Cincinnati FC conquered the North American football scene, broke attendance records, won titles and became a lower division Cinderella in the US Open Cup. Your move to MLS could hardly have been worse. In two seasons they were among the worst expansion teams of all time and have changed head coach four times. But they seem to have turned a new stone this year, moving into their own stadium and spending a lot of money in the off-season.
2020 record: 4-15-4, 14th Eastern Conference, playoffs: N / A)
Head coach: Jaap Staam
Important additions: Brenner, Lucho Acosta
Main losses: Kendall Waston
Projected Best XI
Best offseason move: Brenner’s move to Cincinnati was by far the largest and most expensive move in MLS that off-season. At $ 13 million, it’s not far from some of the world’s biggest moves. Cincinnati FC had to figure out who would score goals after a bad 2020, and they decided the solution should be as ambitious as possible. They went and got the hottest young striker straight from Brazil. At only 21 years old, the burner does not yet have a lot of experience. But what experience he has shows quality with 22 goals for São Paulo last year.
Reasons to Worry About Cincinnati FC: To be a Cincinnati sports fan means to worry about everything. No matter what sport or how good the team is, somehow things always seem to fall apart for the city’s teams. And that may be especially true of Cincinnati FC. The club fought on the field and died for the last two years in a row. In that first year the team failed at all to defend and allowed a historic number of goals. Last year the team cleaned up their defenses a bit, but then completely lost their attack ability. To solve this problem, Cincy FC have hired new players and almost completely replaced the squad from that disastrous opening season. But there is concern that not all parts will quite fit. The big concern is that the team will not be able to overcome the problems of the past few years and that the problems of defense or attack will pop up again immediately.
Why Cincinnati FC is worth seeing: Cincinnati FC has almost everything you need for a fun season. They have some of the biggest viewership in the league, passionate and noisy fans their team are ready to do. They have a brand new home and the team is opening their own stadium in the historic West End neighborhood in the center of the city. The club have some of the league’s most noticeable and expensive attacking talents, including Brenner and Lucho Acosta. Finally, Cincyi FC has the dysfunction you need to keep everyone busy. Look, the team has the talent potential to be a good team in MLS. But that’s only related to the team’s self-inflicted difficulties. That said, while it’s difficult to predict, it’s safe to say the club will have its ups and downs. Success depends on whether the team can manage this dance on this precarious line between success and disaster. Fans will certainly hope the team lands on the right side of that line. But whichever way it ends, it’s going to be quite a journey.
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