FC Cincinnati can end its first MLS preseason with a trophy Saturday night depending on the result against Columbus Crew SC at MUSC Health Stadium in the 2019 Carolina Challenge Cup.
In the club’s two previous cup games, it beat the Charleston Battery 2-1 last Saturday and then drew the Chicago Fire 1-1 on Wednesday night.
But the matchup with Columbus is different. Ignoring the trophy or potential bragging rights from beating the team’s biggest MLS rival, Saturday is the last dress rehearsal for Cincinnati before the regular season starts next week in Seattle.
After a month of practices, which included two preseason trips and seven games, everything becomes very real, very quickly. If FCC can play well against the Crew, that’s a positive sign as the Orange and Blue leave preseason behind.
“A good performance, a level of comfort in how we play,” Head Coach Alan Koch said about his objective from the match. “Obviously, the result is still immaterial. We’re playing in a tournament structure this week and that would be a nice byproduct of a good performance … In reality, we know tomorrow is going to be very, very difficult.”
FC Cincinnati enters the friendly with momentum. After playing defensively during the first 70 minutes against Chicago, Koch replaced nine starters with substitutes and Cincinnati was on the front foot the rest of the match. Roland Lamah’s late goal earned the club one point and keeps Cincinnati first in the CCC standings.
Bragging rights on the line
“It’s a rivalry, no matter if it’s a friendly, it’s a league game or it’s a cup game,” defender Justin Hoyte said. “We want to win no matter what happens.”
FC Cincinnati and Columbus have met twice — once competitively. That match finished in a 1-0 Cincinnati win against the Crew in the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Hoyte had the assist in the match.
In the second meeting — a closed friendly last March — the Orange and Blue won 4-2, but against Columbus reserves and academy players. Saturday is their third meeting and the first between Koch and the Crew’s first-year coach Caleb Porter.
“We play for a preseason title and it’s nice to play against a rival,” midfielder Leo Bertone said. “We want to win this game tomorrow and then take a little trophy home to start the next week positive.”
Club connections
Kakuta Manneh recently signed with FC Cincinnati from Columbus. He has yet to feature for the Orange and Blue.
The official rivalry name between the clubs is the “Hell is Real Derby,” which is named after a billboard on Interstate 71 between the two Ohio cities.
