The Orange & Blue began preparations for the 2024 Leagues Cup with an open practice for media and season-ticket holders on Sunday. Over 5,000 fans made reservations to attend this open practice at TQL Stadium, a nice bit of respite before the midseason competition with teams from Mexico’s Liga MX comes into play.
Much of the team participated in practice and scrimmages that ran for over an hour, ending in a mini Q&A session with head coach Pat Noonan and opportunities for fans to interact with their favorite players.
“Our (fan) support is incredible, so a chance to repay that in a very small way to have the fans out watching training and our families as well—it’s a good day to interact with our fan base,” Noonan said to the media after practice had ended.
While much of the team dedicated to the Leagues Cup roster was available, Obinna Nwobodo, Alec Kann and Aaron Boupendza were unavailable. Nwobodo was away to finalize his green card, which would apply to the 2025 season.
Kann is still recovering from a hip injury, while Boupendza was recovering from a bug that had been affecting the squad.
“We’ve had an illness running through our group, so over the past five days, we’ve had a lot of guys who have dropped out of training,” Noonan noted. “Unfortunately, (Boupendza) was one of them.”
New center back Chidozie Awaziem was in attendance to watch the team practice but is not yet available to begin practice with the squad in full. He is expected to be worked into participation after approval of his visa.
While the Leagues Cup is still an opportunity for the team to qualify for next year’s CONCACAF Champions Cup, Noonan agreed somewhat that it was fair to say the pause in the MLS schedule came at a good time.
“For me, whether you’re in good form, whether you’re in poor form, we have a break in the league, and maybe that’s a chance to say it’s a little bit of a reset, and it’s new energy, new life on a challenge, but we still have to go and compete against good teams and win games. We have to continue to try and find solutions to change our form, because the last two weeks, three weeks weren’t good … Whether we were playing a Leagues Cup game or a league game, we need to be better, and hopefully starting Thursday we see better performances,” Noonan said.
FC Cincinnati starts its Leagues Cup stretch with home matches against last-place Liga MX team Queretaro on Thursday, August 1 and in-conference foe NYCFC on Monday, August 5. Both opponents face off against each other on Sunday night.