Intelligence Report: Orlando City vs. FC Cincinnati

Congratulations on (almost) making it to the end of another week! As a reward, we have another Orlando City match just around the corner to savor, and this one’s a doozy. The Lions will hit the road and face FC Cincinnati on Sunday night, with the other Lions sitting second in the Eastern Conference with seven points separating them from OCSC.

A lion vs. lion showdown means I reached out to the good people at Cincinnati Soccer Talk for a refresher on FCC, and one of their authors, Rupesh Sharma, was kind enough to provide just that.

Talk me through FC Cincinnati’s summer business. Who went out the door, and who arrived to replace them?

Rupesh Sharma:

OUT: Cory Baird, FWD
Sergio Santos, FWD
DeAndre Yedlin, RB

IN: Brenner, ST
Ender Echenique, RW/RWB
Dominik Marczuk, RWB
Samuel Gidi, CM
Ayoub Jabbari, ST

Of those summer arrivals, has anyone stood out so far? How have the new pieces been fitting into the team?

RS: Brenner has been the standout of the summer signings. He has started and played the complete 90 in his three games since re-joining FCC.  In those matches he has scored three goals.

Ender Echenique is the only other player I would say is a standout.  He has appeared for FCC in six MLS matches — four of them starts — and he has scored one goal and provided one assist.

Cincinnati currently sits second in the East and controls whether or not it will have home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. What are the minimum expectations for this squad once the postseason begins?

RS: My minimum expectation is for FCC to get past the first round of the playoffs, but I think the FCC fanbase in general will not be satisfied unless the club makes it to at least the Eastern Conference final.

Will anyone be unavailable due to injury, suspension, etc.? What is your best guess at a starting lineup, and score prediction?

RS: Center back Matt Miazga has missed the last couple of games and just returned to individual training off to the side. I would expect him to not be available for this match.
Central midfielder Obi Nwobodo had surgery on a torn quad tendon in June and just returned to training.

Here is a visual on what I expect the FCC starting lineup to be.

My prediction would be an FCC victory by a score of 2-1.

Thank you to Rupesh for the update on FC Cincinnati. Vamos Orlando!