattle last March.
One interesting point to note, though, is that Spencer Richey has never played with this back four (Deplagne, Maikel van der Werff, Waston and Greg Garza) in a competitive match before.
As for this specific back four, they’ve actually earned clean sheets in their past two matches together. After beating the Montreal Impact last September, they kept the Chicago Fire scoreless weeks later.
This is Richey's first appearance since July 18, 2019, against D.C. United. He missed the rest of 2019 with a back injury.
Other notes
- Damet said he wanted to keep his cards close to his chest regarding the starting goalkeeper and captain’s armband. Richey earned the spot between the posts, while Waston is the captain – just like the 2019 season opener.
- Locadia is in the 18 after finalizing his visa paperwork in Amsterdam on Thursday, he met the team in the New York area. He missed the week’s training sessions at the Mercy Health Training Center after departing Bradenton last Thursday.
- Joseph-Claude Gyau misses Sunday’s game after drawing a red card in the 2019 season finale at D.C. United. He’ll be available for selection next week at Atlanta.
- Siem de Jong is awaiting his visa paperwork to finalize before he can debut for the Orange and Blue.
- There is not a single player on the team’s injury report as they kick off the 2020 season. Only Gyau (suspension) has a place on it but there are no active injuries to worry about.
