Where: Cincinnati, OH – Nippert Stadium
When: Saturday, July 21st at 7:30 p.m. ET
2018 Form: FC Cincinnati – 1st Place (12W-3L-5D, 41 pts.), New York Red Bulls II – 4th Place (8W-5L-7D,31 pts.)
YOUR FAVORITE PEOPLE THIS WEEK – Ref Assignments:
REF: Michael Radchuk, AR1: Adrienne Mcdonald, AR2: Eric Wood, 4TH: William Gaither III
5 Things to Know
Orange, Blue and Yellow: As FC Cincinnati progresses further into the season disciplinary actions (cards) will factor into numerous management decisions. Cards are to be expected, but acquiring silly cards need to be minimized at best. Wednesday night’s game produced two yellows, one Welshman when a Charlotte’s Voser could not professionally foul him correctly and Welshman reacted (a responsible card in my eyes), but then Ledesma got a silly yellow for standing over a ball to prevent Charlottes keeper from restarting play quickly. It is these actions that need to be kept at a minimum and spread around by the team. Now the team has both Kienen and Ledesma sitting on seven yellows and one more will mean they will have to miss their next USL game. Alan Koch may decide to rest both these players because of the risk of losing them against Nashville. These are the decisions you do not want the manager to be placed in.
6 of 9: The Blue and Orange have been a strong offensive team and initially we thought defensively FCC should be a leader in that area as well. But outside of the seasons first two matches the team struggled to keep opponents off the board. They seemed to surrender goals in a variety of ways, especially at home. The result was a team that had at one point the 30th ranked home defense in the entire USL. However, the team has really turned it around since the home loss to Louisville. In the nine matches since their last defeat, they have recorded six wins and three ties, along with six shutouts. The run of form has allowed the defense to climb to #9 in the USL overall and #13 from a home perspective, all the while the offense keeps rolling and is currently #2 overall.
To Rotate or Not: Koch has a tough decision right now, should he rotate out some of the guys or should he remain consistent as these guys have found a rhythm. One aspect that makes this a complex decision is, FC Cincinnati does not have another USL match until August 4th (Against Nashville), that is two weeks between games. At the same time, some of the players have not rotated in a while and could need the recovery right now. Who will Alan start? ** Side note FCC does have the international friendly next Saturday, July 28.
Midseason hardware: The USL announced some midseason awards and FC Cincinnati had two of their own recognized. Koch was given the Coach of the Year and Ledesma was awarded Most Valuable Player. This is great for both of them but the biggest piece of hardware the team could deliver is the USL Cup. Congrats to both for their first-half performance but let’s keep chugging.
Jekyll and Hyde: For a team that has the number one offense in the league, scoring 43 goals in 20 matches, the Baby Bulls have by far the greatest discrepancy in the USL between home and road offense. That is almost an understatement, the Bulls have scored 35 goals at home and only 8 on the road. That discrepancy has led to a very Jekyll and Hyde record. The Bulls are 8-2-1 at home while compiling a 0-3-6 record on the road. Which Bull team can we expect to see?
Expected Goals:
The overall expected Goals (xG) for this game currently sits at FCC 2.48 – NYRB 0.79. Reminder, NYRB have a much better offense than what their road form is. Also, the Red Bulls usually bring a better compliment of players when they visit Nippert than they do to other away games.
March to Matchday – FC Cincinnati vs. NYRBII
Join host Bryan Weigel (@bryanweigel), as he welcomes guest Joe Goldstein (@_JoeGoldstein) of the Raising Bulls Podcast (@RaisingBullCast) & the Red Bulls News Network (@RBNewsNetwork)to preview Saturday’s match vs. New York Red Bulls II. This show will hopefully fit in your drive time to work, to the pub on game day or lead you right up to game time. We hope you enjoy!
Growler Cup – Round 21
Returning for 2018 is our Growler Cup! If you contribute $5/ month or more as a supporter of the site, you are entered into the Growler Cup prediction contest. Supporters of the show along with our hosts will predict the score and result for the upcoming week’s match. We have changed the rules for 2018. You get 3 pts for picking the correct result, 1 pt for correct FCC goals and 1pt for correct opponent goals. There will be many opportunities to win as well in 2018. Along with the overall champion (2017 – Chris Dimeo), fans can get on our show to chat with the staff or partake in a trivia contest by scoring the most amount of points in a given month. You will see the predictions of our staff below. Please consider supporting the site at CincinnatiSoccerTalk.com
Viewing
TV: This contest is set for a 7:30 p.m. EST kickoff on Saturday night. The broadcast duo of Tom Gelehrter and Kevin McCloskey will provide the play-by-play and color analysis to FCC fans live on WSTR Star 64. The match will also be broadcast at FC Cincinnati’s pub partners or by Streaming internet on ESPN+.
RADIO: ESPN 1530 AM
Stay tuned to our Twitter handle – @CincySoccerTalk, for updated information.
@khoetker for @CincySoccerTalk
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