YOU’RE DONE WAITING
The waiting ends at 10 PM EST on Wednesday. You’ve done the holidays, you’ve braved record-setting blizzards and stocked up on food and beverages. You might have accumulated as many questions about the upcoming season as inches of snow on your driveway. What you’re now reading is the first competition preview from Cincinnati Soccer Talk for 2025. And it’s also the first article I’ve written in my new position as a contributing writer for CST. I’m honored and brimming with excitement. In simply creating this content, I’ve sensed how much I’m going to learn about writing, about FC Cincinnati, about the global world of futbol, and our community. I would be remiss if I didn’t express my deepest gratitude to CST and you. Grab your courage and your love of this team and this game. Ready? Let’s begin.
THE OPPOSITION
FC Cincinnati travels from Florida, through a lush rainforest filled with jaguars and macaws into a valley surrounded by mountains, to Estadio Nacional Chelato Uclés in Tegucigalpa. They face one of the most successful clubs in Honduran football history, FC Motagua (mo-TAH-guaaaaaaah), dubbed Ciclón Azul (Blue Cyclone). This is the first in a two-leg competition, each game played in respective home stadiums.
Founded in 1928, Motagua has a long history and has participated in CONCACAF since 1969. They completed 2024 by winning their Liga Nacional over Olimpia, who they faced Sunday during their seventh contest of the year. Motagua is formidable, and with a season-opening victory over Real Sociedad, 3-0, picked up right where they left off last season. They qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament after winning their Play-In series vs. CD Águila in the 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup.
Coach Diego Vásquez, a former goalkeeper who once played many seasons for Motagua and saved the penalty that gave them a national championship, also holds their league record for coaching over 300 consecutive games.
Motagua Season Record
THE EAGLES TO WATCH
Motagua have had their forward power decimated in recent weeks. The man who would have been the eagle to watch was Argentine forward Agustín Auzmendi, a 27-year-old who started as a youth with Acassuso before working his way through to Motagua. He departed for Godoy Cruz of the Argentine Super League, leaving his younger brother, Rodrigo Auzmendi, behind. Rodrigo, a 24-year-old standing at 6’3”, is no slouch, scoring 12 goals in 24 matches last season. He plays an aggressive game and can rack up yellow cards quickly. He scored a hat-trick on February 6th over UPNFM, and another goal against Juticalpa on the 12th, assuring the Motagua faithful that the Auzmendi name still means goals and victory. Although likely available Wednesday, Rodrigo may soon face disciplinary action and possibly lose his position with his team following an incident on Sunday where he spit on an opposing player during their loss to Olimpia.
In addition, Motagua has made a compelling recent acquisition of striker, Diego Iván Ledesma. Ledesma, a 6-foot, 31-year-old veteran, arrives from Tecnico Universitario, to make up for the other recently departed Rubilio Castillo, who left and signed with Deportivo Pereira. Ledesma already contributed two late goals in their 3-0 victory over Juticalpa.
WHO ARE WE?
Ever wake up during your school years and realize you hadn’t quite completed that big science project due that morning? It feels like we’re finishing this team project just in time, especially with the signing of Evander, just before wheels up to Honduras. The MLS home opener is Saturday against the NY Red Bulls. With three games in eight days, it will certainly be interesting to see how Noonan plays the first of this two-game series and how the team will handle the wildly varying climate conditions.
We come off a frustrating but well-fought final pre-season match with a 2-2 draw against Atlanta. Kubo, Bucha, and Nwobodo all received cards in just the first half. That Atlanta scored a PK in the 91st minute might leave a bad taste in our mouths. We need to be sharp at the start of this next contest.
WHAT TO EXPECT
The “expect the unexpected” mantra has proven accurate since the season’s outset, particularly concerning player transactions, and this opening game is no exception. We should anticipate a starting lineup similar to the pre-season Atlanta match against Motagua, with Anunga and Mboma Dem as likely substitutes. Evander’s participation remains uncertain, possibly contingent on a comfortable lead.
For the first game that counts, taking a six hour plane trip into the rainforest to a stadium at 3,248 feet above sea level (Denver is 5,280), and playing a team that, despite recent shakeups, is still championship caliber and well into their league season at 10 PM sounds like the opening premise to a new installment of the Mission: Impossible series. Why not blindfolded?
Look for our returning midfielders, Bucha, Kubo, and Nwobodo to continue to scrap and thread forward to Denkey. We should expect a decent performance from our stalwart defense as well. Which means we are right back where we were at the end of last season: wondering, can we score?
Where to watch:
You can watch this match Wednesday night at 10pm EST on FS2 for english or ViX ($5 a month app) for spanish.
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